Sandeep Dikshit of Congress who may be fielded against former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal made this statement, ‘He tried to defame my mother and hence, I chose to fight against him’. Reported by ABP News Bureau on 23rd December, 2024. He was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India, representing the East Delhi constituency. Sandeep’s reason to fight the election against Kejriwal appears to be flimsy. It is not on ideological ground, not even on government issues but on a very personal note. This has been the trait of the Congress party for too long. Sandeep did not say single word about BJP which also had dislodged his mother from power.
The Hindustan Times on 26th December, 2024 reported that addressing a press conference, AICC treasurer Ajay Maken lashed out at AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, saying his party came to power riding on the Janlokpal agitation but has failed to set up the anti-corruption ombudsman. “If there is one word to describe former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal here then it would be Farziwal,” he said while releasing the white paper titled “Mauka Mauka, Har Baar Dhoka“. Maken went on to say, “If anyone is the king of fraud in the entire country then it is Kejriwal and that is why we have come here with a white paper on the Kejriwal government and also on the BJP government at the Centre,” Maken said.
AAP furious with Ajay Maken, said will ask INDIA alliance to remove Congress if ‘no action taken’ against Maken. AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday said Congress was doing “everything to help BJP win Delhi polls”, adding that Ajay Maken “reads BJP’s script”. This is how Congress is playing into the hands of BJP by going after their alliance partners just before election. There are too many skeletons in Congress parties cupboard. As usual it would only hit at those who are partners and not against the BJP since the BJP will retort back both with facts and falsehood.
Similarly, India Today reported on May 19th 2024 that the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge rebuked Chowdhury, asserting that he is no one to take a decision on whether Banerjee should be a member of the Opposition-led INDIA bloc. He too inside and outside of the Parliament attacked mostly Mamta than the BJP, where as Mahua Moitra left no stone unturned in nailing Modi and BJP for their omission and commission. Understandably, for Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Mamta was an immediate political enemy than BJP. He lost to Trinamool Congress’s Yusuf Pathan, a cricketer in Baharampur Lok Sabha election.
The row over the choice of site for Dr Manmohan Singh’s cremation and a possible memorial in his name escalated today after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Centre of “insulting” the memory of the former prime minister. NDTV reported on 28/12/2024, Dr Singh, who served as India’s prime minister from 2004 to 2014, died at the age of 92 on December 26 at AIIMS Delhi. His last rites were performed today at the Nigambodh Ghat with full state honours. The choice of the funeral site was flagged by Mr Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, as an “insult” to Dr Singh.
It is a fact that ain the last 10 years or so, Congress has been hit severely where it hurts the most. India TV reported on 30/12/24 that Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, has launched a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi’s loyalists and her brother Abhijit Mukherjee following allegations that Congress failed to honour their father properly after his death. Taking a jab from Rahul Gandhi’s loyalists, Sharmistha questioned their views and cited her father’s visit to the RSS headquarters during the 2018 Parliament session and Rahul Gandhi’s controversial hug with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
There is a strong view point not only among the politicians but also among the citizens that Pranab Mukherjee should have been made the Prime Minister in United Progressive Alliance (UPA I) government and Manmohan Singh be elevated as the President. There were health issues with Manmohan Singh. But more than that Mr. Manmohan Singh was not a politician but an academic who became a statesman. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee on the other hand was a seasoned politician who was well accepted even by the opposition. In all probability Mr. Mukherjee would have led the Congress to UPA-III.
If what is reported in the NDTV on 30th, December, 2024, it will further tarnish the image of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. Amid reports that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has travelled to Vietnam, the BJP has said the Leader of the Opposition had flown abroad to party on New Year while the nation was mourning the loss of former Prime Minister and Congress veteran Dr Manmohan Singh. Hitting back, Congress MP B Manickam Tagore has questioned why Mr Gandhi’s private travel bothers the BJP. But the fact is that once you are the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament you are no more a private person. Secondly, after criticising the present government for the lack of honouring Dr.Manmohan Singh if Rahul travels abroad it is not in the right sense.
On 8th January, 2025, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot triggered a confrontation with Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal with his remark that AAP is the Congress’s main opposition in the Delhi assembly election. Reacting to this, the former Delhi chief minister said it proved the Congress and the BJP were contesting the election “together”. This has become the culture of the Congress party leaders. They rarely do any constructive work but engage in statements which bring division among potential partners. Further, they only attack potential partners and leave out the BJP. Possibly they are afraid that the ED will visit them the next day. By such useless statements, they bring harm to the efforts to keep the BJP out of power.
