01-22-2006, 09:42 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The Congress at Char Minar </b>
Pioneer.com
Chant of Rahul mantra speaks poorly of the party's faith in Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, writes Ajoy Bose
The weekend's Congress plenary session may well be a good opportunity to examine the successes and failures of the party ever since it came back to power in the summer of 2004. This is the first plenary the Congress has held after it surprised many, including itself, by managing to form a coalition Government at the Centre. It is time to take fresh stock of the country's oldest political party, which not so long ago was being buried as a fossil.
First the good news. The past one and a half years have been remarkably smooth for a party that was expected to make heavy weather of running a coalition Government. Indeed, if the script had run according to the gloom and doom scenarios painted at the advent of the UPA regime, the Congress-led coalition should have been by now on its last legs, if not totally knocked out. A few expected the party, despite its autocratic past, to have managed the contradictions arising out of ruling with support of such a motley group including Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Marxists.
Nor did anyone imagine that what had appeared to be the dubious and highly fragile partnership between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his mentor Sonia Gandhi would continue without too much fuss. Here again, political observers seem to have gone completely wrong having predicted serious breakdown between the two centres of power. After one and a half years - a period not without its challenges - there are hardly any signs of strain between the two leaders, which by itself is perhaps the biggest achievement for the Congress since it came to power.
As a matter of fact, compared to other ruling parties steering previous coalition governments at the Centre, the Congress has actually managed rather well. There is a not a small shade of irony in this considering that of all the political parties, the Congress had the least credentials and seemed most unlikely to manage a coalition. Similarly, the palpable lack of political experience or skill in the two leading lights of the party, Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Manmohan Singh, do not seem to have hampered its ability to keep the coalition together despite the many pulls and pressures that have come its way over the past one and a half years.
But, now the bad news. The current political stability of the UPA Government and the apparent success of the Congress in managing the coalition have made little difference to the dipping electoral stock of the party. The Congress continues to decline across the country and has clearly failed to revive despite its amazing political resurrection at the Centre.
This is the message that has come loud virtually every time the party's popularity has been tested in elections to local councils, State assemblies or by-elections to Parliament. This indeed will be even more underlined by the coming round of State Assembly polls in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. Regardless of the power it wields at the Centre, the Congress continues to get marginalised across the country.
When the Congress first formed the coalition Government in May 2004, most party leaders privately described the gamble as a short-term measure geared to revive their own political outfit. Many saw Mr Manmohan Singh as an useful but dispensable stop-gap arrangement to facilitate the anointment of a member of the dynasty to the throne. They had expected the rise of Mr Rahul Gandhi either in the Government or the party, preferably both, to automatically usher in a new glorious era for the Congress.
In fact, <b>quite a few party leaders were inclined towards a mid-term poll when a revived Congress would shed most of its coalition allies and sweep towards if not a full but a working near-majority in the Lok Sabha.</b>
Almost exactly the opposite seems to have happened. The coalition gamble by the Congress has turned out to be far less troubled than most party leaders had expected. On the other hand, <b>there are no signs whatsoever of a new glorious era for the Congress spearheaded by Mr Rahul Gandhi. </b>If anything, the young scion of the Gandhi dynasty himself seems an extremely reluctant politician who has to be cajoled by the Congress plenary to take a more leading role.
Indeed, the very fact that the run up to the first Congress plenary after the party assumed power in New Delhi, was dominated by speculation on what it would do for 'Rahul Baba', does indicate the hollowness of the party. Leaders from top to bottom appear to have childlike faith in this unwilling political debutant as if he had any solutions to the steady decline of the Congress. In many ways, this obsession with Mr Rahul Gandhi is downright insulting to both Mr Manmohan Singh and Ms Sonia Gandhi whose joint leadership has not done too badly for the Congress over the past one and a half years. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The tragedy of the Congress today is that it represents nothing apart from an association with the distant past. It is perhaps this inability to articulate any concrete plans for future that compels the party to hanker after a youthful Rahul Gandhi whether he is inclined or able for the job. Interestingly, the young leader himself seems acutely aware of the utopian nature of the expectations from him and, not surprisingly, displays extreme reluctance in being hustled into any kind of new assignment.
It is still quite unclear which way the Congress and the UPA will turn in the coming years. At the moment, with the Opposition in utter disarray and the allies quite happy to keep going on, there is no compulsion on the ruling party to do anything drastic. At the same time, the dwindling electoral fortunes of the Congress cannot but pose a worry to its leadership and workers.
