Led by Rahul, Congress moves from disaster to greater disaster

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressing a rally. Photo: Facebook

The Congress story is turning from bad to worse by the day due to Rahul Gandhi’s ostrich-like approach. For many, the outcome of the civic polls in Mumbai, parts of Maharashtra, and Odisha is a precursor of what is perhaps in the store for India's Grand Old Party in the five State Assembly elections. If the Rahul-led Congress fails to win in Punjab or be on the winning side in Uttar Pradesh,  his elevation as Congress president will get tougher in both moral and practical terms even within the Congress. The options before 10, Janpath will be to either draft Priyanka Gandhi formally in the party or for Sonia Gandhi to over-rule her own decision and remain AICC president. Either of the options may provide temporary reprieve to the family but is unlikely to provide any strength to the party. Rahul is himself to be blamed for the sorry state of the party. It is shocking and baffling that a man who strongly advocated transparency and inner-party democracy, has been oblivious of sentiments of his own partymen at all levels of the organisational hierarchy. His decision to align with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh was not discussed or debated at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting or the AICC, UPCC forum. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016, opinion was divided within the Congress whether to welcome it cautiously, wait and watch, or oppose it tooth and nail. Rahul, instead of waiting for independent ground level reports, took a hasty call, terming it anti-poor and anti-farmer.  While there is no denying that the absence of cash did cause a lot of hardship, many did not question Modi’s overt attempts to check black money. Sanjay Kumar, director CSDS who conducted the Uttar Pradesh opinion poll survey for ABP News in January 2017, came with a startling finding that demonetisation was not a factor in this election. He pegged it to merely 4 per cent respondents citing it  as a poll issue. The question that begs an answer is if CSDS could gauge the public mood, how and why did a political party that bagged 10 crore votes in 2014 and boasts of two crore members, fail to assess it? The Congress's failure in Maharashtra and Odisha is a result of the party’s redundant high command culture. It was an open secret that Sanjay Nirupam was not an acceptable face as Mumbai Regional Congress head. Rahul, instead of taking a judicious call in an intra-party feud, tried to force Nirupam and at the same time sought to good humour veteran Gurudas Kamat. The result was disastrous. Lack of accountability is eating the vitals of the Congress organisation. In Congress circles, AICC general secretary Mohan Prakash is referred to as "Ulta Paras" for his alleged ability to convert every opportunity into a failure. (Paras is a mythical rock that can turn stone into gold). Prakash is handling party affairs in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and a few other States where the Congress has been losing constantly and badly. The story of the BJP winning Madhya Pradesh civic polls in 2015  in spite of Vyapam scam is worthy of a case study. Lacking in resources and poll preparedness, Rahul’s Congress did nothing to encash middle-class growing disenchantment with Shivraj Singh Chouhan regime. The entire Congress leadership, including regional satraps, continued to stay stationed in New Delhi, pulling strings to ensure their minions got party tickets and rewards for their sub-loyalty. What is worse for the Congress  is that both Sonia and Rahul have remained blind to the idea of accommodating intermediary castes into all levels of party hierarchy.  Instead, they have chosen to remain what Sharad Pawar had derisively described the Congress as  in 1997 -- a party of “teen miyan ek Meira.”  Pawar, fighting against Sitaram Kesari for AICC chief’s post had referred to Kesari’s reliance on Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Tariq Anwar and Meira Kumar (all top AICC functionaries then).  Any Congress insider would tell you that even now, the situation has changed little and rootless wonders are still calling the shots. Room number 39, actually a makeshift barrack, situated right at the entrance of 24, Akbar Road that houses the Congress. The Congress story is getting bad to worse by the day due to Rahul Gandhi’s ostrich-like approach. For many, the outcome of civic polls in Mumbai, parts of Maharashtra and Odisha is a precursor of what is perhaps in the store for the grand old part in five state assembly polls.  If Rahul–led Congress fails to win in Punjab or be on the winning side in Uttar Pradesh,  his elevation as Congress president will get tougher in both moral and practical terms even within the Congress.  The options before 10, Janpath will be to either draft Priyanka Gandhi formally in the party or Sonia over-rule herself to stay as AICC chief. These recipes may provide temporary reprieve to the family but unlikely to provide any strength to the party. Rahul is himself to be blamed for the sorry state of the party. It is shocking and baffling that a man who strongly advocated transparency and inner party democracy, has been oblivious of sentiments of his own partymen at all levels of hierarchy. His decision to align with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh was not discussed or debated at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting or AICC, UPCC forum. When prime minister Narendra Modi announced demonetization on November 8, 2016, opinion was divided within the Congress whether to welcome it cautiously, wait and watch or oppose it tooth and nail. Rahul was hot on heels. Instead of waiting for independent ground level reports, Rahul took a call terming it anti poor and anti agrarian economy.  While there is no denying that absence of cash did cause lot of hardship, many did not question Modi’s overt attempts to check black money. Sanjay Kumar, director CSDS who conducted Uttar Pradesh poll survey for ABP News in January 2017 came with a startling finding that demonetization was not a factor in UP polls. He pegged it to a factor cited by respondents as a poll issue merely by 4 per cent. The question that begs an answer is if Sanjay and CSDS could gauge public mood, how and why a political party that bagged 10 crore votes in 2014 and boasts of two crore members, failed to assess it? The Congress failure in Maharashtra and Odisha is a result of party’s redundant high command culture. It was an open secret that Sanjay Nirupam was not an acceptable face as Mumbai Regional Congress head. Rahul, instead of taking a judicious call in an intra-party feud, tried to force Nirupam and at the same time, sought to good humour veteran Gurudas Kamat. The result was disastrous. Lack of accountability is eating vitals of Congress organisation. In Congress circles, AICC general secretary Mohan Prakash is referred to as "Ulta Paras" for his alleged ability to convert every opportunity into a failure. (Paras is a mythical rock that can turns stone into gold). Prakash handling party affairs in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and a few other states where the Congress has been losing constantly and badly. The story of BJP winning Madhya Pradesh civic polls in 2015  inspite of Vyapam scam is worthy of a case study. Lacking in resources and poll preparedness, Rahul’s Congress did nothing to encash middle-class growing disenchantment with Shivraj Singh Chouhan regime. The entire Congress leadership including regional satraps continue to stay stationed in New Delhi, pulling strings to ensure their minions get party tickets and rewards for their sub-loyalty. What is worse for the Congress  is that both Sonia and Rahul have remained blind to the idea of accommodating intermediary castes into all levels of party hierarchy.  Instead, they have chosen what Sharad Pawar had derisively described Congress  in 1997 as a party of “teen miyan ek Meira.”  Pawar, fighting against Sitaram Kesri for AICC chief’s post had referred to Kesri’s reliance on Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Tariq Anwar and Meira Kumar (all top AICC functionaries then).  Any Congress insider would tell you that even now, the situation has changed little and rootless wonders are still calling the shots. Room number 39, actually a makeshift barrack, situated right at the entrance of 24, Akbar Road that houses the Congress’s national headquarters, claims itself to be the office of the “Central Election Authority.” A room that is not even 6X4 feet, boasts of conducting free and fair polls of an organisation claiming to have over 20 million members! This alone pictures the sorry state of affairs in the Congress. Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.