This refers to the article, “Running with hares and hunting with hounds” (March 26) by Balbir Punj. The writer has rightly underlined the hollowness and irrelevance of the Indian National Congress' 84th plenary session at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in New Delhi. A large gathering of Congress workers assembled at the plenary session that took place after several years, but ended with a lot of noise about Congress chief Rahul Gandhi leading his party to a long-awaited but elusive victory in 2019 general election.
There was no indication that the grand old party undertook a badly-needed self-introspection for wide-spread electoral failures it has suffered in recent years, even after the so-called youthful leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Although the usual economic and political resolutions were adopted at the plenary, but the tone and emphasis seemed old and ineffective, hardly inspiring the workers for the huge challenges that lie ahead.
During his Karnataka visit, Rahul Gandhi did pursue his new-found ‘love for Hinduism’ by visiting several temples, but clearly, it did not occur to him that his State Government's decision, on the eve of the Assembly election, to allow a tag of separate religion to the Hindu community of lingayats, was dangerously divisive. He repeated that Tipu Sultan was “a symbol of communal harmony”!