Rahul Gandhi resigned as the Congress President following the party’s performance in the 2019 General Elections. It has always been the standard procedure, for a party-head to take moral responsibility for any poor electoral performance. However, in the kind of dynastic parties we have seen in India, this is a first. The present Indian National Congress is not the same INC which played an important part in India’s freedom struggle. Before getting to Rahul Gandhi’s resignation, let me explain why I say the present INC is not the original INC.
Indian National Congress: The True ‘Heir’
Indian National Congress, splintered in 1969 after Indira Gandhi’s expulsion from the party. The Kamaraj-led faction came to be known as ‘INC (O)’ and Indira Gandhi led INC (R). The then election commission acknowledged Congress (O) as the ‘original’ Congress party and allotted the original congress election symbol of ‘a double bull with a yoke’. Whereas Congress (R) led by Indira Gandhi was given the electoral symbol of ‘Cow with suckling calf’. The 1971 general election saw Indira Gandhi’s party sweep elections, and Kamraj’s faction was completely decimated and merged with the then Janata Party. Following these events, Indira Gandhi’s Congress gained ‘legitimacy’ as the heir to the ‘grand old party’.
Now, coming back to Rahul Gandhi’s resignation and the open letter. Going through his letter, I did not find it to be much of a ‘letter of resignation’, or of a party president taking moral responsibility for the electoral defeat. In the letter, Gandhi says that he has ‘empowered’ party members to begin the search for the next president. Is he authorized to ‘empower’ a search team after he quit?
Throughout the entire letter, it doesn’t seem like Rahul Gandhi takes any moral responsibility, rather he has made many remarks against the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and Narendra Modi. He used the term Capture of Power’. He also says that all ‘Constitutional institutions’, like the media, and even judiciary have been taken over by Narendra Modi and the BJP? The INC lost elections because of the people’s mandate. Can winning the election be equated with ‘capturing power’?
Where Does The Congress Party Go From Here?
The present Congress is not the ‘Grand Old Party’ as I said before. It seems like a show is being put up for people like Sonia Gandhi did in 2004 with her act of ‘sacrifice’. Motilal Vora, a Gandhi family loyalist, is likely to be appointed the interim president of Congress. This just goes to show how after some more farce, a party president completely loyal to the Gandhi family will finally be ‘elected’.
‘The Hand That Holds The Knife’
There is an incident I remember from 2013, to show who really holds power within the party. Rahul Gandhi trashed an ordinance that was to save convicted legislators from disqualification. Some party members, from the old guard, including Ajay Maken defended the proposed ordinance. Rahul Gandhi expressed his disagreement and Maken along with Manmohan Singh, the then PM, had to fall in line with Rahul’s intervention. All this happened when the Prime Minister was on a tour to America, just before meeting the then American president Obama. I think that this demonstrates the power of dynastic legacy within the party. Whoever ends up becoming the Congress president, the real power will be exercised by Rahul Gandhi and his family. I don’t see any immediate change in Congress’s way of functioning, rather many good leaders might leave the party to seek a better future.
What Now?
India has a strong ruling party at the moment but no strong, united opposition. History says that unopposed strong ruling parties end up with a political monopoly (and even end up as dictatorships). India does need a strong opposition leader to keep the ruling party under check, in case they deviate from their promises. I don’t think the present Congress party, or any regional party, has that credibility in the eyes of the public to create a strong opposition.
Should there be a new party? I don’t know. But what I understand is that there are a lot of dynastic parties at the regional level also which cannot form a strong opposition. Left-oriented parties? They do not hold much credibility (or relevance) in the eyes of voters today.
I do not think the opposition seats should be left empty for a long time in a vibrant democracy. I am sure that a strong opposition leader, who will unite all the different parties as Jay Prakash did, will emerge. However, I doubt if Congress will occupy this position in the future.
What Does Rahul Gandhi’s Resignation Mean for the ‘Grand Old Party’?
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