If Mahatma Gandhi’s words enshrined in a new draft constitution for the Indian National Congress on January 28, 1948, were to haunt the party at this critical juncture, they would surely touch a raw nerve in the Gandhis. The Congress is on the verge of collapse after its internal conflicts claimed their latest victim: veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, regarded as an integral part of Sonia Gandhi’s ‘inner circle. Another senior, Anand Sharma seems poised to quit the Congress, going by his recent interventions, as does his contemporary Prithviraj Chavan. There is an admission of hopelessness in their statements and sentiments about the party, a feeling that the future does not beckon.
Rahul Gandhi has called the ‘Bharat Jodo’ yatra a ‘spiritual journey’— a phrase that seems out of place in the present-day cut-throat politics.
Seventy-four years back, Gandhi wrote that the Congress in its ‘present shape and form, as a propaganda vehicle and a parliamentary machine, has outlived its use.’ He wanted the Congress to ‘flower into a Lok Sevak Sangh’ that would re-establish living links with the villagers and evolve a new perspective on economic, social and cultural regeneration. The Congress had not even plunged itself into power politics, as we understand the term today in its amorality and venality, but he foresaw that power always corrupts.
The much-pilloried Rahul Gandhi probably saw merit in what Gandhi said if the genre of politics he seeks to pursue is a barometer. Rahul was always attracted to a brand suffused more with civil society activism by people who were on the political perimeter or had nothing to do with politics. The 148-day ‘Bharat Jodo’ yatra he will embark upon on September 7 exemplifies his political proclivity. He called it a ‘spiritual journey’— a phrase that seems out of place in the present-day cut-throat politics principally aimed at winning elections through popular mandate or artificially engineered legislative majorities. Instead of only engaging the Congress’s rank and file, he will draw support and sustenance from activists of over 100 NGOs, including Aruna Roy, Yogendra Yadav, Bezwada Wilson and Anjali Bharadwaj. Aruna Roy was part of the Sonia Gandhi-helmed National Advisory Council during the UPA’s tenure that was often criticised by the Congress itself for blocking the government’s reform initiatives with its over-emphasis on ‘social justice’. Some might contend that Rahul’s yatra has a laudable intent, but when success is measured purely as electoral victories and establishing a hegemonic rule over the Republic, as Indira Gandhi did in the past, what good would a message stressing on benevolence do? Wouldn’t it help the Congress if Rahul squarely confronted the BJP on its agenda that constitutes the dominant narrative today?
He gave the impression that he was tentative about power politics, likening it to a poisoned chalice. Apart from cultivating a cheer squad outside the Congress’s mainstream, for which the party’s seniors and juniors like Jaiveer Shergill, a former spokesman, slammed him, he displayed his contempt for accepted political rituals and practices from the start, garlands and supplication being objects of derision for him. Therefore, apart from drawing out the fault-lines between the Congress’s established order and his recruits from outside the system, who shared his professed disdain for conventional politics, Rahul came across as confused.
Assuming that the INC would continue to be ruled, by proxy or directly, by a member of the Gandhi family, how is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra placed? Her initial forays into Amethi (previously held by Rahul) and Rae Bareli (Sonia’s Lok Sabha constituency) created a perception that she was more grounded than her sibling and enjoyed an easier connect with the people. The UP Congress’s hopes were spurred after Priyanka was appointed general secretary in charge of the state. State leaders and workers looked forward to a committed engagement more from her than Rahul, who gradually became politically distant from UP. Those hopes were dashed because Priyanka exhibited the same predilection as her brother. She raised a team from outside the Congress system, as it were, and vested in her colleagues the powers to even select candidates in an election. The disconnect between the party and Priyanka was apparent.
With Rahul ostensibly firm on not taking over the Congress’s reins, no mention of Priyanka as a successor and Sonia wishing to relinquish charge, the Gandhis seem finally inclined to having a non-family person as the party president. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s name is in currency because he ticks all the boxes for the family: loyal, a seasoned organisational hand and attuned to negotiating realpolitik. While Gehlot suits Sonia, would he have the same comfort level with Rahul and Priyanka? In Gehlot’s face-off with Sachin Pilot, an aspirant for the top job in Jaipur, Rahul leaned towards Gehlot. In all probability, Gehlot is the best bet for the Gandhis to retain control over the only piece of real estate they possess, the INC, while showing that even they are ‘open’ to change.
As the Congress grapples with pulls and pressures, from within and without, it is clear that it cannot spearhead an Opposition coalition for the 2024 election. The mention of Congress leading a non-BJP front provokes scorn from the regional chiefs who demand to know how many states it rules.The Congress itself refuses to see the need for an Opposition reunion on the scale Sonia had attempted in 2004 and 2009. When Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was lately under siege from the Centre and the BJP over corruption charges against his senior colleagues, notably his deputy Manish Sisodia, the Congress celebrated the development with the BJP, little realising the AAP’s potential to be a link in an Opposition chain. At this rate, the Opposition will have to rewrite a script for 2024 sans the Congress.
