Our top leaders need to speak up more often: Shashi Tharoor

Interview with Former Union minister & Thiruvananthapuram MP

Shashi Tharoor, former Union minister who was re-elected from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, talks to Kavita Chowdhury about fixing accountability for the Congress’ worst ever electoral performance, failure of the party and its leaders to tap into social media. Edited excerpts:

Despite the rout of the party in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) failed to do a course correction.

This is a premature conclusion. The Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) is meeting various party leaders, office-bearers. I can assure you there is serious reflection going on and the party will undoubtedly take some decisions on course correction. Since we have five years to get it right nationally, we should be given at least five days to think it through.

What about fixing accountability on the one who led the party from the front?

The Congress president is getting reports from all levels and there is accountability of various people and leaders. Just by knocking somebody off the top, you won’t get a solution. Because obviously there are complex factors for the defeat and it cannot be reduced to one individual’s consequence.
 
What about Rahul Gandhi who led the Congress to successive electoral defeats?

The fact is he had offered to resign and it was rejected by the CWC. The Congress has suffered defeats and revived. The BJP, too, had only two seats in 1984 but by 1996 it was able to form a government, although for 13 days. So, our 44 (seats) is better than the two (seats) of the BJP. And, we are not in despair but we are in the process of rebuilding, restructuring and reshuffling.

One of the factors that several insiders are blaming is the role of the ‘non–political’ people like Mohan Gopal and the coterie that surrounds the Congress vice-president. They decide on ticket selection and party policies but have never fought even a Panchayat election.

Every political party has advisors, technocrats, experts advising it but when it comes to the question of taking responsibility, it’s the political leadership that takes it.  The Congress president has herself assumed responsibility. We as a party are not interested in a blame game but on moving forward. I have given a few ideas to the party president herself.

What are some of your suggestions for the Congress revival?

There is a case for strengthening party workers at the grassroots; more communication by our leadership; I do believe our top leaders need to give up their reticence and speak up more often, more loudly. We need to articulate our vision that embraces the aspirations for the young.  We need to be a constructive Opposition, we should not surrender to the BJP majority but we should not oppose for the sake of opposing, like the BJP.  

You are active on social media and realise its power. While Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal were on it, Rahul Gandhi was not there.

I have myself encouraged Rahul Gandhi at the Jaipur chintan shivir to be on Twitter and he told me that he just doesn’t have the time to do justice to social media and there is no point in having any agency tweet for him as appears to be the case with Mr. Narendra Modi.  But he, of course, authorised the party to do much more on social media. We, as a party, of course came late to social media.