New Delhi: Since the days of Indira Gandhi, things have not changed for the Congress. It has been going on as usual for ages. First they make the mountain of a molehill and then clamour that the Congress has no future beyond the family of Gandhi. Amid chanting of mantras, the family members of Gandhi are adored as gods and the whole of the Congress party is projected as their devotee. This is precisely what has happened in the Congress now. It is a proven fact that the Congress can accept only someone from Gandhi family as its leader, and no one else is acceptable. If not Sonia Gandhi, then Rahul Gandhi! Priyanka Gandhi is currently a reserve force.
There is an old saying that the world cannot move without Shri Ram and Shri Ram cannot do anything without Hanuman. This truth also applies to the 135 years old Congress party, which has been in power for the longest time in independent India. The Congress cannot imagine life without Gandhi and the Gandhi family cannot think of doing anything without a team of 'yes men', who are a group of half a dozen trusted managers, who know how to cause pain and then give medicines as well. It is these people who organise Urs in the glory of the Pir of mausoleum. In the language of media, they are also called coterie. They are the real high command who give suggestions, make decisions and keep the leadership afloat by organizing slogans-shouting crowd for the leadership.
This culture was alive in the Congress even during the time of Indira Gandhi, but the only difference lied in the fact that she herself was aware of the ground realities of the entire country. She knew the importance and utility of all in the party and who were satraps with a strong support base in their state. She was not only aware of these things but also had a fair understanding of their nitty-gritty. She was familiar with the strings of politics and used to monitor the people's pulse quite closely. Therefore, she was adept in meeting all the challenges within the party and knew how to compete in the field of politics as well.
It will be unfair on our part if we expect from Sonia Gandhi the maturity and political sagacity of Indira Gandhi. That is why she needs a coterie to be helped out. She is dependent on them for all her decisions. All this certainly helped her in maintaining her clout, but caused a huge damage to India's grand old party.
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The 'yes men' in the Congress had a great time during the last two decades of Indian politics. During the ten years of the UPA-led Central government, a false aura of the high command was floated and maintained. The accountability was kept limited but only to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the 'high command's establishment' remained active behind the scenes. This brief history of the Congress is being repeated here to make it easier for you to understand why a ship called the Congress is sinking now. Why is this ship getting topsy-turvy against the wave of the political sea? Why is this ship not able to face Narendra Modi and the political storm caused by him? Why is Rahul Gandhi not able to come out of the BJP's 'Pappu' cobweb weaved around him?
Why do the Congress managers pretend seriousness but hardly make any concrete collective attempts in making Rahul Gandhi successful? It is not happening because Rahul Gandhi is not Sonia Gandhi. Rahul might not have got the aura of a powerful public leader, but as the president of the Congress party he was able to understand the role of coterie, internal nitty-gritty and the organizational complications involved in party units across the country. After the party's disastrous performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul held review meetings for many days. He listened to the views and grievances of workers from the states. All this brought the real picture of the party before him. He took no time to understand that the party cannot be revived without freeing it from its managers, and from here began the fierce battle in the Congress.
In an effort to strengthen the Congress, Rahul started sidelining the coterie of Sonia Gandhi and began building a new team. In other but clear terms, Rahul took on Sonia Gandhi's powerful political secretary Ahmed Patel and his soldiers. It was a well intended move on the part of Rahul Gandhi, but for want of experience and exposure, he began making mistakes too. He got surrounded by the young leaders studied in Oxford and Harvard Universities, who were influenced by western ways of doing politics. These young leaders were not conversant with the traditional principles of India's grand 135-year old party. Surveys, interviews and parameters were adopted as norms in running the party. The nomination culture was stopped in the party's youth and student wings. Elections were adopted to appoint office-bearers. All this did not go down well with the status-quoists in the Congress.
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Rahul did not stop here. He started installing young leaders of his choice as the party's state unit presidents. The party's established old satraps took the act as an affront and challenge for themselves. Let us understand this with an example. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was Haryana's chief minister for 10 years, did never accept Dr Ashok Tanwar as the president of the party's state unit. The matter culminated in the controversy over the attack on Dr Tanwar. Ultimately, Dr Tanwar left the Congress party.
Between 2014 and 2019, Rahul Gandhi made all possible efforts to reorganize the party. It was also the time for him to prove his potential as an effective opposition leader. Rahul is not a very good orator. For want of good home work, many times he cuts a sorry figure at parliamentary platforms. This can be attributed to the fact that he is not accustomed to required political acumen and does not have real experience, which one gets from the struggle at the ground level. So, when he hugs Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha, instead of getting appreciated he becomes a butt of ridicule. Modi is a master of all political traits, while Rahul has proved himself to be a 'Pappu' in which the Congress veterans saw an opportunity for themselves. They felt that Rahul should accept them as his mentors in the Congress and then they would give him good suggestions.
