Rahul Gandhi’s exit: Will Congress make its tryst with destiny?

This time around the party seems to be reconciling to Gandhi’s exit with party sources indicating that there will be a new party chief within a week.

In his letter, the 49-year old Gandhi scion dwelt at length on his ideological differences with the ruling dispensation, raised concerns about the well-being of farmers, youths, Dalits and minorities and concluded with a clarion call to his party to ‘radically transform’ itself.

At the first meeting of the party’s working committee post polls wherein the party could manage to win a meagre 52 seats, Rahul had taken potshots at top leaders including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram for concentrating on the success of their sons who were contesting the polls rather than on the party candidates. But critics wondered whether being a dynast himself, was Rahul being fair to his party colleagues? Why in the first place did he allow them to get party tickets and if they were indeed only focusing on their wards, couldn’t he have ticked them off during the campaign itself?

But the bigger question is whether Rahul is running away from responsibility and is looking for scapegoats? Is his argument the only cause of the party’s debacle? Is quitting at a time the party has to gear up for the upcoming Assembly elections a solution? Or has he finally realised that he just does not have it in him to take on the Narendra Modi-led party within and outside the Parliament? If so, shouldn’t the party respect the decision? Questions galore.

Critics of the Nehru-Gandhi family have been heaping the blame for the defeat on the family’s head while many in the Opposition ranks firmly believe that Rahul’s continuation as the party chief alone can ensure a ‘Congress Mukt’ Bharat. True, Congress cannot be considered a democratic party by any means so long as it remains dynasty driven yet the fact remains that only someone from the clan can hold the flock together. Even with the family at the helm of affairs, the party could not arrive at a consensus on chief ministerial candidates in the last Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with too many aspirants eyeing the top job and uneasy compromises were made post-elections following the intervention of the family. Satraps such as Punjab’s Capt. Amarinder Singh care two hoot about the high command. In the aforesaid scenario, will the internecine feuds further escalate if the family takes a back seat?

Yet, can the Congress afford an incompetent leadership in the face of an aggressive BJP led by Modi and the almost invincible Amit Shah? Health does not permit Sonia anymore to handle the pressures of being at the helm of affairs and Priyanka has proved to be a non-starter as was evident from her recent performance in eastern UP.

Apart from the Modi factor, which played a critical role in BJP’s landslide victory, the saffron party’s

well-oiled machinery too played a significant role in taking the party’s programmes to the voters at large and bringing the voter to the booth. Once upon a time, there was hardly a village across the country which did not have a Congress man. But then the Congress (Indira) is not the Indian National Congress led by stalwarts of the freedom movement. Among the first tasks before the Congress is to revive the party organisation at the grassroots level.

In his letter, Gandhi said most of his colleagues suggested that he should nominate the next Congress president. “While it is important for someone new to lead the party, it would not be correct for me to select that person".

Does it indicate a non-Gandhi may take charge of the grand old party that has mostly been headed by members of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty?

The party, therefore, will have to elect someone who can take the Modi Juggernaut head on even as it plays the role of a constructive opposition. He or she has to be someone who would not only the party’s dilapidated organisation but also its ideology, which over the years seems to have been outsourced to the Left parties and anarchists. The leader should be able to command the respect of the other opposition parties as also the ruling coalition. Will the Nehru-Gandhis show large heartedness to bring in such a candidate overcoming kinship and any desire to remote control? Or will they be looking for another yes man, another accidental President and create another power centre akin to the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi during the prime ministerial tenure of Dr Manmohan Singh?

If so, the party stares at a bleak future. Apart from electing a dynamic leader, the party also needs a thorough introspection and a systemic overhaul. It cannot be a Kamaraj Plan as the party is no more in power but yes it should look at untapped talent from the middle and lower segments of the society. It needs to fire the imagination of young India. It should not be a copycat of the BJP. People always prefer the original over the duplicate. The party should offer to the people a better alternative in terms of economic, agricultural and social policies.

India needs a strong opposition and the prime minister himself has emphasised on it. This is the grand old party’s golden opportunity to make its tryst with destiny.

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