Anil Anand
Congress is reeling under euphoria of the success of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (BJY) and excited about the three-day AICC plenary session to be held at Raipur from February 24 to 26. The BJY has if reignited the party leaders, and rank and file spurring them thinking aloud about the party and its prospects, the AICC plenary they expect will provide a new direction.
But what amazes most is the none-too-concerned attitude of the organization particularly at the higher levels in the follow-up to the 4000 kilometers ‘padyatra’ which in many ways effectively managed to attract people’s attention, and changed their perspective about the Congress which had almost been written off in general public’s mind. And more importantly, giving Mr Gandhi a new identity. Thanks mostly to the decade-long no-holds-bar attack launched by the Narendra Modi-led BJP especially targeting him, and the resultant series of electoral defeats.
How to channelize people’s changed mood and perspective and keep the party leaders and workers energized? This is the biggest challenge that Congress is faced with after completion of the BJY with no visibly signs of urgency in view of the fast-approaching Lok Sabha elections. At least in the run up to the plenary session.
If BYJ was an out-of-box move to counter the mostly out-of-box strategy of team-Modi that took Congress and its leadership by surprise at every step, the follow-up plan to the ‘padyatra’ has to be as novel. Since the clock is ticking fast and organizationally Congress in a mess from top to bottom, situation demands that the future course should have been ready for unveiling as soon as Mr Gandhi’s Kanyakumari to Kashmir mission ended.
The AICC plenary session is an important event which provides opportunity to take decisions of far-reaching consequence in the presence of a full house. But the past history particularly that of last couple of decades leaves none in the doubt that the plenary has never come out either with exciting proposals or taken steps of great significance for organizational rebuilding.
The main agenda of this plenary session is to ratify Malikarjun Kharge’s election as the party president, and which is a certainty without any doubt. This technicality apart the other area of interest will be whether the slots in Congress Working Committee (CWC) meant to be filled through elections witness an electoral competition or the convenient route and past precedent to fill up the vacancies through nominations would be followed.
There is already a debate raging in the party corridors in this context. There is no dearth of those backing the convenient route of nominations which ostensibly furthers their own chances. However, an interesting aspect of the debate is that a large section in the party strongly feels that holding elections will be in line with Mr Gandhi’s repeated dictum about greater involvement of the party rank and file in decision making.
Will the naysayers succeed or those invoking Mr Gandhi’s dictum carry the day? Though it might seem easy but it is a very difficult tussle that on side involves a strong lobby of hangers-on, reflecting the old culture that has eclipsed internal-party democracy, and on the other those ready to walk along Mr Gandhi’s new thinking.
Logically speaking Mr Gandhi should sternly stick to his ideas of ushering the party into a new era of internal democracy, and holding elections to the CWC slots will be a significant step in this direction. As the electoral route to have a new Congress president silenced the critics and considerably diluted the dynastic rule argument which was further weakened by his strenuous ‘padyatra’, electing CWC members will add more to his newly created image of a “meaningful” political leader who means what he says.
Although the octogenarian Mr Kharge, with a rich legislative experience of five decades, has managed to create a niche for himself in a short span of time in the president’s chair. Though not much has yet been done on the organizational front ever since he took over, nevertheless his multi-tasking during this period- holding simultaneous charge of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha- and rising to the occasion be it on the floor of the House or in the public forums, has left none in doubt about his capabilities.
All said and done, happening in the immediate aftermath of Mr Gandhi’s successful ‘padyatra’, the AICC plenary is in every respect going to be his session. Not only will it be focused on him as a prospective leader for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but, as the indications are, every effort will be made to keep focus on him.
He should take benefit of his newly attained image of a serious politician not averse to plain-speaking, who means business and is ready to slog. He should seize this opportunity and affix his stamp on the session by unfolding a positive agenda based on democratic values. He must stick to his commitment on greater involvement of middle rung leaders and rank and file in decision making. The beginning in this regard can be made at the AICC plenary and blue print drawn on how to carry forward this process at different levels of the organization.
The AICC plenary session is usually considered as a jamboree by the Congresspersons, as they have been bred like that, where they are expected to back mostly the tailormade decisions with hardly any chance for a debate. But Mr Gandhi’s mass-contact programme through a walkathon, unheard after the Mahatma Gandhi era, has given a new context to the session this time around.
It has generated many expectations not only among the Congresspersons but also in other vast sections of the society who have started viewing a chance of a rejuvenated Congress challenging the monologues Modi-era. Their hope is based on courage and conviction exhibited by Mr Gandhi either through his ‘padyatra’ or raking the Modi-Adani controversy, with an underlying feeling that monopolistic tendencies run contrary to the democratic values.
The AICC plenary must set the stage for quick decision making for rejuvenating the organizational set up to the polling booth levels. It must also pave the way for younger generation of leaders to take over at various levels and thereby put a stop to the generational fight going on for quite sometime now with the sole aim of thwarting Mr Gandhi’s emergence.
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