Congress remains undecided, unmoved & static, writes Satraajit Pal Choudhury

Dec. 27: Two successive defeats in Lok Sabha polls have failed to convince the top brass of Congress leadership that something is amiss in the party and the missing links need to be filled up soon.

The culture of sycophancy in Congress has brought the party to its lowest ebb. The fact is, in today’s India, the ‘Gandhis’ of Congress have lost both their charisma and appeal. Rahul Gandhi has failed to retain Amethi in 2019—the family turf—it’s really weird to see that even after his defeat from his family pocket borough a miniscule section within Congress is still clamouring for his leadership.

Please excuse this scribe for using this harsh word. The reality is Rahul Gandhi is a reluctant politician and most importantly his tired leadership clearly indicates that he doesn’t have the fire in his belly to be an astute leader.
In short he is no match for Narendra Modi—a man who has mastered the art of swimming against the tide. Late Congress veteran and former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi gave his nod for a Congress-All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) alliance for the ensuing Assam elections.

Much to the utter dismay of many Congress sympathizers All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Assam observer Jitendra Singh while addressing mediapersons in Guwahati asserted that till now the party has not decided on this proposed alliance.

This flip-flop culture in Congress has cost the party states like Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Goa. The sidelining of Congress veterans like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma among others is being considered as a punishment for daring to raise their voice before ‘Madam’ Sonia Gandhi.

These ‘dissenters’ have called for structural changes in Congress party because they are rationalists and have read the writing on the wall. To be precise Congress follows a feudal culture. If today, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as a strong and dominant political force in India, the credit will have to be attributed to its strong regional satraps.

Leadership in any party is expected to be continuous. The recent astounding performance of BJP in civic polls in Telangana shows that BJP has emerged as the main opposition party in the territory of K C Chandra Shekhar Rao (KCR).

The political scientists often talk about Indian federalism. Unfortunately none of our astute political scientists have been able to strike out the main flaw in our federalism. On paper we are a multi-party democracy. In reality all the regional political parties in India are family run entities. Be it Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar.
Keeping aside few first political families in BJP—in reality the top post in saffron parivar is totally open for all. Its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will certainly not allow the domination of either any one particular leader or one family in BJP.

This puts BJP on a different pedestal. Let’s take the example of Cachar Congress. This Congress unit has been considered as the fiefdom of Devs.
Following the death of Sontosh Mohan Dev, his daughter Sushmita has taken over the reins of the party in Cachar. Undoubtedly she is qualified and strong enough to be a leader. But can this culture be accepted?

Her leadership has been questioned by members of her own party. The drama orchestrated by Cachar Congress general secretary Javed Aktar Laskar before Jitendra Singh is still afresh in the minds of common people. At Sonai too Sushmita had to encounter one more rebellion. This feudal culture in Congress is spoiling the oldest political party. If this issue is not addressed at the earliest, the grand old party will go into oblivion.

A strong democracy calls for a strong and visible opposition. At this juncture, Congress is at a crossroad. It needs a matured leadership. It needs a decisive leadership who will have the guts to call spade a spade. Congress’ dismal performance in Bihar Assembly polls rocked the boat of RJD. Frankly speaking, today Congress has become a politically untouchable party.
If Congress wishes to be a serious political heir apparent to the resurgent BJP, it will have to shun the Nehruvian model and follow a pragmatic approach.

Last but not the least, it needs a genuine mass leader and not an imposed leader. In Congress most of the leaders are born with a silver spoon. India of 1947 has changed completely. The ‘gen next’ voters expect a leader from amongst themselves who can speak their language and understand their dreams and aspirations.
Meanwhile, BJP under Modi has shunned the image of Atal—Advani era. With its well-oiled election machinery, BJP is stretching its arms in unconquered states like West Bengal.

This attitude of today’s BJP reminds us of late South African legendary President Nelson Mandela’s thought provoking quote, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” But am embattled Congress is undecided, unmoved and static.