Catch Twenty Two for Congress

Such is the sorry state of the Congress party, it can neither swallow nor spit Rahul Gandhi out; he’s like a thorn stuck right in the middle of the neck.

Rahul has been at the helm of his party affairs for a decade now, and yet he’s not able to shed the cocoon of a reluctant, confused and unpredictable leader. He’s repeatedly declined offers made to him by many including his own Prime Minister to become an office-bearer, in an apparent bid to strengthen the grass root administration and the youth wing of the Congress party. He’s hardly been seen participating in debates in the Parliament, nor has he been forthcoming to discuss issues concerning the youth of the country. Sure, every leader has a different style of functioning. But then, a perpetual absence from the political stage doesn’t go down well with the voters of today. Certainly not anymore! Gone are the days when you could win elections and get elected time and again from the same constituency only by the power of rhetoric. While Rahul has demonstrated his mediocrity as a public speaker who often exhibits a lack of end-to-end understanding of social issues, there’s been an upsurge of sorts among people to seek more transparency with respect to political ideology, strategy and potential solutions to the country’s problems. Rahul clearly finds himself struggling to cope up with the mounting pressure of he needing to deliver.

He campaigned aggressively in Uttar Pradesh before the assembly elections with a view to bring back some luster to the Congress fortune in the state. The pathetic poll drubbing for the Congress was not only alarming, it was also a question mark against the charisma of being Rahul Gandhi. When he was parachute-landed into the Indian political arena, there was a lot of frenzy around him with villagers even thinking he was a reincarnation of the slain Rajiv Gandhi. But such has been the frustration level of people of this country with his back-to-back failure to deliver whatever he tried his hands on, Rahul for the first time in as many years as he’s been in politics, finds himself a partially unwanted man in his own constituency of Amethi.  To say this is unprecedented would be an understatement. Priyanka Gandhi is more than likely to intensify her presence in the constituency and woo the voters, if the Congress wants to avoid a possible humiliating defeat in its own backyard! 

The big catch twenty two situation for the party is that it can neither declare Rahul as its PM candidate as it could well be his political funeral, nor can it justify to the voters of the country as to why at a time when India needs decisive leadership, Congress is keeping mum and trying to postpone the embarrassment of naming a captain for a series already lost! The message is clear: no matter how Congress attempts to sort out this leadership vacuum, today’s voter knows there is chaos, and this in a parliamentary democracy may spell doom for the grand old party!