Congress Prez: Clamour for ‘Rahul again’ grows

Will the Indian National Congress, the ‘Grand Old Party’ of India have a new party president on September 20? That’s the big question on citizens’ minds as they look for a whiff of fresh air from a party that once towered over the Indian political scene with icons of the freedom struggle leading it, but is now a mere shadow of its original self.

The Congress no doubt, is facing an existential crisis of sorts with two of its leading figures – Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma – quitting party posts assigned to them. Ailing president Sonia Gandhi has been doing her best to face up to the saffron juggernaut but reportedly wants to hand over the baton to someone who can steer the organisation through troubled waters and make it fighting fit for the crucial 2024 parliament polls.

Son and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi would have been the ideal replacement but he has been shying away from the post saying there is nothing wrong in a non-Gandhi assuming charge as president. The Congress leadership, which was once ‘star-studded’ with legends who could capture the public imagination with their oratory, now looks pretty depleted with many promising personalities deserting the party for greener pastures.

 There are ageing leaders like Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and leader in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge who have the experience and tact to handle the post but they are too entrenched in their respective states and are yet to acquire the status of pan-Indian leaders. Younger leaders like KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, Sachin Pilot and even Shashi Tharoor can be considered worthy of the party post but they will have to transform themselves to match the rhetoric of the Modi-Shah combine in words and actions. So the debate is sure to swing back to the Gandhis; if not Rahul why not Priyanka Vadra who has of late been proving her mettle leading protests against the BJP-led NDA government from the front. Visuals of her being dragged into a police van during a recent protest are still fresh in public memory and so we have a Gandhi who eminently fits the bill though she may need a lot of support from her partymen against battle-hardened foes.

 It is however, doubtful if Rahul will allow his sister to take up the post amid growing criticism of family-centric politics and nepotism. To even think of a Congress bereft of the Gandhis is something impossible for party workers, for a non-Gandhi will hardly bring to the post the aura and awe, which the first family of the country commands. The mantle may finally fall on Rahul again who has proved more than once that he can take on PM Modi on any national issue and stand up to him. And there does not seem anything intrinsically wrong in Rahul being elevated once again in a party that has built itself through the years before and after Independence around the Nehru-Gandhis. From Motilal Nehru to Rahul Gandhi, it has been the unswerving loyalty and perseverance of the family, which has seen the party through thick and thin during the days of Congress splits, the Emergency and now, in an age when the Saffronists dominate.

So it will be back to the Gandhis but will Rahul accept the post? Or does he have an ace up his sleeve, which he will reveal only as September 20 approaches? We have no option but to wait and watch.