Gandhi charisma fails within Congress : The Economic Times Editorials

June 26, 2020, 11:26 PM IST ET Edit in ET Editorials | Edit Page, India, politics | ET

Developments at the recent meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), reported in this newspaper, could mark the beginning of some radical realignment in the Opposition, whose incoherence and ineffectiveness has been a drag on India’s democracy. Congress is the largest party of the Opposition, not just in terms of strength in the Lok Sabha but in terms of its share of votes and the clout it wields in state governments. If the party changes for the better, the better for democracy.

At the latest CWC, Rahul Gandhi, Congress’ most visible leader, was advised to refrain from personal criticism of the Prime Minister. This gave him the opportunity to tear into the party’s senior leaders, whom he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused of being scared to take on the PM. Senior leaders such as Anand Sharma and Ahmed Patel refuted the charge. In the wake of Congress’ rout in the 2019 elections, the Gandhis had sought to blame the old guard for the defeat, even as Rahul Gandhi resigned as party president, owning up formal responsibility. The old guard did not point out that Rahul had led the campaign, personalising it around Modi and focusing solely on alleged corruption in the Rafale deal. But in the last CWC, as Rahul prepares to come back as party president, and replace the veterans with his own team, the old guard did show defiance. What matters is not that Rahul seems not to appreciate the distinction between criticising people and criticising their actions. Rather, it is that the Gandhi charisma is no longer sufficient to suppress dissent within the party over vital matters of tactics and strategy.

If the Gandhis persist with personal whim as party strategy, we could well see a Gandhi-less version of Congress emerge. It is not inevitable, but it would be wrong to rule out such a possibility. Congressmen should be forgiven for seeing a slight difference in political nous between Indira Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Courtesy - The Economic Times.

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