CONGRESS MUST ALLOW RAHUL GANDHI TO STEP DOWN NOW
By Harihar Swarup
The Congress has taken a wise decision by choosing a person outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. The Parliamentary core committee picked five-time MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, as the leader even though it was widely believed that the post would go to Rahul Gandhi. Rahul was present at the core committee meeting. Adhir Ranjan represents Berhampore constituency of West Bengal and is known to be a bitter critic of Mamata Banerjee. The BJP has decided not to give the status of the leader of the Opposition to the Congress because the party’s tally of 52 seats fell short of the requisite number 55.
Rahul Gandhi has resigned as the Congress President owning responsibility for the rout of the party in the recent Lok Sabha election, and has been insisting on stepping down. Will he be allowed to go or persuaded to continue? A section of the party feels that he should continue in the overall interest of the Congress. Equally strongly, the other section feels that his resignation should give a chance to someone outside the dynasty.
Despite the slump in its fortune, the Congress is the only centre-piece, even today, around which opposition at the national level can coalesce. Regional parties will play a role but only up to a point. For a start, the Congress should honour Rahul’s resignation and allow him to step down. It would be a real charade that the Congress has been mounting in the past, if it persuades him to continue.
This time it will not only deepen the cynicism about a party already facing an existentialist crisis, it might also finish Rahul Gandhi’s political career. On the other hand, if he holds firm—he also said that his sister Priyanka Gandhi should not be made Congress President in his place—he may win the respect of some, and live to fight another day.
Even if the decision turns out to be a mistake, it is always better to have erred, following an inner steer, than the cacophony of voices outside. If nothing else, Rahul Gandhi would be ensuring accountability. Equally important, he would be respecting the sentiments of dynasty, which was implicit in the 2019 mandate, particularly among the young and first time voters.
Many apprehend that Rahul’s exit may cause more problems than solve. For, in the way the Congress is structured, it is Nehru-Gandhi family which has kept the party united, and won it votes though the latter is now diluted. The party, however, need not split if the president is chosen by consensus, and has backing of Nehru-Gandhi family. With the wipeout in 18 states, the Congress leaders have to pull themselves up and hang together — or be forced to walk into sunset.
There are enough talents in the Congress who can head the party, and this time it can be somebody from the South, since southern states have stood by the Congress more than North and the West.
The delay in deciding either way has only deepened the insecurities in the party. As it is, the exit of leaders has started, what with 12 of 18 of its legislators gravitating to the TRS in Telangana, the party’s leader of opposition in Maharashtra moving across to the BJP and more are likely to follow. Defeat has unsheathed knives inside the organization, be it in Rajasthan, or in Haryana and this is given when a party weakens.
Talk to ordinary folks, in towns and villages, and they are clear about the two reasons for the Congress’s woes: Congressmen and women have forgotten how to work hard. And the Congress has lost touch with the reality.
The Congress was always a party of patronage but it has over the years become no more than a conglomerate of comfortable men and women pursuing their individual agendas, interesting in amassing wealth given half a chance, and promoting their progeny. After all it is the guilty men and women of UPA who brought Modi to power in 2014. Even today, the party’s leading lights are not willing to go beyond ‘money’, ‘media’ and ‘marketing’ as the only reason for Modi magic. They discount the fire in Modi-Shah belly not just another stint in power, but to wield absolute power and leave a historical legacy, recasting India in accordance with their ideological world view. There is no counter to it from the Congress side. The implication of outcome 2019 has been more far reaching for the Congress than the BJP. As a beginning, the party has to democratize the decision-making processes. Why should not Rahul Gandhi work as an ordinary general secretary? Priyanka Gandhi as general secretary in charge of East UP, has already been tasked with winning UP for the Congress in 2022. May be Rahul Gandhi can undertake a padayatra going around the country, with folded hands, only to understand what young and old India has to say about Congress mistakes and what should it do.
Perhaps, the new narrative that the Congress seeks will emerge from such a process—of looking to the ground for solutions, and emergence of leaders from there. For entitlement is also elitism, just as it is about a name opening doors. And, about a culture which leaves everything to High Command. Should there be a place for High Command in a modern, democratic organization? Should decisions be left only to the Congress President? Or, to Sonia Gandhi, who soon after she was elected chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party, was authorized to decide who should be leader in both houses of Parliament? Should not this decision be taken by a presidium of leaders, which is under consideration?
The sooner the Congress takes a decision on who should head the party, and knuckles down to preparations for the elections that lie three months down the line, in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, the better for it. The party has fared better in recent elections (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and in local elections in Karnataka) than in national polls, and that may be the way to go. It is, after all, winning elections, which provides the adrenaline to any party, and can arrest the outflow of leaders.
And who knows, Rahul Gandhi’s resignation may unleash processes, which starts to dismantle — at least dilute—dynastic structure in other political outfits, which have become family fiefs. (IPA Service)