(Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi which will be published later this year.)
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who kept the Congress in power for three terms in the capital came out strongly against Ajay Maken this month. In a public statement, Ms Dikshit said, "I pity him... that's all I can say... Maken was the campaign head, it should have been aggressive, he should have conveyed the work done by party. He lost focus and never took us along."
She added, "Those remarks (Maken's personal comments against Ms Dikshit which included allegations of misgovernance) came back to hurt him... and not just him, they hurt the party too... Every family or party goes through a generational shift... it's normal... but were those remarks needed before an election?"
Maken, a known adversary of veteran leader Sheila Dikshit and the face of the Congress in the Delhi elections lashed out at her in every possible election rally, even while asking for votes for the work the Congress had done for Delhi . While Rahul Gandhi addressed some rallies, Sheila Dikshit was not invited, and sought intervention from Sonia Gandhi. A senior leader could not be insulted publicly and isolated like this from the party, she conveyed. Mrs Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi remained mute spectators.
The Dikshit- Maken spat may have become flagrantly public but there is nothing to suggest that the party's infamous "HighCommand" was not aware of the internal rumblings of dissatisfied party workers. The same High Command was locked into arrogant inaction when informed by party members of theemergence of Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a force to reckon with, or regional outfits like the MIM eating intoits vote-share in Maharashtra.
The Congress seems to be living in an iron dome where no voice enters, only rare Gandhi utterances exit. It is a party which failed to crack the whip on high-profile wheeler dealers who exchanged the clout of the Congress when it was in power for personal benefits, and despite this stayed close to 10 Janpath, the residence of Sonia Gandhi and the nerve-centre of her party.
In the last one week, much has been made about Rahul Gandhi's sabbatical. Those close to him call it an ultimatum by the junior Gandhi to his mother who refused to see the 'treachery' by those close to her. Others simply scoff at the entire episode - "Let him take a break for good. Save us the constant torture"
Amidst all this is the lone Congress worker who, debacle after debacle, holds up placards at the party's headquarters, asking for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to rescue the party for the political wasteland that critics say it has turned into.
But apart from him and his faith in Priyanka, where does the Congress head from here, what ails it, what can help it? There are many questions, no answers, as a deafening silence echoes in the Gandhi household.
Vice President Rahul Gandhi attempted a "Do you hear me?" moment in 2013 when, in a scene straight out of a film script, he tore the controversial ordinance that was to negate the Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers. Terming it as "complete nonsense", he said, "What our government has done is wrong." This was the classic rebellion by the prodigal against the two power centres in the party -his mother and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was then on a foreign visit.
As opposed to the public version, it is believed that Dr Manmohan Singh stood with Rahul Gandhi in this move which was aimed at encircling Mrs Gandhi's political advisors. Ahmed Patel and ilk were the common enemy, the same enemy which has allegedly driven Rahul into his current political abstinence (which ends of March 10, the party has hastily assured).
A senior Congress leader who claims to be close to the junior Gandhi commented "Rahul could not work with these dalals (middlemen) who surround her mother. They have misled her and sullied the image of the party in the public. She believes that these leaders have displayed political acumen in the past. He had to leave. Now it's up to her to cleanse the party of its dalals and sins".
The thought finds many takers within the party, especially amongst Rahul's young MP friends who believe that the elders in the party have hijacked the strengthening of regional leadership. Recently, Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, known rivals whose bitter history of a tug-of-war for leadership in Madhya Pradesh does not need an introduction, came together on the same platform to launch a scathing attack on the Shivraj Singhgovernment in the Vyapam scam.
Both Singh and Scindia addressed a joint rally seeking accountability of the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh. In almost a year, this was the first time an aggressive Congress Party was taking on an issue making its way to news debates. But like most issues, there was absolute silence from the Congress' top two leaders; a similar silence was maintained when many attacked the Modi government for allowing religious intolerance. Rahul Gandhi, sources said, who had accused the BJP of using communalism for electoral profit, wanted senior party leaders to launch a sustained campaign against the government for allegedly inflaming religious tension.
Coming soon - too soon for a party in such shambles - are crucial polls in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and lethargy grips 10 Janpath when leaders approach with possible power points and gameplan. They are told that a national party cannot compromise on its stature.
"In the absence of the Left, the Congress could have galvanized support for itself by replenishing its political strategy, by hearing the voices from the ground, by focusing its energy in the states, but there seems to be an unwillingness to listen. It feels claustrophobic to be a Congress worker in these times," said a youth Congress leader.
Some in the party believe that it's not too late for the party to spring a surprise, to remove the power brokers, and push reforms and a clean management within the party.
Can Sonia Gandhi hear the Congress? Not everyone can register their protest by taking some time off.
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