incorrigible

THE assertion by Congress leader Mr. Salman Khurshid that there is no urgency to have an elected Congress President, shows that the party is back to its old ways of doing -- and not doing -- things. Having named the letter by 23 senior Congressmen seeking change in leadership as dissidence, the party appears heading back to its habitual, incorrigible dynasticism. Though it is not possible to know at this stage exactly how the party’s internal politics will turn in the next some time, it is safe to conclude that those who raised their voice in favour of a course-correction are quite likely to be sidelined in every possible manner.

In fact, many of the signatories to ‘the’ letter insisted that they were asking for an institutional adoption of internal democracy in the party. Many of them also said that the letter was misconstrued as dissidence -- which it was not. But a big section of the party’s higher leadership did not believe all those assertions, and went on questioning the signatories’ intentions. The latest statement by Mr. Salman Khurshid seemingly seek to put to an end the trouble arising out of the letter. It must be stated without any ambiguity that Congress Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad had actually hit the nail on the head when he talked of an urgent need to have the Congress President elected so as to give the person a legitimate, democratic base to launch further activity. Each of his words was selected with much care, and showed the deep thought he had given to the point he was making.

Likewise is the condition of Mr. Kapil Sibal who also was enraged at being called a BJP agent. He also made a solid case for himself when he listed the efforts he made in party’s favour on countless occasions either to block rival parties or their moves at every possible place including the judiciary. No matter the stout denial by the party that Mr. Rahul Gandhi never talked of the signatories as BJP agents, the rank and file in the party and the common people believe that Mr. Gandhi is fully capable of making such statements in the most thoughtless manner. Some people supporting Mr. Rahul Gandhi did talk of the wrong timing of the letter and called the effort as an affront to the party.

However, the overall atmosphere did point to the fact that those who signed the letter had some ulterior motive. There are reasons to believe that the current disturbance within the Congress party may calm down at least to some extent. Yet, there also are reasons to suspect that it may raise its head again and raise fundamental questions on the manner and method of the party’s inner functioning. One of the biggest points the letter made, though not in so many words, that the party has come to its current abominable condition because it did not follow norms of a healthy, internal democracy and allowed only a handful of individuals to control things in the most autocratic manner. This idea is not likely to die in the near future.

There is little to write home about the strengths of the current system in which the Gandhi family is holding all controlling stakes in the organisation. In fact, the family’s dynasticism is making the party a laughing stock for the whole nation. For the past seven years, the party has been facing electoral setbacks one after another -- despite the fact that it ruled the country for ten full years. But those were the years of policy paralysis and led the country downhill. Some elements in the party do realise where the undoing lies. Yet, their voice is more likely to be snuffed out than allowed to be expressed freely. Let alone what happens within the party, it is obvious to the common people that the Gandhi family has run out of ideas and its minions are proving to be good for nothing.

It is, therefore, more than clear that the party will slowly decimate itself, crumbling under its own weight. In other words, the Congress party is proving to be fully incapable of learning the right lessons from the past and the present. Perhaps, that is what may be in the plans of vested interests -- to kill a historic organisation.