Congress one of the oldest political parties seems to be in shambles. It simply seems to be in disarray. Among all the political parties in India, it is the Congress which gets hit by Modi and the BJP the worst. The vulnerability of Congress is unfathomable. But the fact is that the Congress seems to be either unaware or does not care to put its house in order. There is no doubt that the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi brought in some cheer in the drooping spirit of the Congress. Restricting the BJP within 300 MP seats also had revived its spirit. But it is the most vulnerable and prone for any seething criticism not just by the ruling party and alliances but above all those who are supposed to be part of India Alliance, spearheaded by the Congress.
India Alliance which is critically needed for the revival of the Congress as well as to save the country, constitution and the citizens seems to be falling apart even before it could be strengthened. Though Malikarjuna Kharge is supposed to be the convenor of India Alliance, it is Rahul Gandhi who calls the shots. Realising the playboy attitude of Rahul Gandhi at times, the INDIA Alliance partners removing not just Rahul Gandhi but the Congress itself from its fold. Especially after the Maharashtra election debacle, many in the India alliance are asking if the West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson should lead the Opposition bloc. This has brought the differences between these parties have come to fore and raised a few important questions: will it lead to a group functioning within the larger group; could it lead again to the rise of a third force as in the 1990s; will the Congress agree to play second fiddle to the regional parties as it did from 1996 to 1998, or will it decide to go it alone?
Instead of addressing these issues, Rahul Gandhi and the congress is busy with many other non-issues. In many occasions, the studied silence of the Congress to address internal issues has caused it huge electoral as well as government formation and continuation problems. Now the problem is with alliance partners. But there does not seem to be any political will to attend to this and to sort out matters so that the India Alliance survives and does well electorally for the sake of saving the country, constitution and citizens. Congress neither seem to learn from its electoral failure nor from its governance failure.
Anand Teltumbde in his perceptive analysis gives four reasons why Congress does not learn from its electoral failures – and what it can do about it. The party has squandered the optimism of the Lok Sabha elections. All the hopes built up by the Lok Sabha elections in June that the end of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s dominance had perhaps begun have been shattered by the assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. In the assembly election results declared on October 8, 2024 the National Conference, a constituent of the Opposition INDIA bloc won in Jammu and Kashmir but the performance of the Congress was dismal. The party lost in Haryana too.
Anand Teltumbde rightly points to the fact that the Congress is failing self, failing the nation. This question should be raised, why is the Congress refusing to learn from its electoral failures over the last 10 years? Gujarat was ready to reject the BJP in 2017 but as expected the Congress lost the election. In Haryana too due to inflight, over dependence on Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Jat community neglecting the Dalits and the OBCs, not forging alliance with AAP cost the election. Congress also faced backlash from controversial comments made by Rahul Gandhi on reservation.There was not even a slight lament that it had lost something from its platter. If not for its sake but for the sake of the country which is reeling under the fascist, authoritarian and anti-citizen regime.
It is a fact that over the years, Rahul Gandhi has matured, particularly after the Bharat Jodo yatras, but even then he utterly falls short of what is required of him as a leader to defeat Modi. Moreover, the entire Congress operation is on the shoulders of Rahul Gandhi or it appears to be so. Now with the arrival of Priyanka on the scene, another person is there but also from the same family. Malikarjuna Kharge is just used for public appearance and not sure how much power he wields. There is no spokes person worth the name who can address and attract the media. Leaving a few exceptions, this national party lacks regional or state level leaders who can take on BJP and RSS on their own merit.
It is in this regard the demand for a seasoned politician Mamta to be made the chairperson appears to be appropriate. But the Congress sycophants will not permit this. It will not even learn this from the BJP who under the NDA dispensation had appointed George Fernandes a Christian to be the chair-person of NDA. Congress has golden opportunity to get a team of 3 members like Mamta, Sharad Pawar, Farukh Abdulla to coordinate the INDIA Alliance. But this will not happen since it would be too much for the Congress to share power. Not even Congress is important but everything has to begin and end with Rahul Gandhi and Gandhi family. Possibly Sonia Gandhi wants to see the son as Prime Minister even for few seconds. Hence she like the Congressmen will not do anything proactively for INDIA Alliance. Every dignified Indian does not want to see Sonia Gandhi anywhere near politics of India.
