Congress President, Rahul Gandhi seems determined to step aside after taking responsibility for the Party’s poor performance in the just concluded elections. He has blamed senior leaders like Ashok Gehlot, P Chidambaram and Kamal Nath of nepotism and alleged that they were busy campaigning for their respective sons instead of thinking of the larger interests of the Party. But the Congress has no dearth of sycophants who feel safer being led by the Nehru-Gandhi scion than by anyone outside the family. The India of the 21st century is no longer enamoured by dynasty and the election results have clearly proved this. The irony is that while Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidamabaram and Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath were elected from constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Bhopal, Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot lost the polls. The Congress ended up winning just 52 seats nationwide, a mere eight seats more than its tally in 2014. Rahul Gandhi himself had to migrate to a safe seat in Wayanad because he was unsure of his win in Amethi. This should have pushed the Congress to reflect and ponder on its future course of action, rather than just going through the rigmarole of resigning as the AICC chief and then backtracking because the Congress Working Committee (CWC) refuses to accept his resignation.
The most telling example of the Congress’s dismal performance was that it could not establish its hold over Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh – states where it presently ruling. The Party drew a blank in the former and got just one seat in the latter. If this does not call for some drastic action then the Congress might as well fold up its flag. Leading political analyst and psephologist, Prof Yogendra Yadav recently passed a stinging remark on the Congress. He said that the Party should die so that a new party emerges that can take on the BJP on its own turf. He feels that the Left and Congress have lost that mandate and if India is to be a resilient democracy then it requires that the BJP and its allies in the NDA be held to account for its acts of omission and commission which the Congress and its allies failed to do this time around.
Now the Congress is also facing internal revolts in Karnataka where it is in a coalition with the JD(S). The Congress campaign chiefs of Karnakata and Amethi and the party presidents in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have also resigned following the heavy election defeat. This attrition is set to get worse. But will the Congress Party adopt pragmatic steps or will this season of reflection also end in a whimper as always with things remaining the same?