"Does the Congress Party exist?" comes a query from an educated
Bengali middle-class man in his twenties. As I look for answers to
quench his thirst, I end up on a disappointing note. Well, there's one
Sonia Gandhi who still flouts her power as the president of the age-old
party and then there's one Rahul Gandhi, her son, who promises to turn
things around.
For Rahul, there's a one-point-agenda i.e to castigate India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi at every step. Short of logic but not short of rhetorics, he is on a mission to corner our PM be it on the latter's bonhomie with industrialists or his nonchalance towards farmers. For a change, the Gandhi family scion has some good things to say about Modi over the surgical strikes across the LoC on September 29. Well, Rahul has no other choice because if he vilifies the Gujarati strongman now, he himself will end up as an anti-Indian.
But, let's not put the blame solely on Rahul Baba. His own party men are so busy playing politics over the Modi government's aggressive attitude towards Pakistan. Take it: "This kind of strikes have taken place earlier also. The only difference is this chest-thumping and media sort of going overboard. This never happened before because the earlier Prime Minister thought these issues are best left to be dealt with by the security forces,” said a senior Congress member by the name of Digvijaya Singh as quoted by IANS.
At a time, when the Congress party has almost been decimated all over the country (the Arunachal Pradesh fiasco, losing its bastions in West Bengal and the party-run-government in Karnataka facing a heavy weather over the Cauvery dispute), a party that has given PMs like Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh to the country, is in a state of shambles.
Lack of vision and leadership will only cut it a sorry figure in national politics. Be it in Uttar Pradesh or Punjab, two states going to the polls next year, Congress hasn't made too many inroads into the voters' minds despite the 27 Saal, Up Behaal campaign looking at the UP polls. Its Chief Ministerial (CM) candidate in UP, also a former Delhi CM, Sheila Dixit is unlikely to garner the upper-caste and Brahmin votes as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has its eyes set on them.
In Punjab, the party's Chief Ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh is facing the heat as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sent summons to his son Raninder Singh for gross violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). With former cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu floating his own outfit breaking away from BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) trying to gain some ground, Congress might not find itself on a benign track in the Land of Five Rivers.
The biggest mistake that the Congress party has done is that it has tried to politicise an issue of grave concern related to the security of the country. By going overboard over its lack of ecstasy on surgical strikes during the reign of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in New Delhi, the party sends the wrong message across. Rahul Gandhi may praise Modi on the retaliation post Uri, but some of the senior leaders of the former's party have only spoiled the party by taking jibes at the Union Government at a time when the whole country should speak in one voice.
The problem with Congress is that it still is paranoid to look beyond the Gandhi family. As if, it's just one family that personifies leadership. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has blamed Congress for compromising on national security by putting defence spendings on the back burner since Independence. Yes scams after scams have jolted the image of the party over the years. But what is the party looking at now?
With no constructive criticism to challenge the BJP-led-National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Congress is busy zeroing in on digging loopholes from the grave to malign the central government not with any success though. Poll strategist Prashant Kishor would be a worried man as being the man in charge of steering the party to a position of reverence in UP and Punjab, juvenile actions on the part of Congress leaders is only queering the pitch for the party.
Too much of confusion as the party isn't sure of when Priyanka Gandhi will step in to boost up the sagging morale of the ordinary UP Congress supporter. Similarly, in Punjab, there's a lot to be done. In West Bengal, the state party chief, Adhir Chowdhury is facing the flak for failing to tackle defection to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
In other states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Odisha, Haryana and some others, Congress hardly is a force to reckon with. Even in Haryana, allegations of extra favours given to some businessmen by the previous Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda is giving goose bumps to a grass root Congress loyalist.
Utter frustration for staying out of power is throwing the party into oblivion. Hence, we have to deal with archaic statements that have little relevance in the current context emanating from some Congress leaders.
Forget leadership, Congress lacks a well-thought-out strategy to earn back the people's confidence. And don't blame its opponents if they have a big laugh over Congress' misery.
