VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
Though it was widely expected
that Congress will lose both Maharashtra and Haryana
after three and two terms of governance respectively, the resounding defeat has
triggered a fresh round of debate on the survival of the party under a dynasty
which has clearly been caught in the law of diminishing returns.
It would indeed be sad if the
fortunes of Congress continue to slide the way it is happening all over the
country. India
needs a robust democratic set-up and if Congress vacates even the opposition
space so easily, it does not bode well for parliamentary democracy. In both
Haryana and Maharashtra , Congress remained in the third
position. BJP may be going gung-ho with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan
of “Congress-Mukt Bharat” but I am sure, even Modi would like an electoral and
parliamentary challenge. At the national level, only Congress has the history
and ability to do that.
Now you have Assembly elections
in Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir. In both States, Congress had been a part
of the ruling coalition and has broken off from their alliance with Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha and National Conference. Given profound anti-incumbency in both
the States, a divided anti-BJP Opposition and a resurgent BJP under Modi, it is
a foregone conclusion that Congress will again bite the dust. I am not sticking
my neck out to say who would win in the two states, but surely I can safely say
that Congress would lose.
But the Lok Sabha polls, followed
by Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly polls, are merely the symptoms of the
disease plaguing Congress. I will explain one — the approach of Congress
towards social media.
The party has become a butt of
jokes on the social media, Rahul Gandhi has become a punching bag on Twitter,
Facebook and WhatsApp and there is no plan or strategy to counter that.
Remember, it was the social media which contributed in making the image of
Modi. Forget the number of users though it is huge by any standards; remember
the cascading effect of such message filtering down to the lowest common
denominator in electoral politics. This is a classic case of Congress running
away from reality, like an animal closing its eyes in case of danger. Ask a
party person about the visibility of Rahul and the party on the social media
and the standard reply is that these things do not get votes and their voters
do not use social media. What a rubbish argument! When you are not up to the
challenge, cannot comprehend change, you simply start blaming everyone and
everything except yourself. This is what is happening with the grand old party.
There are no two opinions that
Congress is facing its worst crisis ever since it came into electoral politics
after Independence . Whatever the
Congress spokespersons say about the ability of vice-president Rahul Gandhi and
his so called vision, disappointment has spread far and wide in the party rank
and file. An average Congress worker knows that a reluctant person is being
pushed for the mantle of leadership even though he himself is hardly
interested. Congress under the 44-year-old Gandhi has lost one election after
the other. He has accepted defeats after defeats, all his political strategy or
lack of it exposed in one election after the other. Using accounting terminology, he has nothing
to show in the column of “credit” while the list of “debit” is increasing with
every election. How can the average Congress worker get enthused with Rahul
Gandhi if he continues to preside over one defeat after the other?
It was a comic relief to find
AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh saying Rahul should take the charge of
the party from Sonia Gandhi. Come on, Mr Singh. You are an astute politician
and two-time Chief Minister. You know for sure that Rahul is running the party
and not Sonia Gandhi. Why don’t you introspect and look for the real issues and
causes which have led to the terminal decline of Congress. These are merely
superficial, diversion tactics which won’t help the party at all. After al,l
sycophancy of the Congress variety for the dynasty has been one of the greatest
enemies of the party. It was time, Congress realises that and stop rewarding
rootless wonders like Digvijay Singh.
Congress spokespersons and
hardcore supporters continue to argue that electoral reverses which began in
the Assembly polls in December 2013 (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
and Delhi) and peaked in Lok Sabha elections in May and continues unabated
(Haryana and Maharashtra) is a temporary phenomenon and party would bounce
back. They continue to remind you of 1977,
1989 and then in 1999 when party was on back foot due to electoral
reverses. But they fail to point out that the challenge this time round is far
more severe and robust. They also do not comprehend the Modi factor in
entirety, his sense of timing, political understanding, symbolism which he
encompasses, his charisma and the way he seems like a fresh breeze to a large
number of people who are not even BJP supporters. They fail to understand that
the contrast with the previous Congress regime is so sharp that even after
coming to power, Modi and BJP has only increased its support base. While the
base of BJP under Modi is expanding that of Congress under Rahul and Sonia
Gandhi is declining rapidly. Comprehending the problem is always the first step
for finding a solution. Here, Congress does not even want to have a grasp of
the problem, leave alone looking for reasons for solution.
The economic ideas of the
Congress in 2014 too seem to be a straight lift from the socialist ideas of
Jawaharlal Nehru which were themselves inspired by the then Soviet Union. Times
have changed, ideas have changed, generations have changed but Congress
continues to bank on poverty for making electoral gains. Heavy subsidies, food
to poor, doles to the rural population etc, cannot be the substitutes for economic
growth. Such ideas need a thorough re-look as it has lost favor now, being half
a century old. Congress has to look beyond poverty and food and speak about the
aspirations of the people in this millennium. The days of “rights” based
economic policies are over.
Besides, Congress politics based
on entitlement and birth, simply put dynastic politics, is simply out of tune
with the present realities where aspirations and meritocracy is being talked
about. You have a Modi who was a tea seller, you have a Manohar Lal Khattar who
ran a shop, you have a Devendra Fadnavis who has risen from the ranks… You have
countless others. Then you have a Rahul Gandhi whose great grandfather,
grandmother and father were Prime Ministers and whose mother practically ran the
country for 10 years. This may not be a fault of Rahul but surely the young,
restless youth find fault with this entitlement of dynasty. No wonder despite
being almost two-decade younger than Modi, Rahul hardly has any support base
amongst the youth of the country. The youth think that if they join politics,
they have a chance in BJP but stand no chance in Congress where all positions
are occupied by those who had a father or grandfather in politics.
All is not lost. Congress still
has the support base to spring a surprise if it reinvents as per the changing
times and match BJP step by step. Obviously this cannot be done with the kind
of economic policies it pursues, the kind of leadership it wants to impose and
keeps a blind eye to the changes taking place all around. In May, Congress
still had 20 per cent of the electorate supporting it, suggesting that time was
for a thorough review and introspection to hold on to its base and consolidate
from thereon. But the party neither learnt any lessons from the drubbing nor
wants to. It continues the way it has been for years and decades. That, of
course, is the sign of terminal illness for a political party and terminal
decline. (November 3, 2014 )
No comments:
Post a Comment