Congress battles emperor of all political maladies
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha
On Lok Sabha election trails, Congress faces exodus of leaders
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, April 5: The Congress sympathizer Vijendra Singh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress’ television star Gourav Ballabh also joined the BJP. The Congress appears to have turned into a leaking earthen pot in the midst of the Lok Sabha elections.
The ‘Bharti karyakram (induction programme)’ in the BJP is now a routine affair. The BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde has busy days inducting the new members with the party ‘patta (strip)’.
The BJP, incidentally, has turned into a party where instant gratification can be attained. Sushil Kumar ‘Rinku’ found his name as the BJP candidate from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat within two days of joining the saffron outfit. He was an incumbent Lok Sabha MP from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the same constituency.
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Preneet Kaur and Ravneet Singh ‘Bittu’ too went straight into the electoral battlefield after the ‘bharti karyakram’. Anil Antony is now the BJP’s top face in Kerala. Son of former senior Congress leader A. K. Antony is contesting the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat.
Tom Vadakkam, however, has been unlucky so far. In the Congress, Vadakkam hogged the media attention. In the BJP, he has become anonymous. But he is among a few who failed to gain the instant gratification after joining the BJP.
The Congress as per party watchers is still in the Motilal Vohra age. Opportunities knock when the Congress leaders give all hopes. Age is sixties in the Congress is of the youth. Maturity comes in the seventies. Suitability is for those who are in the eighties.
However, the likes of Revanth Reddy in Telangana and Sukhwinder Singh ‘Sukkhu’ in Himachal Pradesh sometimes create sand dunes within the Congress. They instill hope in the aspirational lots in the Congress.
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In 2010, while being a media advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Harish Khare publicly dissected the Congress. Khare said: “The Congress is a status quoist party”. Khare is a political commentator while having been Editor of The Tribune.
The Congress ruled Gujarat for several decades until saffron wave began blowing in the state. Khare in his speech at the Jawahar Lal University in 2010 cited the status quoism of the Congress in Gujarat. The Congress couldn’t reinvent its ‘KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, and Muslim)’. The BJP turned the table on the Congress by riding the Patidar anger against KHAM.
The Congress’ ability to defy demands of change as per political observers is the core DNA of the party. The leadership mutation is also so slow that even political microscope may fail to pick up the movement of threads within the organisation.
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The Congress is now battling hopelessness. This is the emperor of all political maladies. Hopelessness explains the weirdness of Vallabh suddenly remembering ‘Sanatan Dharma’.
Hopelessness is also on account of the visible timidity of the Congress leadership. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost Lok Sabha elections from Amethi in 2010. Union Minister Smriti Irani slayed the Congress mascot. Even after five years, the fear of losing at the hands of Irani is keeping the Gandhi family away from Amethi.
Rahul Gandhi has taken a shelter in Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is furious at the Congress for playing hide and seek with the people. Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow on way to filing the nomination papers didn’t sport the party flag.
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Vijayan has accused that the Congress hid the party flag to ensure that the party ally, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), didn’t take the space with the ‘green flag’. The IUML flag, incidentally, resembles Pakistan’s national flag.
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