Going through history from 1970 to 1985, the Congress was a cadre-based party valuing its workers and leaders. But the situation changed rapidly after the 1969 split when Indira Gandhi was ousted from the Congress Party by S Nijalingappa.
The Congress (I) became a dominant party, emerged victorious after that and Indira Gandhi’s leadership turned into a “personality cult” in the span between the Bangladesh Liberation War and Emergency. Congress turned deeply towards dynastic politics when Rajiv Gandhi was made PM.
Old Guard vs Young Turks
Let’s look towards the Congress Party’s history. We get that whenever there is a leadership crisis, the party looks towards the Gandhi family, and this is what happened in the 2019 CWC meeting when Sonia Gandhi was made interim president. Weren’t there other leaders from the Congress other than the Gandhis to lead the party? Yes, there were leaders like Bhupesh Baghel (now Chhattisgarh CM), Captain Amarinder Singh, Shashi Tharoor, etc., but no one from the party dared to speak against the “choice”.
Rahul Gandhi And Factionalism
The failure of Rahul Gandhi is out in the open. People are no longer impressed by the part-time twitter politics of his as well as Priyanka Gandhi. The party image has turned into a family-run, one boss company from a worker-cadre based political party. The consequences are fatal. The INC is hardly getting 50–55 MPs elected and it is getting more difficult for them to safeguard the state governments where Congress is in power. Rajasthan is a fine example.
The problem within the Congress is that whenever people look at it as an alternative to the BJP, they disappoint the people with their actions. The open factionalism between the family loyalists and Congress loyalists is visible all over in this internet era.
The INC should accept that they lost the Northeast due to the resignation of dynamic Himanta Biswa Sarma when the “Pidi dog” incident happened, and also due to Rahul Gandhi’s ignorance in solving the local leaders’ issues.
Another setback to Congress was when Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party for the BJP. Modi met him personally and people watched it live. But on the other hand, it is widely known that Rahul Gandhi delays meetings frequently with top leaders. Rahul Gandhi failed again to settle the issue in Madhya Pradesh. The result is known to everyone. The INC government fell and BJP took over.
Upward Mobility
It’s common sense that anyone wants upward mobility in their career, whether it be corporate or political, and the BJP offers that. The best example of this is PM Modi himself. He started his political career as an RSS worker and then came into mainstream politics. The party gave him what he deserved. He became the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP and gave them a historic majority in the elections.
Whenever the old Turks and party loyalists speak of reform in the party, the family loyalists counter them openly. The country needs a strong visible opposition leader who can strongly build up the organisation structure, understand the sentiments and the political mindset of the people, and most importantly, work to keep factionalism and internal strife at bay. The party should not be ignorant about people’s opposition to Rahul Gandhi as well as Sonia Gandhi’s leadership.
People still consider Sonia Gandhi, a foreigner and Rahul Gandhi, an undeserving candidate. There are reasons for that, partly due to BJP propaganda against him as “Pappu” and largely due to his failure in state and Loksabha elections. People are looking for a “face” that could be a potential challenge to the BJP leadership in 2022 and 2024.
Way Ahead
Choosing a “non-Gandhi” leader as full-time president is the need of the time, but it is also important to ensure that the president is not a “puppet” of the Gandhi family. The party needs an urgent “Kamaraj” type plan for revival.
If the Congress is not ready to change, the Aam Aadmi Party is there to fill the vacuum in 2024. Now Sonia Gandhi has to elect a full time “non-Gandhi” president of the INC before the UP elections and make the “supreme sacrifice” for the party’s future.
This article was first published here.