India’s grand old party, the Congress is today a mere shadow of its former self. It is losing popularity and relevance, to say nothing of actual elections at the speed that Indian democracy has ever seen before now. Though the senior leadership of the party seems oblivious to it, the decline has been steady, sharp and undeniable. The signs of the congress imploding are many and there are many reasons for the ordinary Indian citizen to feel apprehensive about this.
This is the view expressed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who feels that the party is facing a very serious crisis. In his view, Congress leaders continue to behave like ‘Sultans’ though the Sultanate is gone. He believes that the party has to change and the way of thinking has to be completely redone. Rather than taking note of what the voice of experience says, the party has distanced itself from his words.
It is telling that Ahmed Patel MP from Gujarat had such a tough time getting reelected to his Rajya Sabha seat. With as many as 57 MLAs in the legislative assembly, he struggled to get 44 votes! If poaching members from the Congress is this easy for the BJP, it is not BJP's opportunism and possibly the dubios dealings of the members that we must question, but the fact that Congress inspires so little loyalty from its members who are so easy to lure away.
In Goa as well as Manipur, the Congress had the highest number of MLAs and yet the BJP stole a march on India’s oldest political party. Congress leader P Chidambaram’s saying that the "BJP is stealing elections in Goa, Manipur" is of no use. The fact is that the BJP showed greater political acumen, presence of mind and swiftness while the Congress did little but twiddle its fingers while the metaphorical rug was pulled out from under them. If the BJP was guilty of "murdering democracy" as one leader put it, Congress did not appear to be putting up much resistance; nor did the leadership appear to perturbed by the turn of events.
The shock defeat drubbing of the Congress alliance in Uttar Pradesh should have been a rude wakeup call for the Congress. It appears to have made no difference to the arrogance of the top leadership however; which seems to be oblivious to the reality clearly displayed in this map of BJP ruled states.
If ever there was a reluctant politician, it would be Rahul Gandhi. Not only does he seem utterly distant from India’s political reality, he often appears clueless and cuts a very sorry figure as someone who represents the opposition of our country and its oldest party. It is immaterial who put up this “Missing” poster of Rahul Gandhi in the home constituency of Amethi. It is also irrelevant that an army of paid trolls churns out nasty and vicious 'pappu' jokes on a daily basis. The fact that something like this is pretty much par for the course is what is dismaying. The fact that so many gleefully and willingly forward the vicious 'jokes' is sobering.
It isn't just the Congress and its supporters who should worry. The irrelevance of a 132 year party should worry everyone who has the interests of Indian democracy at heart. The fact is that Congress is able to put up no effective opposition to anything that the ruling dispensation chooses to do. Its protests, such as they are, appear like the ineffectual bleating of so many well fed domesticated cattle. Veteran journalist and media personality Vinod Dua is absolutely accurate in the assessment that he makes of the Congress as India’s main opposition party and the inference that we can all draw from this: that without a strong opposition, we are a weak democracy sliding towards totalitarianism.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
