The marathon meeting of the Congress Working Committee(CWC) ended on Monday after deliberations thatwent on for over seven hours. It was resolved that SoniaGandhi will continue to lead, but not before the webmeet brought to the fore the sharp disagreement in theparty. In a letter to Sonia, a group of 23 members including GhulamNabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik called for anoverhaul of the party and sought the appointment of a full-timepresident. There were suggestions for forming a parliamentaryboard if a n
on-Gandhian is selected as party chief, and there wasan idea thrown of collective leadership.It was a day when democracy failed within the party. A movefrom a few to seek clarity was seen as rebellion and dealt with‘virtual’ jabs. In fact, if the Congress leadership had any intentionof laying out a roadmap, the CWC meeting was a platformwhere all the points raised by the 23 members could be debatedthreadbare, and differences sorted. Blunting out rebels, bashingopposition black and blue, andtainting them as black sheep is entirelyundemocratic. Slamming dissentersas cohorts with the BJP is very unfairto those who have served the party fordecades, terms which may even extendbeyond Rahul’s age.With the majority of CWC membersthrowing their weight behind the Gandhis,Sonia faces a dilemma of navigatingthrough an unprecedented course. Rahul has failed as aparty president and doesn’t find acceptability among senior politiciansoutside the Congress. His refusal to take over the reins isreasonably justified. However, he cannot be taking critical partydecisions and leading from oblivion.Sonia may have bought time by holding on to the presidentshipfor now, but in doing so, she has only averted an immediate crisisand postponed the inevitable. The stark reality that the Congressis facing is well-represented in the letter put forth by Azad andteam. And the question of mistiming considering Sonia’s healthand impending elections is unfounded. Elections are ongoingprocesses, and parties are required to be bracing up all the time.It’s high time to stop diplomacy and stem the rot, and the soonerit is done, the better it will be for the party.The traditional conflict between old and new faces will nodoubt hurt, but in the absence of any clarity on leadership, theparty will be directionless. The problem is inherent because Congressalways revolved around Gandhi leadership, and membersare not ready to look beyond. Going ahead, Sonia will have togive healing touch to dissension and make peace with warringsections. Tainting seniors with saffron hues is like concedinga self-goal. If Congress is about the Gandhi dynasty, there arefrontline party warriors whose role cannot be discounted.
