The old guard strikes back!
Given the way things have panned out for India’s principal Opposition Congress party in the last few days, particularly over the question of leadership in the state of Rajasthan, it is quite clear that whatever semblance of a futuristic look the party could have assigned to itself and hit the ‘reset’ button, have now been washed down the Ganges.
The absolute policy paralysis and rudderless state that has gripped the high command of India’s grand old party has managed to achieve just one point: Encourage further cronyism and coterie-raj in the 135-year-old organisation.
The sacking of Sachin Pilot — one of the foremost members of the ‘youth brigade’ championed by party leader Rahul Gandhi until the other day — and the unceremonious ouster of former party spokesperson Sanjay Jha are just two instances of how deeply gangrene-ridden the Congress is at the moment.
After the 2019 poll debacle, when Rahul stepped aside as president, it was a golden opportunity for the Congress to look beyond the Gandhi household for a new leader. Instead, the ‘old guard’ was allowed to get away with its regressive ways by reinstalling ‘Madam’ at the helm, thereby sending out the most debilitating message it could for the youth brigade: That Congress is ready to look back, not in anger, but in fond remembrance of all things past their prime!
Both Pilot and Jha came across as suave, well-groomed, smart and knowledgeable party members who represented a creed that is nowadays a rarity in the cesspool that politics in general has come to be identified with in the world’s largest democracy.
With Congress having won a difficult election in a large state like Rajasthan in 2018, handing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a smashing defeat, it was a golden opportunity for the party top-brass to bring in Pilot at the helm.
Instead, the choice of near-septuagenarian Ashok Gehlot as CM sent out the message loud and clear: That Congress is still a party of sycophants, ready to rehash leaders whose political careers are well past their sell-by dates. Just as Jyotiraditya Scindhia had been sidelined and humiliated in Madhya Pradesh, leading to him joining ranks with the BJP, Pilot’s departure from Congress was a foregone conclusion.
In case of Jha, the party cited some his recent comments on Twitter as anti-party activity and showed him the door. When in reality, all that Jha had done was hold up a mirror before the party mandarins and exhort them to do some introspection at the earliest.
Hijacking the Congress agenda
It is still not clear what shape and form Pilot and Jha’s political careers will take in the days and months ahead, but with the departure of names such as Scindhia, Pilot and Jha from the party, one point has been very clearly established — that the so-called ‘old guard’ in the party, with a direct access to party president Sonia Gandhi, has once again successfully managed to hijack the Congress agenda to look ahead and plan for future challenges.
Once again, youth, dynamism and the need for introspection have been sacrificed at the altar of cronyism.
It was learnt that Pilot didn’t even have a direct access to either Sonia or Rahul when Rajasthan politics was on the boil for the last couple of days. If the Congress continues to keep its channels of communications with the disgruntled elements within the party blocked then there are bigger embarrassments waiting for it in the days ahead.
Snatching away a high-stakes state
It is being touted within Congress circles in Delhi and elsewhere that Pilot was trying to hold the party leadership to ransom with his demand of chief ministership. The point is, not just in politics, in any profession or occupation for that matter, is it wrong to harbour ambitions?
Is it unethical to expect bigger and better rewards and responsibilities in return for having ticked almost all the boxes in the key performance indicators’ column? Pilot had delivered the goods for the party in the 2018 assembly elections in Rajasthan, snatching away a high-stakes state from the BJP.
Having achieved a near-impossible task, was it unjustified on his part to expect the incentives to follow in return? All those who are accusing Pilot today of opportunism and ideological hubris, take note — it is not Pilot but Gehlot who should be held responsible for turning out to be such a stumbling block on the road ahead for the party in the state.
It is his greed for power and his inability to accord youth its rightful place that have now not only ensured Pilot’s departure, but put the future of the Rajasthan government at stake as well.
Sonia bereft of vitality
The problem for the Congress is that an ailing Sonia in her second stint as party president has been so utterly lacklustre and so bereft of vitality that her own political stasis has now gripped the entire organisation. The rot has set in right at the top!
After the 2019 poll debacle, when Rahul stepped aside as president, it was a golden opportunity for the Congress to look beyond the Gandhi household for a new leader. Instead, the ‘old guard’ was allowed to get away with its regressive ways by reinstalling ‘Madam’ at the helm, thereby sending out the most debilitating message it could for the youth brigade: That Congress is ready to look back, not in anger, but in fond remembrance of all things past their prime!
Such a sentimental note, while being high on the emotional quotient, is not even worth the paper on which it is penned because the rough and tumble of politics demands raw pragmatism, a gall for counter-attack and a commitment to change with the times — particularly when dealing with an ‘enemy’ as entrenched and organised as the BJP.
The treatment meted out to Scindhia, Pilot, Jha — to name just a few — is one of the surest signs of absolutely no lessons having been learnt by the Congress since the 2014 humiliation at the hustings.
Twitter: @moumiayush
