The resignation and subsequent expulsion of Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia followed by the exit of 20 party MLAs is a decisive blow to the party at a time when the BJP was slowly beginning to lose its grip on State politics. The recent trend, including the results in Delhi, showed that BJP was on a slide in key States. It was a time when the Congress needed a massive show of unity and a new strategy to take its fight forward to the ruling camp. The grand old party leadership has failed to douse the flames of discontent between leaders and continued to repose faith on its old horses. The historic tug of war between the old and young has only pulled the party towards disaster.
Young Turks in Congress don’t see a turnaround and leaders like Scindia are feeling political stagnation. It is evident the veterans in the party are still calling the shots, whether it is Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan or Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh. Ahmed Patel’s return as the chief strategist to Sonia Gandhi doesn’t augur well for the new brigade. And which is why the sense of direction appears to have lost within the Congress.
In Goa, the Congress is facing a similar predicament. The High Command in Delhi is yet to name a Pradesh Committee president after Girish Chodankar submitted his resignation on June 28 last year. Nearly eight months later, there is still no clarity in which way the party is headed, and at times the Congress Legislature Party and the Pradesh Committee appear split on crucial issues. The division within a small group of Congressmen doesn’t bode well for a party that needs to rebuild itself from the grass-root. The bitter discord and anger in the run-up to the Zilla Parishad elections is the testimony of leadership failure. In crunch situations, the Congress will continue to be haunted by rebellion within.
The Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo is not taking any high moral ground. It’s all about power politics and bulldozing through the Opposition and razing State governments. Goa has been a witness to this brand of politics when a breakaway 10-member Congress group broke ranks and merged itself with the BJP. The scene in Karnataka was no different.
The Congress needs to desperately reinvent itself because the halo and charisma of its president Sonia Gandhi is fading and the leadership of Rahul Gandhi has failed the litmus test of Lok Sabha elections. It’s time that the party finds a balance and reassures the younger crop at a time of uncertainty. The dynamics of politics is changing at a quick pace, and the Congress must quickly adapt to ground situations. It’s a sorry state for the party which cannot capitalize on the wave of resentment against the BJP over its recent move on the Citizenship Amendment Act. And it’s even worse because the people, despite their angst and frustration against the Modi regime, are not ready to accept the Congress as an alternative.
