Anil Anand
It is prophetically true to say that a weakened opposition poses a grave danger to a democracy than a ruling party with brute majority which has its own pitfalls as seen in India during the past decades. Since the opposition has the role of a watchdog to play and checkmate the Government in the interest of the nation and its people, so it is necessary that the opposition parties even after suffering electoral debacles should discover their moorings sooner than later.
BJP cares Congress more than the grand-old party itself. It is for this reason that the saffron party’s strategy is consistently focused on Congress and Gandhi family which is its mainstay. The Congress has lost sight of itself but not the BJP whose leadership sees a potential challenger and the likely hub of opposition unity in even the weakened party.
The country is presently facing this perilous situation of an opposition ( read Congress) in dire straits and not knowing what to do and how to counter a very aggressive ruling party thriving on unflinching faith and trust of people no matter whatever its performance be. The opposition here is synonymous with Congress as it remains to be the only political party with a pan-India presence. So, fits in this groove and so discussion on its current status of total hopelessness.
The party, it seems, is founding itself trapped in a dark alley not knowing how to emerge out of it. Is it the case of the over a century old political party’s top leadership totally bereft of new ideas to face the indomitable Narendra Modi’s juggernaut?
Where does the Congress go from where? Caught in a vortex of its own making none else but the Congress itself has to search for an answer and at the earliest if it has to politically remain relevant and survive. The time is ticking fast for the party and the shadow of Modi is casting its net fast by the day despite none-too-impressive record of his Government particularly on the economic front which he has convincingly camouflaged under the cover of hyper-nationalism and the Hindutava.
The current happenings within the Congress, which is no public secret as every leader worth his salt is on a binge to publicly air his or her views, with the top leadership either confused and flummoxed and not knowing how to fix the cracks and save the ship from capsizing is more than alarming. Or perhaps they have left it to the fate.
It seems speaking out of turn has become the norm and party discipline, as if it existed, has already burst at the seams. But still the interim party president, Sonia Gandhi, whose comeback had raised high hopes of sealing the leaks and stirring the ship out of troubled waters, seems either indifferent to the situation or still searching for new ideas.
To say that the current situation is entirely the making of Sonia or her son and former party chief Rahul Gandhi and that those raising variety of questions are above board or have made stellar contributions in the growth of the party in the past, will be a misnomer. Or else how does anyone explain the standing and contributions of leaders such as Salman Khurshid, Shashi Tharoor, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Digvijay Singh in the growth of the party. The list is long and there are others who have already conveniently crossed over to BJP for greener pastures and having pot-shots at their erstwhile party from across the border. They have all defied party discipline with impunity and continue to do that without any consequence without being hauled up. And there lies the faultline and responsibility of top leadership (read Sonia) began there.
Speaking out of turn in the Congress has become the norm. In most cases, those defying party discipline get away unscathed. Break discipline or hold out a threat, extract your pound of flesh and go scot free with a reward. This has become bane of the Congress.
The inefficacy of the Congress president’s office has been totally exposed than ever before. Three instances glaringly pin-point to the fact that the party seems to be refusing to fight its way out of the dark alley and perhaps waiting for some miracle to happen not realising that sometimes it takes hard work even for the miracles to happen.
Beginning with Haryana which had witnessed factional fights of the worst order with former chief minister, B S Hooda having openly revolted against the state chief Ashok Tanwar, a handpick of Rahul Gandhi, during the last three years. Ultimately, rather than taming Hooda, the high command ( read Sonia Gandhi) compromised with him and in turn accepted all his demands including removal of Tanwar from the post. Humiliated and badly bruised after even his supporters were denied tickets, he quit the party while the high command gleefully looked the other way.
The episode is more important as Hooda versus Tanwar fight is a pointer to the malady that has afflicted the premier opposition party of the counter. This line of fight is symptomatic of the old versus the young dual that had unfolded in the party ever since Rahul became president and is continuing even after he quit. Many feel that Rahul quit in disgust as not only was he waging a lone battle but was also the target of vicious campaign of the so called old-guard.
The second instance is that of the long pending appointment of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief. The post fell vacant after the death of former chief minister, Sheila Dikshit and it had become for the party president to fill the slot without delay as the capital-state is due to face assembly elections. Barely two to three months are left and still there are no signs, notwithstanding prolonged consultations that Sonia had, of a new president. Even if it happens now at any moment, the indecision has already done irreparable damage to Congress’ poll prospects.
It is baffling that how and why the decision to pick a new DPCC chief has become so complicated and difficult for Sonia. Fact of the matter is after the demise of Dikshit there is no senior/old guard leader on the scene to pursue pressure politics and blackmailing tactics. It is the easiest decision which for strange reasons still waiting to happen.
The third glaring instance depicting lack of vision or application of mind pertains to sudden decision by the Congress to boycott the Block Development Council (BDC) elections in the politically hot Jammu and Kashmir. The Block level elections might not sound and interesting proposal but in the context of J&K and coming in the aftermath of partial abrogation of Article 370 and breaking the state into two Union Territories, these polls have added political significance and directly related to survival of political parties such as the Congress.
A day before the last day of nomination the party high command in their wisdom decided to boycott the elections. The reasons forwarded for boycott were far from convincing. Who took the decision and why? It is not known till today.
There are many such instances but these three episodes more than explains as to what ails Congress and the total inaptness of the leadership to rise to the occasion. Each of these moves had a demoralising affect on the rank and file. This is just an index of what the party is undergoing today.
Given the relevance of opposition in a democracy the Congress leadership should act to assume the mantle of an effective opposition party. It is imperative if the party is to think of getting back to power in near future.
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