After the humongous failure of Rahul Gandhi as the party leader, Sonia Gandhi is coming out of her sabbatical to hold the reign of the party again. Measures taken, the results are still to be seen
Is Congress president Sonia Gandhi back in the driver’s seat after putting forward her son Rahul Gandhi since 2013, by making him the party vice presidentIJ No one in the Congress today is talking of Rahul Gandhi’s elevation, as demoralisation has set in deeply. Dissent within the party against Rahul Gandhi has been growing even as the transition trauma is still continuing. The fight between the old guard and the new guard (read Rahul’s team) is also continuing.
Sonia Gandhi had been ailing and out of action since last August. After she had come back from her medical check-up in New York last month, she has been taking interest in the party matters as well as Opposition unity. Internal unrest within the Congress also has prompted her return to the centre-stage.
The Congress was feeling dejected after the five State Assembly poll results followed by the recent rout in the Delhi Municipal Corporation polls. It was clear that the Opposition needed a strong leader to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, which has been winning State after State in the past three years. The situation in the party was becoming desperate, with senior Congress leaders like SM Krishna deserting the party to join the BJP. The gloom has spread to the next poll bound-States where the BJP is looking to import Congress leaders and offer them positions and tickets.
This erosion was similar to what happened in 1997 during Sitaram Kesri’s time. To her credit, Sonia Gandhi, who came out of her mourning, not only stopped the erosion but also brought it to power, not once but twice, since 2004. In comparison, Rahul Gandhi has not been able to prove his leadership qualities as the party has been sliding further. As a senior Congress leader commented recently in private, the party lacks leadership, communication, cadre and money. All these are required for the good health of any organisation.
With no signs of improvement, despondency among the senior leaders is palpable, more so after the Uttar Pradesh debacle. Some former Ministers like P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, and Salman Khursheed have practically returned to law practice.
Senior leaders like former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Ambika Soni, Janardhan Dwivedi and others are sulking. Then there was talk of collective leadership but Sonia Gandhi obviously is not inclined. The party at present lacks leadership more than anything, as Rahul Gandhi has not come up to the expectations despite all the push from his mother and the party. It has lost connect with the people. Mediocre leaders have been given responsibilities in the party who have no understanding of the past or the future. Even on the ideological agenda, the BJP has hijacked the poor segment through demonetisation and other welfare schemes. Its plank of secularism against the BJP’sHindutva has not succeeded.
More importantly, the Congress is also not able to lead the Opposition. At the national level Rahul Gandhi is not able to provide that leadership which is perhaps why Sonia Gandhi has come back to the driver’s seat. For instance, she has taken lead in mobilising the Opposition parties. The first test will be the support for a common presidential and vice presidential candidate.Will she succeedIJ Sonia has consulted leaders like Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party), Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal-United), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress ) Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India-Marxist), and others to find a common candidate, knowing well that it will only be a token fight as the BJP has the numbers to get its own presidential and vice presidential candidates.
But to do all these, the Congress first has to put its house in order and lift the sagging morale of its workers. The first issue is leadership. Perhaps Sonia has realised that Rahul may need some more time as she is unwilling to admit that he is not capable. No doubt her credit remains high in the party but the succession has not taken smoothly so far.
Then, despite the defeat in 2014 and the subsequent Assembly polls, the party has done nothing to build the organisation. It has not punished those who failed to deliver and continued to believe status quo. Only this week the Congress chief has divested of the charge of Goa and Karnataka from Digvijaya Singh and also got rid of two general secretaries — Gurudas Kamat and Madhusudan Mistry. Singh came under severe criticism for not enabling the Congress to form the Government in Goa. But the announcements have come in piecemeal and more is likely to come. If the party insiders are to be believed, she plans to have one leader in charge of each State. By putting former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in charge of the poll-going Gujarat and former Minister Venugopal in charge of Karnataka, she has sent a signal that the new team will be a blend of old guard and new.
It is clear that Sonia will lead the party for now, sending cheers and confidence to the workers. But unless this is followed up by other concrete measures, the Congress has no future.
(The writer is a senior political commentator and syndicated columnist)