Why Congress needs the Gandhis

(16 Oct 2013)

Long known is the fact that the Congress party would fall apart like a pack of cards if its powerhouse was to be decentralized. The Nehru-Gandhi ‘dynasty’ since India’s independence has been the default custodian of the party. All decisions have always been taken from en extremely small power corridor in Delhi. Any party-worker nurturing political aspirations must consistently display vivid evidence of loyalty to the country’s ‘first family’ to be considered for a promotion within the Congress rank and file. Let’s look at a Congress party minus the Gandhis.

The dwindling fortunes under the presidentship of Sitaram Kesri was a difficult time for the Congress party; several of their leaders openly revolted against Kesri’s leadership capabilities. Sonia  Gandhi, who was till then a permanent absentee from the Indian political strata, was approached by party workers; she joined them and soon became their president. Congress, to people of India, had always been a party that was synonymous to a particular surname, having seen Nehru, Indira and Rajiv rule the country. Sonia did not have any political background; she had until then never shown political acumen. She however had the name! She not only turned Congress fortunes in her favor, she could also almost single-handedly win the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. That stamped the emergence of Sonia Gandhi.

Mass leaders aren’t born overnight, unless of course you are a Gandhi. The problem is not with the family, the problem is with people who still haven’t forgotten the tales of the British ruled India. Our people have a sadist attraction towards monarchy. They have a deep-rooted desire – mostly unknown to themselves – to be ruled by a dynasty. It’s easy escape for them to somehow surrender their fate to a throne and seek salvation. How else do you explain the omnipresent reverberation of the ‘hope’ that one day Priyanka Gandhi – who’s only campaigned for the party and has done nothing more – could take the center-stage if Rahul proves a burst bubble? How else do you understand the craze amongst people for certain individuals of a family who have not only not been impacted ever by the common man’s issues, but have also not done anything for the society?

A monarch would never tell his people, ‘Do not listen to me. Throw me out.’ Everyone enjoys the attention, the following, the madness and the adulation. Especially if you don’t have to ‘earn’ it. 

Congress however needs someone from the family to be in charge. It is only in a party like this where an 81-year-old Prime Minister can declare openly how much he’s dying to work ‘under’ a 40-something boy. If Congress is to survive in the Indian political space, it would for a long time to come need a Gandhi face at the helm of party affairs. Until such day when they run out of faces, it would be loyalty over merit, proximity over experience, and mind over brain!