Sooner or later, the party has to come to terms with itself, and make a more realistic assessment of what its short and long terms goals should, and more importantly, can be.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Chant of Rahul mantra speaks poorly of the party's faith in Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, writes Ajoy Bose
The weekend's Congress plenary session may well be a good opportunity to examine the successes and failures of the party ever since it came back to power in the summer of 2004. This is the first plenary the Congress has held after it surprised many, including itself, by managing to form a coalition Government at the Centre. It is time to take fresh stock of the country's oldest political party, which not so long ago was being buried as a fossil.
First the good news. The past one and a half years have been remarkably smooth for a party that was expected to make heavy weather of running a coalition Government. Indeed, if the script had run according to the gloom and doom scenarios painted at the advent of the UPA regime, the Congress-led coalition should have been by now on its last legs, if not totally knocked out. A few expected the party, despite its autocratic past, to have managed the contradictions arising out of ruling with support of such a motley group including Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Marxists.
Nor did anyone imagine that what had appeared to be the dubious and highly fragile partnership between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his mentor Sonia Gandhi would continue without too much fuss. Here again, political observers seem to have gone completely wrong having predicted serious breakdown between the two centres of power. After one and a half years - a period not without its challenges - there are hardly any signs of strain between the two leaders, which by itself is perhaps the biggest achievement for the Congress since it came to power.
As a matter of fact, compared to other ruling parties steering previous coalition governments at the Centre, the Congress has actually managed rather well. There is a not a small shade of irony in this considering that of all the political parties, the Congress had the least credentials and seemed most unlikely to manage a coalition. Similarly, the palpable lack of political experience or skill in the two leading lights of the party, Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Manmohan Singh, do not seem to have hampered its ability to keep the coalition together despite the many pulls and pressures that have come its way over the past one and a half years.
But, now the bad news. The current political stability of the UPA Government and the apparent success of the Congress in managing the coalition have made little difference to the dipping electoral stock of the party. The Congress continues to decline across the country and has clearly failed to revive despite its amazing political resurrection at the Centre.
This is the message that has come loud virtually every time the party's popularity has been tested in elections to local councils, State assemblies or by-elections to Parliament. This indeed will be even more underlined by the coming round of State Assembly polls in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. Regardless of the power it wields at the Centre, the Congress continues to get marginalised across the country.
When the Congress first formed the coalition Government in May 2004, most party leaders privately described the gamble as a short-term measure geared to revive their own political outfit. Many saw Mr Manmohan Singh as an useful but dispensable stop-gap arrangement to facilitate the anointment of a member of the dynasty to the throne. They had expected the rise of Mr Rahul Gandhi either in the Government or the party, preferably both, to automatically usher in a new glorious era for the Congress.
In fact, <b>quite a few party leaders were inclined towards a mid-term poll when a revived Congress would shed most of its coalition allies and sweep towards if not a full but a working near-majority in the Lok Sabha.</b>
Almost exactly the opposite seems to have happened. The coalition gamble by the Congress has turned out to be far less troubled than most party leaders had expected. On the other hand, <b>there are no signs whatsoever of a new glorious era for the Congress spearheaded by Mr Rahul Gandhi. </b>If anything, the young scion of the Gandhi dynasty himself seems an extremely reluctant politician who has to be cajoled by the Congress plenary to take a more leading role.
Indeed, the very fact that the run up to the first Congress plenary after the party assumed power in New Delhi, was dominated by speculation on what it would do for 'Rahul Baba', does indicate the hollowness of the party. Leaders from top to bottom appear to have childlike faith in this unwilling political debutant as if he had any solutions to the steady decline of the Congress. In many ways, this obsession with Mr Rahul Gandhi is downright insulting to both Mr Manmohan Singh and Ms Sonia Gandhi whose joint leadership has not done too badly for the Congress over the past one and a half years. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> The tragedy of the Congress today is that it represents nothing apart from an association with the distant past. It is perhaps this inability to articulate any concrete plans for future that compels the party to hanker after a youthful Rahul Gandhi whether he is inclined or able for the job. Interestingly, the young leader himself seems acutely aware of the utopian nature of the expectations from him and, not surprisingly, displays extreme reluctance in being hustled into any kind of new assignment.
It is still quite unclear which way the Congress and the UPA will turn in the coming years. At the moment, with the Opposition in utter disarray and the allies quite happy to keep going on, there is no compulsion on the ruling party to do anything drastic. At the same time, the dwindling electoral fortunes of the Congress cannot but pose a worry to its leadership and workers.
Sooner or later, the party has to come to terms with itself, and make a more realistic assessment of what its short and long terms goals should, and more importantly, can be.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->