Vast number of Indians are aware of the fact that the Modi and BJP came into power in 2014 due to the omission and commission of the Congress. On the one hand, before 2014, the Congress came out with some progressive programs like MNREGA, RTI, RTE and RTF, etc. On the other hand, it also prepared the way for UAPA, NIA, restrictions on FCRA, etc. Some of these were prepared by the Congress which became handy for BJP to destroy this country. In this background, if Rahul Gandhi claims to be clean, it does not cut much ice among the citizens. Also as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament, he should be more inclusive, circumspect, mature, intuitive, humble to get many voices against the ruling front than he and his sister. Both inside and outside the parliament it is only his voice. Either no one is there in the Congress or not promoted. If this is the case within Congress, would they be interested in promoting someone else from INDIA Alliance to be the voice of the opposition.
Taking clue from Anand Teltumbde’s view point it can be stated that it is time that the Congress should genuinely present an ideological vision opposed to the BJP’s. This vision should be anti-caste, anti-feudalism, anti-Hindutva and anti-corporate. This on the one hand will enable the Congress to put up a good fight against the BJP and RSS’s caste, ethnic, feudal, majoritarian, market based and oriented policies and programs. Along with this ideological stance, it needs to work out astute strategies to mobilize the masses, especially the Dalits, the Tribals, minorities, most backward castes and poor in general. Congress has to do this with humility and sagacity and with genuine regard for the country, citizens and the constitution.
It has to prepare its cadres and leaders to accept the reality that it is no more the grand old party with national presence and single largest party. In the given ecosystem, it is only in partnership with other parties, the Congress has any relevance or role. Moreover, it has to enable its cadres and leaders to think in the lines outlined above and educate them that there is no alternative.
This is not to save the country but for its own survival. This calls for organizing ‘chintan shivir’, that is, ideology dissemination at the district levels so that with this new and compelling thoughts the cadres and leaders would get ready to face any election. Further, wherever Congress is in power, it cannot limit itself to running a government but move towards good governance.
Coming back to power like the past cannot be a goal at present. But working towards opposition unity against the BJP and the RSS should be the immediate goal. It also should keep in mind the long term goal of saving the country from disintegrating, citizens from becoming ‘gulams’ and the constitution from being done away with and replaced with manusmiriti. The Congress has a leadership role to play here. But for that the Congress has to shed its corrupt and casteist past, identify its earlier mistakes in terms of governance, do away with the arrogance of being the oldest and biggest party, get out of the apron of Gandhi family, etc. On issues that are regional and national, it is imperative that the Congress has to work out joint programs with INDIA Block, press statements, appeal to the President, etc. Any pretention to be the sole savior of the constitution will only back fire on the party.
In electoral terms, the Congress posters cannot any more have the pictures of Indra Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. But it should have national leaders like Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, Fatima Sheikh, Ambedkar, Birsa Munda, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Kamaraj, Zakir Hussain, Shastri, Sarojini Naidu, etc. At the regional level it should incorporate the portraits of regional leaders and be inclusive in that. This would surely send a clear message to the electorate that the party has grown out of the Gandhi family. This would also clearly communicate that the Congress is truly a national party. It appears that even if the Gandhi family does not want these kinds of posters, the sycophants around them may not allow them to be inclusive.
Understanding and accepting this fact that there are contending interests in politics, the party should opt for accommodative politics even at the cost of short-term loss to itself. It is this strategy which will make it more appealing for electoral and post-electoral alliances. On the other hand, it has to initiate deliberations with other parties the urgent need of initiating even at the level of the debate issues like agrarian reform, economic reform, electoral reform, education reform, judicial reform, police reform, prison reform, land reform, etc. If this is genuinely undertaken by the party, it would not only defeat the BJP but also would save the constitution. But if it wants to continue in the manner it has been functioning so far, then it would not only fail itself but it would fail the country too.
Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh continues to inspire us. The Congress party needs to take lessons from his writings, speeches and life itself. We admire him because he went up to gallows to sacrifice his life the liberation of the country. But we should also follow him. Singh was committed to inquilab, that is, revolution, but not merely a political revolution. Bhagat Singh wanted a social revolution to break age-old discriminatory practices such as untouchability, communalism and gender discrimination. However, most eulogies have ignored his social programme, projecting him merely as a passionate anti-colonialist and nationalist, which is not only inaccurate, but incomplete. It is the efforts by people like Bhagat Singh to work towards not just political liberation but socio, economic, cultural and religious liberation which will save India and Indians.
Dr. Prakash Louis, Director, Xavier Institute of Social Research, Digha-Ashiana Road, Patna, Bihar
