Rahul Gandhi, It's Time To Move

"In a war, it is not possible to vacillate or to be weak or to play the role of Hamlet. One has to be really ruthless if the need arises. I am ruthless for what I think. The difficulty is I move. These people remain static...Circumstances, experiences challenge me and change me. I am no longer the same person."

Mrs Indira Gandhi's statement in 1972 about herself sums up her personality and also underlines why she could turn the tables on her rivals, be it in the party or outside. The present generation may not have an idea of what kind of challenges and intrigues she faced and how she emerged victorious from many of them. Nehru's stature was so big that he had a smooth run as Prime Minister once Sardar Patel left the scene. But Mrs Gandhi's political journey from a Goongi Gudiya (mute doll) to "Iron Lady" was tumultuous and also inspiring to budding politicians. Unfortunately, her own grandson has refused to learn from her experiences.

Mrs Gandhi had underlined three things for a leader who is facing challenges or in a war-like situation. These are: 1. In war, one has to be ruthless; 2. One can't be static, has to move; 3. Circumstances should challenge. After the Emergency, as well as earlier, when she faced challenges from the Congress syndicate, she moved fast; her timing was perfect, she did not flinch; she out-foxed her rivals and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Today, the Congress is at war, its national decimation is being predicted and it is facing the most ruthless adversary in Modi and the RSS, but its leader Rahul Gandhi is not "moving".

No political party or individual can remain invincible for life. The Congress' loss in the 2014 election was no surprise. I was not surprised by the enormity of the defeat either. What surprises me is the absence of a realisation in the Congress that it is in a war-like situation. Since 2014, it has lost almost every election it has fought, be it assembly or of local bodies. It has lost state elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Kerala and Assam; in the last three months, it got a solid thrashing in local body elections in Chandigarh, Faridabad, Gujarat, Odisha and, this week, in Maharashtra including in the BMC election.

Most astonishingly, its principal opponent, the BJP, has gained everywhere. In Odisha, where the Congress was once a formidable force and despite the fact that the Naveen Patnaik government has been at the helm for 17 years, it is not the Congress that is emerging as the alternative, but it is the BJP which has gained. Similarly, in the BMC election, it is the BJP that has almost overtaken the Shiv Sena and not the Congress. The Congress is humiliatingly at Number Three. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress today has to ride piggyback on the Samajwadi Party and with the Janata Dal (U) in Bihar for its survival. The BJP, on the other hand, is moving into new frontiers. It has made serious inroads in the North East states which was unimaginable. Today, the BJP has governments in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The BJP has threatened the very existence of Left parties in West Bengal in the last parliamentary by-elections. In almost every battle that it faces the BJP, the Congress is losing. The Congress ground is shrinking rapidly and new parties like AAP are stepping in to occupy that space. The Congress has to face the challenge, has to catch the bull by horns. It is has to move fast. But it is "static".

Modi is a ruthless opponent. He has successfully branded the Congress as a Muslim party, as a corrupt party and as a party which has ruined India over the last 70 years. He has also successfully painted the Congress as a party that does not care about national interest, marking it as a party that only cares about the minority vote bank, with leaders only caring about their vested interests for whom politics is only about making money; Modi has also proved to the world that the leader of the Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, is not serious about politics, that he is a part-timer, and does not have the mettle to lead a country as vast as India. In popular imagination, "Pappu" is very apt for Rahul. In contrast, Modi presents himself as incorruptible, decisive, a visionary who wants to make India a super-power. He claims to be nationalistic to the core and says he is working hard to cleanse the past sins of the Congress. Despite Modi's blunder of demonetisation, Rahul has not succeeded in painting him black.

If his grandmother were alive, she would have said that Rahul looks "weak" in a crisis, that he is not "ruthless" in putting his own party in order, seems "static", and does not have a new idea to galvanise the public at large. His party is in the ICU and he is resting in AC comfort. Today the Congress can't win elections if it is going to the polls with the tag of being a Muslim party. It has to reinvent and find a new definition of secularism. The Congress brand of secularism is dead. It has to give confidence to people in the present highly-polarized society that it is inclusive in its approach and appeases none. The Congress was a giant when it was thought to be a house for every section of society which accommodated every idea of India.

In public perception, Manmohan Singh presided over the most corrupt government in India. Corruption was its first name. Not that other political parties are saints, but being a party of Gandhi and Nehru with the very powerful legacy of freedom struggle, the Congress has to be seen to be different. It failed miserably on this count. People are angry, and since the defeat in 2014, the Congress has not shown any inkling of taking drastic measures to get rid of corruption charges and corrupt leaders. The same set of tainted leaders are still holding the fort and drafting strategy. Mrs Gandhi had the resolve to go against own seasoned but outdated leaders in the late 60s. If she could do it, then why can't Rahul? Simply because Rahul is not Indira Gandhi.

Modi can sell surgical strikes and blame the Congress for Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, but the Congress is so inept that it can't remind its countrymen about its role in the division of Pakistan in 1971. The BJP can get away with ISI agents in its ranks in Madhya Pradesh and the Congress failed to raise this issue in the middle of assembly elections in five states. Can anything be more tragic for the Congress than the fact that the BJP, which had no role to play in the national movement, now claims to be the champion of nationalism, and the Congress, under whose leadership India got independence, is termed anti-national in every studio debate?

So is there any future for the Congress? I don't see any unless it learns to move like its own leader - Mrs Indira Gandhi.

(Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January 2014.)

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