Letter to BS: Congress will have to go back to people, take up their issues

Apropos the column “Congress has lost the plot” (July 22), the grand old party has not only lost it, but is in a similar situation that the BJP was in after losing two successive elections in 2004 and 2009. However, the BJP’s performance under late Atal Bihari Vajpayee then was much better than now. Atalji got punished by none other than the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The infighting was so intense that after the BJP’s defeat in 2009, former party member and Union minister Arun Shourie went on to say that the BJP was kati patang and Rajnath Singh (then party president) Alice in Blunderland. Due to its strong ideology, there wasn't a big exodus from the BJP then, unlike what the Congress is facing now.

Congress leaders, starting with the Gandhis, have failed to use the last six years to reconnect with the people. They have simply attacked Modi. In 2004, the Congress came back to power after being out for nearly eight years with the slogan “Congress ka haath (its party symbol) aam aadmi ke saath (Congress is with common people)”. Now it is like "Congress ka haath museebat (problems) ke saath" and with its leaders switching to the BJP, it’s “Congress ka haath BJP ke saath (the Congress is with the BJP)”.

Since the Congress was in power for a very long time, many of its le­a­ders used it for their own benefit and to promote their family members. With the Congress losing two successive elections, these leaders are now looking for a place in the BJP, blaming the Gandhi family. It is a shame that not one of them have shown the courage to revolt within the party structure. Naturally, many of these young leaders, though articulate, have not been able to create a pan-India image for themselves. The Gandhi family, meanwhile, is in a Catch-22 situation and even if they find a non-Gandhi member to head the party, the leader would be called a puppet like they used to refer to former prime minister Manmohan Singh. The only solution is, the Congress will have to go back to the people and take up their issues.

N Nagarajan  Secunderabad

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