New Delhi: Defying expectations, the Congress party has decided to go back in time to fix its future problems — by choosing former president Sonia Gandhi as its interim chief.
But even as it sprung the Sonia surprise in the midst of speculations about a non-Gandhi president, there are many issues that the interim chief will have to resolve.
From a splintered party over Article 370, to a faction-ridden opposition in the states preparing for assembly elections, Sonia has her work cut out for her as she moves to resolve differences that have emerged between the party’s so-called young turks and its old guard.
A party that’s falling apart
The Congress has been imploding with several of its senior leaders leaving the party. Its Rajya Sabha whip Bhubaneshwar Kalita joined the Bharatiya Janata Party Friday due to disagreements. However, he isn’t the only one to do so. Senior Assam Congress leaders Santiuse Kujur and Gautam Roy also quit the party Sunday.
However, the most scathing criticism came from Jharkhand Pradesh Congress chief Ajoy Kumar. Stepping down from the post of party president Friday, Kumar sent a strongly-worded letter to Rahul Gandhi saying “worst criminals look better than my party colleagues”.
“As a proud Indian and one of the youngest winners of the police gallantry award and having wiped the mafia in Jamshedpur, I can confidently say that some of the worst criminals look better than my party colleagues,” Kumar wrote.
Also read: The Congress doesn’t need a president
Article 370
Congress is tackling a crisis on many fronts, especially with many of its prominent faces revolting against the party’s stance on Article 370.
Rahul believes public opinion on the Narendra Modi government’s decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status is divided, but his young party colleagues have something else to say.
At a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) — the party’s apex decision-making body — last week, the so-called young turks had launched a virtual revolt against the high command for its refusal to read the public mood.
Former MPs Jyotiraditya Scindia and Deepender Hooda have already gone public with their support for the government’s move on Article 370 even as the Congress was opposing it in Parliament.
At the CWC meeting, the two were joined by Jitin Prasada and R.P.N. Singh in questioning the party line and exhorting the leadership to be cognisant of the public mood.
Scindia and Hooda’s views backing the Modi government’s decision have been echoed by leaders Janardan Dwivedi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Milind Deora too.
Rajya Sabha leader of the opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has hit out at the dissenting leaders, asking them to learn the state’s and the party’s “history before staying in the Congress”.
“Jin logon ko Jammu and Kashmir ki history ya Congress ki history pata nahi, unse mujhe koi lena dena nahi hai (I don’t have anything to do with those who have no clue about the Congress’ or Jammu and Kashmir’s history),” he told the media outside Parliament last week.
Also read: ‘Rebellion’ in Congress over Article 370, young leaders say seniors can’t sense public mood
Upcoming assembly elections
From defections to infighting, Congress has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons since the party’s rout in the Lok Sabha elections this year, where it barely managed to scrape through in most states.
In Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and senior leader Navjot Singh Sidhu are at loggerheads, while in Rajasthan a political blame-game between the Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot factions has taken centre stage.
In Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, the tussle is about who should be the state Congress chief, while in Telangana, Goa and Maharashtra, the party is battling defections.
In Jharkhand, as the PCC chief steps down, the party will have to up the ante on a possible alliance as the state goes to polls along with Haryana and Maharashtra later this year.
Crushed in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress will have to pay extra attention to the states as October approaches.
Revive grass root connect
Congress, however, does not have a battle to fight only on the senior level. Its cadre base has been fading ever since the 2019 elections.
Although the party has taken strong steps in Uttar Pradesh by disbanding block committees, it still has a long way to go especially with the growing disenchantment among its ground level workers.
Leaders in Amethi had earlier told ThePrint that Rahul should have “visited the constituency” despite the party’s loss in the polls. Congress’ inability to strengthen the cadres has also been felt by various state leaders, with many of them saying that “tv appearances” and “social media presence” cannot lift the party from the ground.
Rejection of dynasty politics
The appointment of Sonia has also revived an old issue for the Congress. Even as the names of many leaders outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty were floated as possible successors to Rahul, it seems the party has decided to back a dynast yet again.
Sonia will have to dispel the distrust that led people to unseat Rahul in Amethi, Jyotiraditya Scindia in Guna, Deepender Hooda in Rohtak and Vaibhav Gehlot in Jodhpur, to name a few.
Sonia, who took over as president in 1998, will have to show a similar commitment to reform and change as she deals with factions of rebelling Congress leaders as well a largely disenchanted public.
Also read: 5 criteria Rahul Gandhi’s successor must meet – even if it means burying Congress
Much of the water have flown since 1998. Neither Sonia nor the Congress is same as in 1998 and even the political narratives have changed. The country’s polity is in a very much different shape altogether. Mood of the people is different and so is the entire political atmosphere of the country.
2019 elections have brought an entirely different political narrative in the country. Never before the opposition was so demoralised – not even during the massive mandate of Congress days. The regional parties face existential crisis and Congress’ spine of confidence is broken in pieces.
There are no spokespersons for people having dissent and diversent views.
When Congress is required to play a dynamic historical opposition, it is just fighting with itself. There is nothing visible which gives any hope for Congress. Each leader is going his own direction having forgotten completely the party discipline and direction.
With much of hypocrisy of shedding the dynasty, Congress is back to Sonia surrendering everything at stake and again proving beyond doubt that the party can not see beyond the family. Now Sonia is placed at the helm again expecting the same miracle to happen.
But miracles do not happen always and different times demand different strategy and perhaps different people too.
BJP realised this at an apt time of history, did away with the oldies and established a new set of rules of game and entirely new set of people at the helm. And all this without exposing itself too much. It identified itself with the changing time and enhanced its capacity to not only remain relevant but change the entire narrative of the country’s polity.
Unfortunately, Congress refuses to learn anything from anywhere. It has completely shut its doors and windows and not letting any air of change come in. But if one closes his eyes from the realities, the realities remain as they are, they do not change. Be it as it may, Congress has decided to go back to the family and expect the family to go on doing miracles every time and each time.
Sonia, for one, is apparently not able to reconcile her own family and the family itself appears divided seriously. Rahul lectured too much about accountability and also about making sacrifices. He also asserted in no uncertain terms that no one from his family will either succeed him or even be part of the process of selecting his successor. Now just the opposite has happened and Rahul is just keeping mum on the development. Surely, he has not welcomed it. He must not have accepted it too. He appears to have altogether a different vision about the way the party should be run and about his own role too. Thus Rahul does not enjoy the blessings of her mother for what he has done or proposes to do in future. Priyanka might have her own vision and mission, which is under the carpet.
So will there be three power centres at the top? Will Sonia be able to make Rahul fall in her own line, which will only be to place him again at the driving seat? For if at all Rahul had all the support from his sister and mother in doing whatever he did, the mother and the sister too would have followed him in putting in the papers and letting CWC free to do whatever it liked. But that didn’t happen proving that the family is very keen on keeping it’s grip over the party.
With failing health, Sonia may not be in a position to stretch herself too much. So will Ahmed Patel be the defacto chief and will he be able to command? Or will Sonia eventually select her own person to head the party keeping Rahul a Prime Ministerial candidate!
In any case keeping Sonia at the helm will complicate the issues than solving them. This inning of her has all the risks of her being seen failing in her endeavours!
Where is the challenge? Can anyone ask her any question?