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Both the BJP and Congress have recently faced well-publicised infighting by prominent members. However, the starkly different methods in which they have been managed by the parties are also a reflection of their overall efficiency.
The BJP saw an unprecedented powerplay dissent in Uttar Pradesh and a replay of old turmoil in Karnataka. However, after the decision was taken that Yogi Adityanath has to continue and BS Yediyurappa has to go, the entire party immediately started putting up a united face publicly. The way the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combo have gracefully (willingly or unwillingly) accepted the decision about Yogi and then put their weight behind him for the forthcoming elections is particularly noteworthy. The RSS nudged Modi to even certify that Yogi has handled Covid best amongst all CMs. In this age of information transparency, everyone knows that this assertion is far from the truth. The only people believing this would be the politically brainwashed herd followers. Such a declaration by the PM is a cruel joke on the common man of UP, on India’s international credibility and on PM’s stature as a leader. Modi knows this but for BJP no price is too big to pay for electoral payoffs, even if it means making a laughing stock out of Modi’s image among the thinking, educated voters. Once UP elections are done, then they will decide what’s to be done with Yogi. Till then, no one rocks the boat and it’s all hands on deck.
Similarly, Yediyurappa publicly laughed off Modi-Shah’s efforts to dislodge him and even got a number of Seers to issue an explicit warning against changing him as Karnataka chief minister. Such public defiance was in sheer contrast to the meek and regimented way he quickly stepped down with a few TV friendly tears for effect, once he got the nudge. There was no quid pro quo. He has clearly got no sops, and even his son has not been included in the new Karnataka cabinet. It’s extremely clear that this time Yediyurappa’s exit has Nagpur’s ‘ok’ and thus there were no further discussions.
On the contrary, let’s see what Congress is up to in Punjab. It’s a state in which the incumbent Congress has no electoral challenges, perhaps the only such scenario in the last two decades of Indian politics. SAD is in disarray, BJP is nonexistent (specially post the anti-farm reform law agitation) and AAP is still clutching at the straws. Any other political party would have gone in for the kill, especially more so in a situation like what Congress finds itself today. Except for Punjab, it’s either absent, hanging on, minor ally or just decimated in the rest of the country. However, Congress had stupidly conjured up a new challenge for itself, that too completely in-house. Navjot Singh Siddhu rebelled against the CM vociferously and that too in an election year. Everyone expected the high command to give him a rap on the knuckles and tell him to behave, at least till the elections.
However, what we saw was political Harakiri of a unique kind.
Siddhu’s long festering challenge to Amarinder Singh was suddenly given a fillip by the Gandhi siblings in an inexplicable moronic political manoeuvre. Some analysts say it’s their way of bringing the Old Guard in their control, but that doesn’t cut ice with me. If that was the reason, they would have first sorted out a few of the so-called G23 members instead of a sitting CM who
has sizeable popular support, that too in a state going to polls.
For some reason, (perhaps indulgent parenting), Sonia Gandhi has not been able to drum any sense into the head of her two “heirs”. The Captain was humiliated by Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi while Siddhu continued with his antics. As a reward, the latter was made the Punjab Congress chief. Today, no one knows who calls the shots in Punjab Congress. There are wheels within wheels, and at the block or panchayat level, the grassroots worker doesn’t know whom to turn to. In a comically tragic show of self-inflicted injury, Congress is trying its best to defeat itself.
This, in a nutshell, has been the naive and juvenile Congress method of handling infighting.
The above-mentioned incidents should prepare us for the foreseeable political future in the country. BJP will only get stronger while the Congress will continue to travel down the vortex of self-destruction. As long as the Gandhi siblings are in charge, we shall see many more such self-goals from them.
Also read: SubscriberWrites: What Indian polity needs right now is magnanimity from the Modi govt
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.
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