Rahul’s inaction, sleeper-cells thrive
“The new Congress president has the tricky task of asserting his independence so that he is not viewed as a proxy of the Gandhis….”
Thus read a sub-headline of Indian Express dated October 26, 2022, a few days after Mr Mallikarjun Kharge became a non-Gandhi family, president of the Congress on defeating Mr Shashi Tharoor. It had happened after two decades, after Mr Sitaram Kesari’s unceremonious removal in 1998, that someone from outside the first family of the Congress became its chief.
It happened around the same time as former party chief Mr Rahul Gandhi had embarked on an arduous 4000-kilometer Bharat Jodo Yatra to revive his own and that of the Congress’s fortune, smarting under the multi-barrel attack by the arch rival BJP. The success of this public contact programme spurred him to undertake Bharat Jodo Nayay Yatra.
The two forays took him to almost every nook and corner of the country and enabled him to introduce his real self to the public in the face of BJP’s massive decade long propaganda drive spearheaded by none other than Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi himself. He succeeded in this mission to a great extent.
The election of Mr Kharge as Congress president, and Mr Gandhi’s twin padyatras held promise of lifting the sullen mood in the party, after series of electoral debacles and high-profile defections, of making a new beginning. It was a unique blend of Mr Kharge’s, a dalit leader, decades long experience with impeccable track record, and a comparative youthful and enlightened, Mr Gandhi promising a new era in the party.
After sometime the fears expressed in the Indian Express sub-headline started proving true. Although the two publically presented a picture of complimenting each other. But in reality, a well-meaning Mr Kharge ended up becoming an attachment to the Gandhi-family (read Rahul Gandhi). Sometimes subtly and on other occasions explicitly, he conveyed his helplessness to those seeking redressal of their grievances or seeking to draw his attention to problems of a particular state or a Union Territory.
Barring the internal dynamics of the Congress vis-à-vis the Gandhis, Mr Kharge has conducted himself commendably well as Congress president during the last two and a half years. Both inside the parliament, as Leader of the Opposition both in Lok Sabha and then in Rajya Sabha and to some extent on the party forum. It could not hide the fact that he was operating under severe constraints and lack of elbow space to take decisions on his own.
One negative outcome of this seemingly avoidable situation for the betterment of the Congress, is the creation of a dual power-centre, though unknowingly. To be fair to Mr Kharge he is not a party to it and has been painstakingly avoiding creation of such a mechanism, however the circumstances have their own way.
This double-power centre is of a unique kind. The one arm (Kharge) is unable to exert beyond a level, while the other limb (Rahul) is totally indecisive and is loath to taking hard decisions. The net result has been the status quoist, the trademark of Congress over the decades, approach finding a new lease of life at a time when world-around had hoped that the post twin Bharat Jodo Yatras Mr Gandhi will invest the new found energy in rejuvenating the organization.
Even braving his age and physicality related issues, Mr Kharge has held his fort with aplomb. Mr Gandhi dithered both in empowering the former to take decisions or act by himself. Although Mr Gandhi has been making the right noises and pin-pointing the maladies afflicting the party, thereby raising hope to find a solution, such as the strong BJP sleeper-cells active within the party from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. The total inaction has resulted in these sleeper-cells, working with active assistance from the powerful BJP strategists, becoming more powerful and eating the organization, whatever is left of it, like termites.
The biggest tragedy is that no one, from top to bottom, is accountable to the party. There are innumerable examples of leaders, given high-profile responsibilities, merrily acting their own way to sabotage the party’s cause, getting scot-free without even an explanation having been sought from them. This has emboldened those acting as the BJP-sleeper cells or otherwise, to act in a whimsical manner, extract their pound of flesh, and merrily go home after divested of a particular charge.
In this backdrop, Mr Gandhi’s strong assertions such as “some people within the organization are bidding for BJP and that they will have to be expelled whatever be the consequences,” after initially raising hope have lost all relevance. There is no doubt that a strong impression has gathered in public mind of him being a well-meaning, passionate and a leader endeared to the public cause. This impression could have been further strengthened through deft handling of the party-affairs. But that is not happening.
Time is ticking fast. And despite the fact that the Narendra Modi government, in its third term, has lost its sheen, Congress under Mr Gandhi is very slow to offer a challenge. This is primarily because of a lackadaisical attitude more of him than Mr Kharge to set their house in order.
It is time the power-centre within the Congress is clearly defined. Mr Gandhi should either take-over as the party president or let Mr Kharge have a free-hand. Notwithstanding the repeated denials issued by Mr Gandhi’s courtiers, Mr Kharge is being back-seat driven. This has to be dispelled not through words but strong actions.
The latest episode of the Centre arbitrarily selecting Congress’s nominees to be sent abroad as part of delegations to explain India’s stand on terrorism in the aftermath of Pak-sponsored terrorist attack in Pahalgam, is a new portrayal of the challenges faced by the Kharge-Rahul Congress. This situation was a pure outcome of the out-of-control and out-of-command situation prevailing in the party with sleeper-cells having a gala time at the cost of the experienced and upcoming young leaders of the party.
The jury is still out on whether Mr Gandhi will be able to translate his words, to act against the BJP sleeper-cells and dead-wood and give effect to the much-delayed organizational shake-up, or not. It is already inordinately delayed and further inaction will only drastically weaken the potency of any such move to act as a deterrent.
