THE admission by Congress leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi that his party made many mistakes in the past and that he was willing to accept the responsibility -- even though he was not there when the mistakes were made -- is nothing but mere cosmetics to bide time when an embarrassing question popped up. This admission of mistakes of the past came up at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at the Brown University in the United States (about fifteen days ago) when Mr. Gandhi was asked a pointed question about how the Congress party treated the Sikh community. It must be agreed that over time, Mr. Gandhi appears to have learned ways to tide over such stumbling points -- which was never his forte until now. But he guessed the seriousness of the issue and immediately proceeded to accept the past mistakes his party committed and said that he would not shy away from the vicarious responsibility. The media reports do not state whether the questioner was satisfied with Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s answer or not. But suffice it is to say that Mr. Gandhi tried to wriggle out of the tight situation by putting forth a seemingly smart answer.

 

If this admission by Mr. Rahul Gandhi is truly serious, then the Congress party will have to make many, many such admissions. By the same token, the Congress leadership of today will have to accept the responsibility of all those -- and make itself terribly uncomfortable. In fact, such spiritual discomfort should become an integral part of the leadership role of the country’s premier political party with a history 125-plus years.

 

History of these years has enough evidence to prove how the Congress party’s leadership indulged in many mistakes of commission that actually distorted facts of history and misdirected the country’s political trajectory into undesirable zones. Mr. Rahul Gandhi will have to accept the responsibility of all those -- for more than one reason. But apart from the leadership legacy of the Congress party, Mr. Gandhi should bear the burden of those mistakes because of most of those were made by persons from his own family -- the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. For, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has been leading the Congress party for larger part of the long history of the Congress party. In other words, the Congress has become sort of a family fiefdom of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Naturally, therefore, Mr. Rahul Gandhi must accept the responsibility of the mistakes of the party’s previous leadership and of his family forefathers. However, mere accepting the responsibility is not enough. For, all it means is that Mr. Rahul Gandhi has ducked the direct impact of an uncomfortable question by making a public admission of the mistakes of the past -- so that the question does not drag further.

 

Thus, in a way, Mr. Gandhi has actually averted a disaster for himself and his party by readily admitting the mistakes of the past and accepting the responsibility. This can also be interpreted in another manner. By making a quick admission, Mr. Rahul Gandhi has actually averted a serious issue. However, mere asking questions to Mr. Rahul Gandhi about the Congress party’s previous mistakes will not help. In fact, the people should insist upon an unconditional apology from the Congress party in general and the Gandhi family in particular for all the mistakes of commission in the past. Such an apology will not actually suffice, but will at least bring on record the regret that its current leadership has supposedly felt. Any party or person in public life may make mistakes, all right. But in the case of the Nehru-Gandhi family, those mistakes are of a very serious nature -- an apology for which by them is quite in order -- so that the people know the truth.