On the 45th anniversary of the Emergency, former Congress National Spokesperson Sanjay Jha updated his Twitter bio demanding a ‘reawakened and revitalised Congress, ready to win the second freedom struggle’.
Jha updated his bio in the morning, which now reads: “Congressi by DNA. Sacked as National Spokesperson for writing:" India needs a reawakened and revitalized Congress, ready to win the second freedom struggle".”
His older bio read: “Dale Carnegie. PhD in Economics. XLRI. Founder, @cricketnext. Tennis player. President, @profcong.”
Jha was recently removed as Congress National Spokesperson after he wrote an article critical of the Congress’ current state of inertia.
Jha was recently dropped as the party's national spokesperson. In an open letter to The Times of India said that the Congress was headed towards ‘political obsolescence’ if it continued to conduct itself in the same manner.
"I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency," he had written.
In a recent tweet, he had said that the need of the hour was "an organisational renewal".
He recently tweeted against Congress seeking legal action against Firstpost.com and wrote: “"As a Congressman I support the right of every journalist to question any political party, its performance, leadership, strategies, success and failures, whatever. That’s democracy. Political parties that are thin-skinned need to develop fibre; breakfast cereals? Proteins?"
There are murmurs within the Congress that Jha’s open rebellion is an act of defiance which has support within the party.
In an earlier piece on FPJ, Nirmalya Dutta had written: “However, what’s interesting about Jha’s rebellion is the fact he’s not a mass leader but a Mumbai-based businessman and a president of the All India Professional Congress. It would almost be foolish to assume that Jha – a communication expert and director of the Mumbai-based Dale Carnegie – is a lone wolf.”
Another piece by veteran Congress watched Rasheed Kidwai noted that Jha’s agitation was most likely backed by ‘several top leaders and several young leaders ‘who are annoyed with the dependence on KC Venugopal, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ashok Gehlot’.
The timing is particularly interesting given Jha changed his bio on the 45th anniversary of the day when Indira Gandhi declared Emergency.
