Family rule ruins India’s Congress party

New Delhi: The writing was on the wall as far back as December 2013 when the 128-year-old Congress party lost badly in the year-end provincial polls in five states.

The central leadership of the party then said it had drawn lessons and would take corrective measures, but opted to conveniently forget, much to their peril.

The Congress party ended up giving its worst ever performance since the first general elections were held in 1952, so much so that the new Lok Sabha may not have a leader of the opposition at all. The rules are that the principal opposition party must have at least 10 per cent of the total strength of the House of 543, which in this case is 55.

This Congress party’s rout means both its plan A and plan B have gone awry.

If plan A was to see its 43-year-old vice-president Rahul Gandhi become the new prime minister, plan B was to make him leader of opposition so that he gains experience and is ready to be projected as the prime ministerial candidate in 2019.

Many feel that it was Sonia Gandhi’s dream of seeing her son Rahul become the fourth prime minister from the family that led the party to doom — besides the failure of its government to control price rises and shake off a reputation as the most corrupt regime ever.

She nominated a weak prime minister in Manmohan Singh in 2004 to ensure he does not become bigger than the party and become a threat to Rahul’s future. This very apprehension ensured that no other leader was allowed to grow.

A slow learner that Rahul proved to be, he was not ready to take over in 2009 and when it came to 2014 polls, the party chickened out from nominating him as its prime ministerial candidate knowing the wind was blowing against it.

“One decade in active politics that too as a parliamentarian is enough time to groom Rahul Gandhi. He became an MP in 2004 when Narendra Modi was a newly installed chief minister of a relatively small state struggling to clear his name in the 2002 communal riots. 10 years down the line see where Modi is and where Rahul stands,” said political commentator Anil Arya.

The rot had started setting in long ago whether it was the 2G spectrum allocation scam, coal block allocation scam or the Commonwealth Games scam.

The Congress failed to act against its allies who were indulging in rampant corruption and instead the party also got into the act. The result is — all its top ministers have tasted defeat and among the two seats the party won in India’s largest state Uttar Pradesh were that of the mother-son duo as only Sonia (Rae Bareli) and Rahul (Amethi) managed to win.

One of the main problems with the Congress party is that its top leaders are disconnected with the masses and are surrounded by sycophants and office bearers who have poor electoral records.

The result was that the party could not formulate its strategy and identify issues to take to the masses. The gambit of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) paid off in 2009 general elections. The party tried replicating it and fast-tracked, towards the end of its tenure, the food security act — which is yet to take off. And then Rahul Gandhi started promising free medical treatment for the poor.

These lofty schemes failed to wash away taint of corruption and sins of inaction, leading to the downfall of the mighty Congress party.

Many feel its future lies only in moving away from family rule, which is a big issue if at this stage when the party cannot look beyond the Gandhi-Nehru family.