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| Fotedar predicts Congress' doom | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 19: Excerpts from M. L. Fotedar's forthcoming memoir published in the papers about the decline of the Congress under Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi are too important to ignore. In telltale details, they may be sparse, which the memoir proper would probably satisfy. But in the brief analysis that Fotedar provides to explain the party's fall, he excels himself. He was once an aide to Indira Gandhi who was not known to suffer fools. It shows in his grasp and understanding of politics.
Fotedar says "Rahul Gandhi's leadership is unacceptable to the people of this country and Sonia Gandhi has her best years behind her. The party has no one to provide direction. It refuses to learn." This is a critique of the current Nehru-Gandhi dispensation which is as devastating as it is true. Fotedar goes on to say that the party "has made wrong choices while appointing Opposition leaders in both Houses of Parliament. It has made the wrong choices about how to deal with challenges in the Assembly elections. In fact, there is nothing right which the party has done or is doing. It saddens me that the Nehru-Indira legacy has reached a cul-de-sac."
To go beyond the memoir: Why is the Congress not getting anything right?
When the Congress was the dominant political party right up to the early 1980s, it had no competition for the political talent it attracted. Political spaces had not opened up for competing ideologies, alternative socio-political narratives, and so forth. The Nehru-Gandhi surname and the flood of political talent kept the Congress party going. Fotedar was representative of those times when politics was not very competitive.
But things changed. Those changes are well-known to bear repetition. But the Congress party did not change. It stuck with the dynasty which had deteriorated in quality and been diminished in its all-India appeal. This together with increased political competition took a toll on the party, whose elected representatives sharply fell in numbers. With the party in decline, its capacity to absorb talent slipped, and talent also found other takers and avenues.
Talent also found itself choked in the Congress, with the top posts blocked for the Nehru-Gandhis. Sachin Pilot & Co. cannot easily quit the Congress because of the massive political investments made. They have silently to suffer the mediocrity and caprices of Rahul Gandhi. But new talent is not burdened with past associations and feelings of loyalty. It can move away from the Congress. So it has. This is probably something Fotedar has not considered to write, although it is a key to the Congress party's decline. |
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