NEW DELHI : The year going by saw the political fortunes of the Congress plummet, witnessing a drop in its Lok Sabha tally to an all time low of 44 and its rival BJP march ahead of it even in terms of the number of MLAs. An increasing number of voices within and outside the party questioned the leadership of its vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
The party seemed to be in an ‘existential’ crisis, as the slide in its fortunes continued throughout the year. The year, which began with the Congress reeling from a debacle in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Assembly elections, ended with its poor show in the Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls.
In the worst show by the party in the Lok Sabha polls, it managed to secure just 44 seats.
The Lok Sabha polls witnessed BJP make history by securing a resounding victory, winning an absolute majority on its own, a first in 30 years, while the National Democratic Alliance crossed the 300-seat mark. Riding on the Modi wave, BJP swept the entire western belt by bagging some 120 out of the 130 seats in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The people of Gujarat gave a unique gift to their son of the soil by putting all the 26 seats in his kitty . The election results came as a rude shock for the Congress party, with many if its stalwarts including Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Law Minister Kapil Sibal and External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid being defeated. Party president Sonia Gandhi set up a committee led by Mr A K Antony, to find out and analyse the reasons for the party’s
worst-ever defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Both Rahul and Sonia had accepted personal responsibility for the defeat and offered to resign at the Congress Working Committee which met immediately after the elections. But the party shielded them, rejecting their resignations and pleading with them to remain at the helm to revive the party.
Even though the Antony committee report did not fault Rahul Gandhi, the face of the party’s campaign, for the debacle, several Congress leaders said role of the top leadership of party as well as senior general secretaries who were in charge of various states, should be examined. Mr Antony, who submitted the report to Sonia in August, said both Congress president and party vice president worked very hard.
Sources said the report was, however, critical of the UPA government in the context of price rise and charges of corruption.
Queried about the report, Mr Antony said,” actually during this elections, only Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi… these two people extensively toured all over the country. Difficult terrain, difficult weather, but they extensively campaigned all over the country…. They are our leaders. They worked very hard. And there is no criticism about the party leadership.”
Sources said that in his report, Mr Antony had expressed confidence that Congress would come back and regain lost ground under the leadership of Sonia and Rahul. Talking to reporters, Mr Antony said,”even though now we are passing through a difficult period and it will take some time, we are confident of revival. Just as in 1977, we will be able to regain the lost ground, we will able to strengthen our party, strengthen our mass base under the leadership of Sonia and Rahul.”
He scotched as speculation reports that Rahul’s leadership was being questioned.
“Nothing like that. Those people who are spreading this kinds of rumours, they want to weaken the Congress. Everybody wants to regain the lost ground. We have made some suggestions also. One thing is very clear, we are confident that Congress will come back and regain lost ground under the leadership of Sonia and Rahul,”he said. The Lok Sabha elections in May saw the Lok Sabha tally of the Congress dip to a low of 44, resulting in the party losing out on the position of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House.
As per rules, a party has to obtain at least ten per cent seats out of the total membership of the House of 543 to be eligible for the post of the Leader of the Opposition. The downturn for the party continued even after the Lok Sabha polls with the Congress facing a debacle in polls to the Haryana and Maharashtra Assemblies . In fact, after the results of the Maharashtra and Haryana assemblies, the BJP went ahead of the Congress in the number of MLAs.
After the results of Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly polls, the BJP had 1,025 MLAs compared to Congress’ 924 MLAs.
In an exercise to introspect on the reverses of the Congress in the Lok Sabha and the state assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi has over the last few months held a series of consultations with senior leaders of the party, including AICC General secretaries in charge of various states. During his meetings with party leaders, Rahul deliberated on ways to strengthen the party in various states. Mr Gandhi said the process of dialogue on ways to revitalise the party should be carried forward to the district and local levels.
The year also witnessed several senior leaders including Janardhan Dwivedi, Digvijay Singh and Manish Tewari make controversial statements which led to the Congress issuing clarifications.
Just in the beginning of the year, Mr Janardhan Dwivedi created a flutter in Congress and political circles when he said that caste-based reservation should be replaced by reservation for the economically weaker sections. ‘Reservation on caste lines should come to an end. The reason it has not happened is vested interests. Difference between social justice and casteism. Since Rahul Gandhi is taking views of people, I am urging him to take a bold decision. Only he who rises above all will be the future leader of country,”Mr Dwivedi said in a statement that created flutters within the Congress. The criticism forced the Congress party to distance itself from Mr Dwivedi’s comment but the senior leader stuck to his position.
