Three Congress leaders – Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jairam Ramesh and Sharmistha Mukherjee – have held mirror to the ills in the Congress party. Will Congress take rectification steps or will it shoot the messenger?
Bengaluru: One thing is certain! Nothing is right in the Congress.
There is a lot of mutiny taking place, which has the potential to rip the grand old party apart, leaving it in a shambles.
A closer look at the party affairs in the last few months only shows us that the party members, as well as the cadres are not at all happy.
Let’s begin with the latest.
Congress neglected Madhya Pradesh leader Jyotiraditya Scinda has thrown down the gauntlet. He has openly rebelled against the CM Kamal Nath a number of times over, what he thinks, doesn’t augur well for the citizens.
The genesis of the Scindia imbroglio can be traced to the MP state elections. As the Congress formed a government there, Scindia fancied his chances of becoming the CM, but the honours went to Kamal Nath instead. This, he felt was an insult as the young were not honoured for their sincere efforts.
He even resigned as the general secretary of the Congress as he was entrusted with the job of overseeing Uttar Pradesh (West) during Lok Sabha polls 2019.
Not just that, when Modi-led NDA government, with its steely resolve, abrogated articles 370 and 35A, Scindia had extended his support to the government.
Next in line is Jairam Ramesh. The senior party leader made no bones about the Congress’s attitude in remaining deafeningly silent when it came to minority communalism while going berserk over the majority one.
He even urged the Congress to condemn communalism of all kinds and stand by the word secularism in the truest sense.
And when it came to CAA, the leader openly batted for it, saying he would welcome persecuted minorities, but later added Muslims too should be included in it.
Another Congress leader AK Anthony, considered close to Sonia Gandhi had made no bones about the issue that the feelings of the majority community must not be hurt.
While these have to do with recognising all forms of communalism, there is another recognition that the party has to do.
And that is soul-searching.
After the Delhi drubbing last week, former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram mocked the BJP saying its bluff and bluster had lost.
But in reality, the Congress had done far worse by scoring a second successive duck. Instead of introspection and a fair analysis of the reasons for losing, the Congress is only pinning the blame on others.
Another Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee openly vented out her frustration against the Congress.
With due respect sir, just want to know- has outsourced the task of defeating BJP to state parties? If not, then why r we gloating over AAP victory rather than being concerned abt our drubbing? And if ‘yes’, then we (PCCs) might as well close shop! https://t.co/Zw3KJIfsRx
— Sharmistha Mukherjee (@Sharmistha_GK)
Lastly, the party cadre. The rank and file of any party are its biggest assets. It is they, the foot soldiers who work indefatigably to ensure the party is in the pink of health.
There is a growing chorus among the party cadres that the grand old party is again resorting and relapsing into dynasty politics at a time when it should have relinquished it.
After Rahul Gandhi renounced his leadership, the party could have ferreted a non-Gandhi leader. Instead, in what is being seen an interregnum arrangement, Sonia Gandhi was made the party chief.
Sources say that Rahul Gandhi will be back in action by March. So, it is again an upholding of party dynasty politics rather than honouring the meritorious.
It’s high time and imperative that the Congress understood the symptoms and took corrective measures rather than treating only the symptoms and not the illness.
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