Young and determined, Rahul prefers going to a Vipassana camp to de-stress himself instead of getting entangled in bizarre ruthless politics. His mother Sonia Gandhi understood everything. That is why in between she kept appointing her faithfuls in screening committees and selection committees created for the selection of candidates for the assembly elections so that the 'shop' of these leaders remain intact.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat. Rahul Gandhi faced severe criticism not only from the media but also from the party. Owning the moral responsibility for the party's debacle in the parliamentary elections, he resigned from the post of party president. It was unprecedented for the Congress, but the coterie was a happy lot. Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram, AK Antony, Moti Lal Vohra and others succeeded in making Sonia Gandhi the interim president of the Congress. It is worth noting here that if these leaders had not been able to make Priyanka Gandhi a party general secretary and thus a part of the high command, then Rahul would have prevailed upon making someone of his choice as the party president, which the coterie might not have liked. Priyanka persuaded her mother to accept the post of interim party president so that the leadership stays with the Gandhi family.
Now, let us come to the latest developments in the Congress, which have taken many by surprise. The letter written by 23 party leaders has created a ruckus within the party. If I say that this was a calculated and planned move of the party's 'supreme manager' Ahmed Patel, it is quite likely that many people would not be able to digest it. But as has been stated earlier, the members of the coterie first give pain and then medicines as well. Patel is the Chief General Manager of the Congress, whom Rahul has been bypassing him for a long time. However, Priyanka and Sonia still follow his advice completely. There was fear that Rahul was still in favour of passing on the leadership to someone from outside the Gandhi family. In order to thwart Rahul's plan, the coterie scripted the whole plan.
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Since the days of Indira Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad has been an important Congress leader. He is considered as a great survivor. He is the only leader who has continuously been a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). As a general secretary, he has been the general secretary of almost every state. His Rajya Sabha tenure is coming to an end. Azad is not Ahmed Patel that he will get the RS ticket for the fifth time in a row. He is not even Digvijaya Singh who has the support of many MLAs and the party will take the risk of not sending him to the Upper House. He is not even Dr Manmohan Singh.
Now the problem arises that Rahul Gandhi by using his influence got KC Venugopal and Rajeev Satav, who are said to be close to him, elected to the Rajya Sabha. Leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma felt that this was wrong. Mallikarjun Kharge likes Rahul Gandhi. He was earlier made the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Now, he has been sent to the Rajya Sabha. With Ghulam Nabi Azad retiring, it is quite possible that Rahul will make him the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. This is the only pain of dissidents. In the Lok Sabha, Rahul made Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, who hails from West Bengal, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP). Manish Tiwari thinks that he should have been made the LoP, whereas Rahul is angry with him because at the time of 2014 elections, Manish refused to contest the election citing illness as a reason, but he was scared of losing the poll.
Similarly, Vivek Tankha has the misconception that he is a big leader and he should be made the president of Madhya Pradesh party unit. All of them expressed their displeasure privately. The managers smelt an opportunity in all this. They used the opportunity against Rahul, which they have used when Sonia Gandhi's term as an interim president was coming to an end. Their strategy is if Rahul Gandhi wants to make someone of his choice as party president, then question his ability to lead and way of functioning. It seems that their arrow has hit the target. Despite Rahul's unwillingness, Sonia has been made to continue as the interim president till the plenary session of the party in which the working committee members and then the party the president is elected. The equation of adjustment will be scripted. An impression is being created that there can be a revolt against the Gandhi family due to which Sonia will come under pressure. As a result, the party veterans along with Rahul’s men will also be taken care of. In that condition, even if Rahul is made the party president, the veto power will remain with Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.
Thus, the Congress is left with only three options – Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul. It is also true that it will not be possible for the Gandhi family to give their kingly control over the Congress. Rahul is also talking about his sacrifice to preserve his own political relevance. The ambition of Priyanka Gandhi is in the public domain. Till 2024, the Congress will be busy setting its own house in order and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after performing puja at Ram Temple, will embark on seeking votes for one more term. It is, however, worth mentioning that the Congressmen have no parallels on the earth in terms of optimism. Instead of fighting for the people on streets, they fight among themselves for their hegemony within the party. They love to say that as and when Modi or BJP makes a mistake, then we are the only alternative, and will return to power again.
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