The matter rested when Congress president Sonia Gandhi sought to end the ‘reservation debate’ within the party by declaring that extending ‘reservation to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBC is an article of faith.’ Ms Sonia Gandhi said the Congress is of the firm opinion that caste reservations must continue. Mr Dwivedi also created controversy later in the year when, days after BJP apparently sidelined senior leaders Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi by dropping them from the parliamentary board, the Congress general secretary said that people above 70 should quit active politics to make room for their younger colleagues. After a certain age, senior leaders should, Mr Dwivedi said, take a step back and instead allow the youth to drive the party.
‘The generational change is also essential in politics. In active politics, youth should be given preference. You can have an age limit of 65 or 70, whatever you feel is right,’ he said.
Replying to a query whether the age ceiling should also apply to Sonia Gandhi, Mr Dwivedi clarified that the posts like that of presidents of political parties, President of India, Vice-President and Prime Minister may be treated as exceptions.
Mr Dwivedi said that an age cut off bar of 65 or 70 can be fixed after consideration while asserting that he is not saying that leaders should retire from politics. ‘I am not saying that they should retire, but the posts which require a lot of running around and physical capacity should be held by people younger. There are other responsibilities which elder leaders can take up but they should keep away from active posts’, he said.
Dwivedi, however, said he was not raising questions on the intellectual capacity of elder leaders. When asked whether he supports another Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’ earlier remarks that those above 70 should retire from active politics, Dwivedi said that he was not talking about retirement but ‘making a difference between active posts and other responsibilities’. Mr Digvijay Singh also created controversy with his comments.
In June, Mr Digvijay Singh said the Congress vice-president
does not have a temperament suited to the ruling benches. In an interview to a Goa cable news channel, the AICC general secretary also said Rahul should have taken up the responsibility of leading the party in the Lok Sabha and taking on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. ‘He is by temperament not a ruling person. He is by temperament someone who wants to fight injustice,’ the Congress leader said.
Digvijay Singh’s statement came at a time when Rahul as well as his mother Sonia Gandhi had been criticised for lack of leadership skills by both Congressmen as well as party detractors.
Mr Digvijay Singh said he had suggested that Rahul take up the role of the main opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, a responsibility given to Congress’ Karnataka stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge.
‘In a democracy, opposition space is necessary. Since the Congress is the largest opposition group, our Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi should have taken up the responsibility,’ he said.
Later in the year, Digvijay again created a flutter when he demanded that Rahul replace his mother Sonia as the party supremo.
The statement was criticised by several veterans with ML Fotedar accusing Mr Singh of being dictated by ‘vested interests’ in seeking Rahul’s elevation at a time when the party was in a crisis.
AICC spokesman Anand Sharma said Singh’s comments were his ‘personal views’. He, however, added, ‘The Congress party has always taken a collective view when it comes to strengthening of the organization or in the interest of the country.’
Mr Sharma added that Sonia was the inspiration for the party while Rahul was mobilizing the youth and was the future of the organisation.
The controversial statement by these senior leaders and others like Manish Tewari and Rashid Alvi led the Congress to issue a statement that only party spokespersons should speak to media on different issues.
In a statement, AICC general secretary and head of the congress media department Ajay Maken said,’only the spokespersons as in the linked list are authorised to speak on behalf of the party.’
Senior leaders Manish Tewari and Rashid Alvi, however, stuck to their guns saying that they have a right to speak their mind on important developments. ‘I ceased to be the national spokesperson of Congress in October 2012. When I intervene in the public discourse, I do as an ordinary Congress worker who has served the party for 34 years. There are certain core convictions I believe in. When they are assaulted, I do not require a noun or an adjective behind my noun (sic) to intervene in public discourse as a party activist,’ Manish Tewari said. During the year, the Congress attacked the Modi Government on several issues.
In September, buoyed by the results of the by-elections in Bihar and UP, which was a setback for the BJP, Congress brought out a booklet on BJP’s ‘100 days of misrule.’ In the booklet, the Congress said the results of the byelections after the Lok Sabha polls reflect ‘people’s anger’ over ‘hollow promises of a useless government’. It said the fall in the fortunes of the ruling party would gather momentum in the coming days. ‘The story till now is only of slogans and more slogans. The nation is worried at what lies in store for India for the remaining tenure of this government’, the AICC said in the booklet titled ‘Modi government-The truth of BJP government: 100 days of misrule’ released by party spokesman Anand Sharma.
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