The buzz created by the possibility of PK joining the Congress had greatly excited the party supporters
The Congress’ refusal to give a free hand to poll strategist Prashant Kishor to revamp the party organization for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is on the expected line. Over the years, the decision-making space in Congress has been occupied by ageing Rs squatters' who have no connection with the masses and have become largely irrelevant to the party. But these Rs squatters', who are bereft of idea or energy to take on the mammoth challenge posed by the BJP, would not vacate the space for a new entrant — fresh blood with a new idea. The tag of the Congress general secretary, vice president, or office bearer is enough to massage their egos as they refuse to confront the fast-changing political landscape of the country. The buzz created by the possibility of Kishor joining the grand old party excited the Congress workers, but the squatters of the Rs Delhi durbar’ made sure that Kishor is offered such a raw deal that he would not accept it. In place of PK, anyone else would have also received the same cold response from the party. These leaders did pretty little to reverse the steady decline of the party’s fortune during the last 25 years or so. Kishor wanted to play the role of a “disruptor” and give a shock therapy that Congress needed badly. The decayed and moribund setup could not motivate either the workers or the leaders. It’s time Congress came out with a narrative that gave confidence to its sympathizers about its revival. Today, millions of hard-core Congress sympathizers have started voting for other parties because they don’t want to end up supporting a candidate who would be competing with NOTA.
Kishor rightly argued for a non-Congress party president to blunt the age of “pariwarvad’ hurled by the BJP. This is also important because Rahul Gandhi tends to do the vanishing act every now and then when the party needs him most. Even in the middle of such intense debate within the party over PK, Rahul went on a week-long foreign trip. A week is a long time in politics, and Congress needs a 24x7 president. Under the circumstances, Congress needed someone like Prashant Kishor more than vice versa. Now that the PK chapter is over and the Congress puts the focus back on its proposed Chintan shivir in Rajasthan, those who sabotaged the prospects of Kishor joining the party must take the responsibility for fixing its problems in several states. To start with, Sachin Pilot is still sulking as no effort has been made to sort out the mess in Rajasthan. There is no clarity on Congress –RJD alliance in Bihar or the party’s stand on Hardik Patel in Gujarat. These are but a few examples of inaction. The experience of the past has shown that the present leadership was grossly incompetent in dealing with these challenges. In the final analysis, Congress may regret shutting the door on PK.