A Catholic community magazine has blamed "pseudo-idealists" in the Congress in Kerala for its poor performance in the recent state assembly elections and said the party needed powerful leadership at the national-level.
Recalling the K Karunakaran-era in the Congress in the state, an article in the latest issue of 'Laity Voice', the mouthpiece of the Syro Malabar Laity Commission, says the Congress guided by "pseudo-idealists" is "drifting in the seas" finding it difficult to get a direction. "The Congress party has suffered a humiliating defeat in the recently held Assembly elections. If the Congress has a history in Kerala, that is the golden era of the party under the leadership of Karunakaran," says the magazine which has a readership base among members of Catholic community, a traditional vote base of the Congress-led UDF in the state. The article said Congress required powerful leadership at the national-level to save the party "which is now like a ship adrift in mid-sea."
It also emphasised the need for replacing old "pseudo-idealists" with young dynamic leadership at the helm of the Congress.
"Energy and enthusiasm of the party are drained out as some old pseudo-idealists in the party still treat the Congress power centre as fun in their retirement life," it said.
Stating that the "country still needs the Congress and not a Congress-free India," it said there should be conscious efforts to strengthen the party at the grassroots-level and create an alternative to the present dispensation.
The Catholic community, especially those from the Syro Malabar stream, are considered as a major support base of the Congress in general and the UDF in particular in Kerala. However, the Congress and its UDF partners, especially Christian-dominated Kerala Congress, suffered severe drubbings in many of its strongholds in the assembly elections held in May this year.
