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As Narendra Modi becomes India’s second-longest consecutively serving Prime Minister, we look at how he compares with Indira Gandhi across four key dimensions.
Questions like, “Who are we”, and “What do we stand for” now for Congressmen to ask themselves have a unanimous and easy answer from them, regardless of their seniority, legal standing, academic brilliance and planning expertise: “We are what we are only because of “The Family”. We will do whatever it takes to keep the Family in power and do as they would have us do. We stand only for the political dominance of the Family over India.” Under such auspices, what price ‘opportunity’? When has Congress ever profited from lessons taught by its political vicissitudes?
Political parties need charismatic, inspiring leaders. Also a dedicated cadre. At the moment, the Congress is falling far behind the BJP on both fronts.
A well articulated study and guiding too. After H O Hume had established the party with a vision of liberty and freedom, Congress perhaps never thought of providing it with an ideology – it had various programmes and roadmaps but not an ideology ever. It could implement it’s programmes and achieve roadmaps and went on reaping the crops largely on the seeds of independence movement that it steered successfully. Since it went on winning election after election based on its history and the star value of it’s dynamic leaders commanding individual love from the countrymen, it did not feel it need an ethos to rest up on.
Besides Congres has been a cluster of ideologies of individuals and groups and it never cared who cherished which ideas. It had with it the rightists, centerists and leftists – all very well nourishing with. Yes, a bit left to centre has been a prominent thinking.
Since it did not have any ideology, it never had a think tank and training platform for it’s workers like RSS for BJP. That is why whenever Congress has been out of power it has no content to go ahead except finding fault with the govt.
BJP mainly and solely had been seen as party of traders . But Modi ji has added lot of value to it. He stole Gandhi from the Congress and stole the pro poor ethos and programmes from it too. None before Modi ji spoke that much about the poor, not even a leader as popular as Vajpayee ji. He virtually made it a slogan for BJP, which the party did not have. He has started invoking Gandhi too frequently – much more frequently than anyone from Congress. His Jandhan and Ujjwala became more popular than Congress’s pro poor programme – this may be seen as the better PR capacity of Modi ji. Modi ji, thus, had added new feathers to BJP’s ideology. Therefore, with this Congress is now left with nothing. Pre Modi there was huge difference between outlook of Congress and BJP. Modi ji has encroached and annexed and just crossed over that boarder. It may be due to this that Congress at times appears to be encroaching BJP’s line – making Rahul ji worship in temples and terming him as Janeudhari Brahmin. But every Indian knows nobody in Nehru – Gandhi family even had known what Janeu is! Moreover, BJP has long been established as going even fanatic Hindu way, no party can infiltrate and grab that turf. So it looks awkward of Congress.
So what Congress can do? It really needs a serious mental exercise from the Congress to find and adopt an ideology – unique but compatible with it’s history and geography and it can never go to ‘right’, it can only be at the centre and explore new ‘left’. It has to rather rediscover itself and reinvent it’s base.
The authors are absolutely correct that it should be Congress’ internal research without outside intervention of academics. Since it has great roots spread over too well, it may not be too difficult for it to go for and have this …. But it has to first wake up and see for itself it own path!
Questions like, “Who are we”, and “What do we stand for” now for Congressmen to ask themselves have a unanimous and easy answer from them, regardless of their seniority, legal standing, academic brilliance and planning expertise: “We are what we are only because of “The Family”. We will do whatever it takes to keep the Family in power and do as they would have us do. We stand only for the political dominance of the Family over India.” Under such auspices, what price ‘opportunity’? When has Congress ever profited from lessons taught by its political vicissitudes?
Political parties need charismatic, inspiring leaders. Also a dedicated cadre. At the moment, the Congress is falling far behind the BJP on both fronts.
A well articulated study and guiding too. After H O Hume had established the party with a vision of liberty and freedom, Congress perhaps never thought of providing it with an ideology – it had various programmes and roadmaps but not an ideology ever. It could implement it’s programmes and achieve roadmaps and went on reaping the crops largely on the seeds of independence movement that it steered successfully. Since it went on winning election after election based on its history and the star value of it’s dynamic leaders commanding individual love from the countrymen, it did not feel it need an ethos to rest up on.
Besides Congres has been a cluster of ideologies of individuals and groups and it never cared who cherished which ideas. It had with it the rightists, centerists and leftists – all very well nourishing with. Yes, a bit left to centre has been a prominent thinking.
Since it did not have any ideology, it never had a think tank and training platform for it’s workers like RSS for BJP. That is why whenever Congress has been out of power it has no content to go ahead except finding fault with the govt.
BJP mainly and solely had been seen as party of traders . But Modi ji has added lot of value to it. He stole Gandhi from the Congress and stole the pro poor ethos and programmes from it too. None before Modi ji spoke that much about the poor, not even a leader as popular as Vajpayee ji. He virtually made it a slogan for BJP, which the party did not have. He has started invoking Gandhi too frequently – much more frequently than anyone from Congress. His Jandhan and Ujjwala became more popular than Congress’s pro poor programme – this may be seen as the better PR capacity of Modi ji. Modi ji, thus, had added new feathers to BJP’s ideology. Therefore, with this Congress is now left with nothing. Pre Modi there was huge difference between outlook of Congress and BJP. Modi ji has encroached and annexed and just crossed over that boarder. It may be due to this that Congress at times appears to be encroaching BJP’s line – making Rahul ji worship in temples and terming him as Janeudhari Brahmin. But every Indian knows nobody in Nehru – Gandhi family even had known what Janeu is! Moreover, BJP has long been established as going even fanatic Hindu way, no party can infiltrate and grab that turf. So it looks awkward of Congress.
So what Congress can do? It really needs a serious mental exercise from the Congress to find and adopt an ideology – unique but compatible with it’s history and geography and it can never go to ‘right’, it can only be at the centre and explore new ‘left’. It has to rather rediscover itself and reinvent it’s base.
The authors are absolutely correct that it should be Congress’ internal research without outside intervention of academics. Since it has great roots spread over too well, it may not be too difficult for it to go for and have this …. But it has to first wake up and see for itself it own path!