Lot to ponder over, Soniaji and Rahulji! The going will get tougher in the days to come.
For Rahul, there's a one-point-agenda i.e to castigate India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi at every step. Short of logic but not short of rhetorics, he is on a mission to corner our PM be it on the latter's bonhomie with industrialists or his nonchalance towards farmers. For a change, the Gandhi family scion has some good things to say about Modi over the surgical strikes across the LoC on September 29. Well, Rahul has no other choice because if he vilifies the Gujarati strongman now, he himself will end up as an anti-Indian.
But, let's not put the blame solely on Rahul Baba. His own party men are so busy playing politics over the Modi government's aggressive attitude towards Pakistan. Take it: "This kind of strikes have taken place earlier also. The only difference is this chest-thumping and media sort of going overboard. This never happened before because the earlier Prime Minister thought these issues are best left to be dealt with by the security forces,” said a senior Congress member by the name of Digvijaya Singh as quoted by IANS.
At a time, when the Congress party has almost been decimated all over the country (the Arunachal Pradesh fiasco, losing its bastions in West Bengal and the party-run-government in Karnataka facing a heavy weather over the Cauvery dispute), a party that has given PMs like Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh to the country, is in a state of shambles.
Lack of vision and leadership will only cut it a sorry figure in national politics. Be it in Uttar Pradesh or Punjab, two states going to the polls next year, Congress hasn't made too many inroads into the voters' minds despite the 27 Saal, Up Behaal campaign looking at the UP polls. Its Chief Ministerial (CM) candidate in UP, also a former Delhi CM, Sheila Dixit is unlikely to garner the upper-caste and Brahmin votes as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has its eyes set on them.
In Punjab, the party's Chief Ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh is facing the heat as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sent summons to his son Raninder Singh for gross violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). With former cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu floating his own outfit breaking away from BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) trying to gain some ground, Congress might not find itself on a benign track in the Land of Five Rivers.
The biggest mistake that the Congress party has done is that it has tried to politicise an issue of grave concern related to the security of the country. By going overboard over its lack of ecstasy on surgical strikes during the reign of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in New Delhi, the party sends the wrong message across. Rahul Gandhi may praise Modi on the retaliation post Uri, but some of the senior leaders of the former's party have only spoiled the party by taking jibes at the Union Government at a time when the whole country should speak in one voice.
The problem with Congress is that it still is paranoid to look beyond the Gandhi family. As if, it's just one family that personifies leadership. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has blamed Congress for compromising on national security by putting defence spendings on the back burner since Independence. Yes scams after scams have jolted the image of the party over the years. But what is the party looking at now?
With no constructive criticism to challenge the BJP-led-National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Congress is busy zeroing in on digging loopholes from the grave to malign the central government not with any success though. Poll strategist Prashant Kishor would be a worried man as being the man in charge of steering the party to a position of reverence in UP and Punjab, juvenile actions on the part of Congress leaders is only queering the pitch for the party.
Too much of confusion as the party isn't sure of when Priyanka Gandhi will step in to boost up the sagging morale of the ordinary UP Congress supporter. Similarly, in Punjab, there's a lot to be done. In West Bengal, the state party chief, Adhir Chowdhury is facing the flak for failing to tackle defection to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
In other states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Odisha, Haryana and some others, Congress hardly is a force to reckon with. Even in Haryana, allegations of extra favours given to some businessmen by the previous Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda is giving goose bumps to a grass root Congress loyalist.
Utter frustration for staying out of power is throwing the party into oblivion. Hence, we have to deal with archaic statements that have little relevance in the current context emanating from some Congress leaders.
Forget leadership, Congress lacks a well-thought-out strategy to earn back the people's confidence. And don't blame its opponents if they have a big laugh over Congress' misery.
Lot to ponder over, Soniaji and Rahulji! The going will get tougher in the days to come.
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