Congress has nothing to lose even if young Turks leave the party, Rahul Gandhi said recently. So true. What more can happen to the grand old party of Indian politics? The national party has been brought to its knees in the past five to six years with Rahul Gandhi as its helm and even after quitting as the party president. One can’t blame Rahul Gandhi if he thinks what more can happen whoever leaves the party now.
But had he given a thought to why leaders, both young and old, have been continuously leaving the Congress over the years, that too people who had been with it during the worst of times?
Rahul’s statement came even as Jyothiradithya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan has been at loggerheads with the Congress leadership.
Jyothiradithya Scindia was one who was trotting around with upper caste credentials as a feather in his cap and that is more in line with the saffron party’s stand. It was no surprise that he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. But the case of Sachin Pilot is different.
He is the son of Rajesh Pilot who never rejected the secular credentials of the Congress. Even Sachin’s family life reflects this secular mentality. The daughter of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah Sarah is his wife. He would have to seek the permission of his wife’s family before joining the BJP, which had removed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and brought measures and controls that were against the democratic principles of this country. It was against such a leader that the Congress had initiated action alleging that there is evidence that Sachin was keen on joining hands with the BJP.
A majority of leaders had quit the Congress during the time of Indira Gandhi. But that outflow was on the grounds of idealism. Many of the leaders had quit the party questioning the totalitarian leadership of Indira Gandhi. At the same time, it is strange that leaders, one after the other, are leaving the Congress to join a BJP that has a totalitarian leadership symbolised in Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. It is indeed very surprising that these leaders, because of their hunger for power, are attracted like a magnet to the totalitarian tendencies of these two leaders.
How would a Congress with no popular support survive even if the quitting of young Turks wouldn’t affect the party? What has leaders like Rahul Gandhi done to revive people’s support for the party?
Rahul Gandhi, who was issuing statements, posting photographs and giving interviews when crores of labourers were suffering during the lockdown, failed to utilise the opportunity to inject new blood into the veins of the party to revive it. A party can gain popular support only if it is able to get down to the grassroots level and make people feel that it is with them during their worst of times.
Under a leadership that has no clue on how to revive the efficiency of the party by tapping into popular disaffection with the ruling dispensation, it is not surprising that it is going from bad to worse and leaders are thinning out. If this outflow of leaders continues, the Congress would soon be reduced to an endangered species.
