Putting her detractors firmly in their place at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday, Sonia Gandhi sent out a clear and unequivocal message to the party that the Gandhi family has no intention of bowing out.
This was more than evident from her declaration in her opening statement to those who questioned the leadership crisis in the party and sought internal elections. “I am, if you will allow me to say so, a hands-on and full-time Congress President,” she asserted.
She further outsmarted the pro-changers by agreeing to their demand for organisational elections. The schedule for these polls, including the post of party president and the membership of the working committee, was unveiled at the CWC meeting. The process is slated for completion by September 2022. This means Sonia Gandhi will continue to head the Congress till then, having bought sufficient time to prepare grounds for Rahul Gandhi’s return as party chief.
A beginning to this effect was made at the CWC meeting with an orchestrated chorus, initiated by Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and endorsed by others, demanding that Rahul Gandhi take over the reins of the party once again. With the Nehru-Gandhi scion saying he will give this suggestion a serious thought, the stage has virtually been set for his return as the party chief. One can now expect that the chants for “Rahul Lao, Party Bachao” will only get louder and more persistent in the coming months.
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Rahul Gandhi had stepped down as Congress president two years ago following the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls after which Sonia Gandhi was again entrusted with the responsibility of running the party.
Besides asserting her authority at the CWC meeting, Sonia Gandhi’s unusually sharp remarks effectively silenced the group of 23 leaders (the G23 as they are referred to) who have been making a case for internal democracy in the party and demanding a full-time and visible president.
The group had shot off a long letter to Sonia Gandhi last year in this regard and has since been publicly critical of the manner in which the party has been functioning for the past two years. With Sonia Gandhi agreeing to their demand for organisational elections and, at the same time, making it clear that she is the “boss”, this ginger group finds itself bereft of issues.
As a result, senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma were at pains to underline at the meeting that they had full confidence in Sonia Gandhi’s leadership and it was never their intention to weaken the party. They were suitably chastened after Sonia Gandhi ticked them off for going public with their grievances. “I have always appreciated frankness. There is no need to speak to me through the media,” she remarked.
Sonia Gandhi’s combative tone at the Saturday meeting was in sharp contrast to the conciliatory approach she adopted at the last December meeting which was especially called to discuss the issues raised by the G23 in their letter to her.
The meeting had ended in a stalemate but Sonia Gandhi had then spoken of working together and pooling their talent to strengthen the party while referring to the Congress as one family. This was seen to be in keeping with her pacifist nature as the Congress chief has not been known to alienate her colleagues even at the risk of being labelled a status quoist.
Therefore, her sharp comments at the meeting took everyone aback. These were obviously provoked by the whisper campaign being conducted by a section in the Congress expressing no-confidence in Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and the unsaid demand that it was time a non-Gandhi was given charge of the party. Though the G23, which includes senior leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan and Kapil Sibal, has been careful to not name the Gandhis in their references to the “leadership crisis” and “lack of conversation” in the party, there is no escaping the fact that the real purpose of this campaign was to ensure someone outside the Gandhi family was given charge of the Congress as Rahul Gandhi lacked the skill sets to head the party.
This obviously did not go down well with Sonia Gandhi, known to be fiercely protective of her children, especially Rahul Gandhi. “She made it clear to everyone that she is the leader and that she will go to any length to shield her children from attack,” remarked a senior Congress leader.
Outwitted by Sonia Gandhi, party leaders, who spearheaded this campaign for an organisational overhaul, have been virtually rendered irrelevant. Even before they were upbraided by the Congress president, the G23 was groping in the dark about its subsequent move. Contrary to the expectations of the pro-changers that the disgruntled leaders in the party would flock to them, the group has not attracted more members.
For instance, its efforts to enlist the support of rebel leader Sachin Pilot and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh came to naught as neither evinced any interest in joining this grouping. On the other hand, the group lost Jitin Prasada, who is now with the BJP, while others like Mukul Wasnik and Veerappa Moily are keeping their distance from the letter writers. Moreover, none of the G23 leaders, except Hooda, have the capacity or the mass base to form their own party. They were, therefore, desperately in search of a young charismatic face such as Pilot, who could be projected as a credible alternative to Rahul Gandhi but their efforts proved futile.
And after the latest ticking off, the G23 will find it difficult to hold on to its members. In fact, there could be further desertions from the group. For now, the letter writers have little choice but to lie low and wait for the outcome of the next round of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa to make their next move. The other option before them is to look beyond the Congress or test their strength in the party elections.
Till then, the G23 members are putting up a brave face. “We never wanted to break or split the party… all we were asking for was a full-time president,” said a leading member of the group. “It is okay now that Sonia Gandhi has said she is a hands-on president.”
The author is a senior journalist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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