Certain things are written in stone. One, only a member of the Gandhi family will lead the Congress, nobody else. Two, the party will not hold its leadership accountable, come what may. Therefore, we should have fully anticipated the charade the so-called Congress Working Committee enacted last Saturday. As if following an old and much worn-out script, Congress President Rahul Gandhi offered his resignation following the abject humiliation of the party in the parliamentary poll. It won but only a paltry 52 seats, eight more than last time.
The party chief himself suffered a huge personal blow and was inflicted a humiliating defeat by BJP’s Smriti Irani in what was hitherto the family stronghold of Amethi. He, however, won from Wayanad thanks to the support of the alliance partners of the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala. The Congress owes more than half of its 52 seats to allies in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In other words, Rahul has contributed nothing to the Congress kitty anywhere in the country. Yet, he faces no challenge as the head of the oldest political party in the country.
Which says less about the Gandhis and more about the senior members of the CWC. They behave like robots, mechanically endorsing a non-performer after each poll debacle. In this case, it was no ordinary setback, being reduced to such a state that the Congress cannot even claim the post of the Leader of the Opposition. Sycophancy, being an essential prerequisite for being a member of the top decision-making body of the party, it came as no surprise that none in the CWC made even a feeble effort to hold Rahul accountable. It should be noted that when the party won 141 seats in the 1998 general election, then Congress President Sitaram Kesari was physically ejected from his office at the AICC headquarters at 24 Akbar Road because Sonia Gandhi loyalists held him responsible for the party ignominy.
Family retainers threatened physical violence against Kesari, forcing him to hide in a bathroom until rescued by a few well-wishers. And who immediately replaced Kesari as party president? None other than Sonia Gandhi. But there was no question of her quitting to atone for the repeated electoral failures of the party under her leadership. Now, after a high-decibel campaign in the just-concluded poll, which ended in a disastrous outcome for the party, Rahul merely goes through the set-piece motions of offering a resignation but decides to stay on under tremendous pressure of the wise men and women of the so-called Congress Working Committee. Of course, the CWC promises to make a course-correction, undertake an organisational revamp. Which will be nothing more than a mere shuffling of the non-leaders in various party posts.
Given that led by the Gandhis, most Congress leaders have lost touch with the prevailing ground realities, and are in no position to win even their own parliamentary seats without the crutches of regional allies, moving them around will be a futile exercise. The truth is that as a political brand, the Congress is now a liability. It is no longer associated with selfless public service. Its leadership is widely believed to be corrupt and opportunistic. The party no longer has a story to tell. It has lost its elan. Having tied its destiny to a single family, it is inevitable for the party to feel the pain when a member of that family is a non-starter, lacking leadership skills, charisma, even good political sense.
Rahul, for that matter, even his sister, Priyanka, cannot revive the Congress because the political situation has undergone a sea change with the birth of regional parties and, of course, due to the rise of the BJP. In 17 states, the Congress does not have a single MP. And yet the lotus-eaters of the CWC cannot muster the courage to pin the responsibility where it belongs. Without a doubt, it belongs to none other than Rahul Gandhi. The sycophantic rubber-stamps deserve no better than a leader like Rahul to whom they have mortgaged their minds – and their future. Indian voter was right to reject such craven, cringing family-retainers.
