There are no signs of the Congress freeing itself from the clutches of family rule and the dependents of the Nehru family. When a party that has publicly declared that it is working for a ‘Congress-free India’ rules the country, there must be a sincere effort on the part of its leaders for the revival of the Congress by abandoning the established methods.
But it is clear that the leadership does not have any kind of plan or project for that. Kapil Sibal’s harsh criticism that the party’s constitution should be changed if nominations continue instead of organisational elections can be considered as falling on deaf ears of the leadership.
It was after quite a long time that Congress President Sonia Gandhi announced the reconstitution of the Working Committee and the AICC. The move comes after 23 leaders, including Kapil Sibal, submitted a letter demanding permanent leadership of the party. But when the reorganisation was carried out, many of the front-runners in the letter were ignored. Ghulam Nabi Azad lost his membership of the Working Committee.
It is in this context that Kapil Sibal has once again come out with a critique of the leadership. Kapil Sibal pointed out that their only demand was to implement what is stated in the party governing structure. He said that it would be better to change the constitution if the party leadership was not interested in reorganisation of the party through the elections mentioned in the constitution.
Some party leaders claim the Congress to be the largest democratic party in the country. This claim may be due to the fact that they do not see the BJP as a democratic party but retains the character of a cadre party. At present, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah decide things in the BJP. Even the BJP president is forced to tow their line. But leaders of the Congress, which they claim to be the largest democratic party in the country, need to think about how different the situation is in Congress.
Unfortunately, the Congress does not even have the kind of democracy that exists within the BJP. A leader like Narendra Modi was able to rise to the top of the party and the country only because the BJP did not have a family rule like in the Congress. The Congress has not changed the belief that it is deluged after watching Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka holding the mantle of the party for years. The dependent leaders around them are those who do not want this situation to change.
The attitude of the Nehru family towards the Congress itself is now very strange. Sonia Gandhi does not want to continue as president due to age limitations. Instead, Rahul Gandhi was brought to the post. But when Rahul opted to step down from presidency following the 2019 election defeat, Sonia Gandhi was forced to return to the post instead. Sonia Gandhi is still the caretaker president. Priyanka has no interest in becoming a leader.
These three, who do not want to take the lead, are not interested in finding a president outside the Nehru family. What they are saying is that the scripture of the party is to find a new president, working committee and AICC by organising elections even if the dependents object. The practice of nomination continues unabated.
If the Nehru family was once the strength of the Congress leadership, today the situation is quite different. It is such that a revival of the party is possible only if it is properly reorganised with the Nehru family kept away. Even if Sonia Gandhi, the caretaker president, were to step down, Rahul, who is still making decisions behind the scenes and remains unstable as a leader, could not be expected to revive the party.
