Committee Raj continues in the Congress but not everyone is happy with jumbo panels and duplication of work. After much deliberations, the Congress announced poll panels for election-bound Punjab, triggering both astonishment and disquiet. Instead of changing the PCC chief, the grand old party decided, in its great wisdom, to have a campaign committee chief and an Election Management and Coordination head, in addition to Punjab Congress party president and a Congress Legislature Party [CLP] leader. It is baffling how Vijay Inder Singla, who is heading the single-member Election Management and Coordination panel, would share the workload with state PCC chief Amrinder Raja Warring. Singla continues to be joint treasurer of the AICC.
Manish Tewari's Disappointment
Senior Congress leader and Chandigarh member of parliament Manish Tewari is sulking. His grudge is manyfold. Apparently, he was not consulted when a panel headed by Ajay Maken toured Punjab to speak to various stakeholders. Well-placed sources say AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab, Bhupesh Baghel, has also not spoken to Tewari for months. So, when Tewari used microblogging platform X to vent his frustration, saying, "Wish I had an antidote ( ਗਿੱਦੜ ਸਿੰਙੀ) for the insecurities of individuals and institutions!", it is evident that he had someone bigger in mind than Maken or Baghel.
Much like Shashi Tharoor, Tewari differs with the Congress leadership on nuanced foreign policy issues. But inherently, he remains a die-hard Congressman seeped in Nehruvian ideology. If Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal and others care to read his edit page articles and columns, they would notice his deep anxiety and opposition to the 'Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram' culture of defections. Describing Paragraph 4 in the Tenth Schedule as a weapon of mass defection, Tewari added, "In light of the grotesque emasculation of democracy that is today on display, the time has come for Parliament to pass a single-line anti-defection law that any member who voluntarily gives up membership of a political party to which he belongs, or who defies the whip (in matters of confidence and no-confidence motions, adjournment motions, financial business, and money Bills) should forthwith cease to be a member of the House." It is evident that Tewari himself is not going anywhere.
A Confused Campaign In Punjab
At another level, the Congress's Punjab drive appears bereft of ideas. The BJP may not have a chief ministerial face in the state, but the Congress camp has a crowd. Former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi thinks he is numero uno in the race for the post of Chief Minister if the grand old party wins Punjab. But at least half a dozen party leaders in the state, including Pratap Bajwa and Amrinder Raja Warring, harbour similar wishes, counting on Rahul-Kharge-Venugopal to fulfil their dream. Just today, a total of 67 Congress leaders participated in the meeting called by Channi amidst growing uncertainty over the post of Punjab Congress President.
In 2020, the Congress had dished out a 'dad's army' running into 17 pages, accommodating anyone and everyone in Delhi Pradesh Election Committee, Campaign Committee, Manifesto Committee, Publicity Committee, Election Management Committee and Media Co-ordination Committee. There were 607 members - yes, 607 - figuring in these committees. The composition of these panels was deprived of any organisational hierarchy, age, political stature and other parameters of parliamentary democracy.
The present-day Congress works on a mantra that says loud and clear - when in doubt, set up a committee.
Venugopal, considered to be Rahul Gandhi's eyes and ears and a man of all seasons, would be aware that reports of panels set up to study poll debacles in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh [polls were held in December 2023] have not been discussed in the Congress Working Committee. There has been no follow-up action either.
Committees have been a quick fix solution for the Congress for decades now. In May 2022, Sonia Gandhi who was interim president of the party, had set up a high-profiled Empowered Action Group [EAG] to deal with the Congress's future political challenges. There is no record of EAG holding any deliberations till date.
Old Habits
Kharge and Rahul Gandhi are also in possession of several other reports gathering dust at the party headquarters. They include the report on organisational polls by Ram Niwas Mirdha, Manmohan Singh's report on party funds, the PA Sangma and Sam Pitroda reports on modernising the organisation and Pranab Mukherjee's report on organisational affairs. The list also includes documents prepared by the AICC's department of policy and planning (DIPCO) and the Future Challenges Group that had Rahul Gandhi as a member. Then there are three reports submitted by AK Antony on various poll debacles between 2014 to 2019.
In a nutshell, almost all of these panels and committees have recommended sweeping changes in the organisation but intrinsic compulsions have so far prevented any concrete action.
For example, both Mirdha and Antony had emphasised the need for "democratic" organisational elections after discovering that the party had polled fewer votes in many states where the number of primary members was higher. This situation holds true for the Congress in Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Odisha and few other states even now.
Many years ago, a party panel headed by Pranab Mukherjee, the then Foreign Minister, had called for scrapping Congress committees at block, city and district levels and recommended replacing them with units at polling booths and Assembly and parliamentary constituencies. The logic was to make the Congress more "election-friendly" and eliminate the tendency of district Congress committees being at loggerheads with candidates contesting polls. But the leadership is still weighing the pros and cons of the suggestion.
In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr had written, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose", that is, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Congress is a living testimony of it.
(Rasheed Kidwai is an author, columnist and conversation curator)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
