Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
May 18: As soon as the electoral results started pouring in giving a whopping mandate to the Narendra Modi led BJP, social media got active coming out with some of the most wittiest and creative comments and visuals. Needless to say most of the comments were against the mother- son duo Sonia and Rahul and the Congress party. One such harmless visual I received on my Whatsapp is the obituary of the ‘hand’ symbol of the Congress party. By winning 44 seats, which is its worst ever show, the Congress is totally mauled and almost annihilated by 'Modi'fied India.
Naturally there is a question mark on whether the Congress will be able to come out from the present moribund state and regain its past glory. Or is it the end of the road to the party which has a glorious history of 129 years? That is why the picture of the unceremonious death given to the Congress symbol assumes significance.
Can we really term it as the untimely death of the Congress party or has it outlived its existence and its death was long overdue? It is a very pertinent question that needs to be asked by all the right thinking people. Soon after India’s independence Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi had suggested dissolving the Congress as he felt that the major goal of the Congress was achieving the independence of the country. Once that was achieved he felt it was time to dissolve the Congress and form a new party to serve the people. But it did not happen because they had tasted power and were reluctant to part with it.
Congressmen often remember Mahatma Gandhi when it suits them the most especially during the elections especially when they blamed the BJP for his assassination. Mahatma Gandhi gave this suggestion of dissolving the Congress even before dynastic succession had become a part of the Congress and before the Gandhi name had become synonymous with the Congress. The party conveniently forgot to heed to his suggestions given by Gandhi way back in 1947 to dissolve the party. In fact Modi had talked about this very topic during his election rallies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
In the absence of the Gandhi family failing to provide a strong leadership and the compulsions of coalition politics paving way for corruption, there were warning bells for the Congress loud and clear that it was losing ground. When veteran Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee was placated with the ceremonial post of the President last year, it sent clear signals that the party was clearing the ground for Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the Congress. It is now an open secret how Rahul Gandhi hastened the demise of the party with his insipid leadership and lack of political acumen.
There is now a shrill cry in the Congress party to make Rahul the sacrificial goat and bring Priyanka Vadra to the forefront. Congressmen can never live with the idea of being out of power and now they believe their survival depends on Rahul Gandhi making way for his sister Priyanka Vadra. The Congressmen naturally want to hang in to the last thread of hope in their bid to hold on to power and they do see a ray of hope in Priyanka. Cotton sari-clad Priyanka with a strong resemblance to her grandmother Indira Gandhi makes a very good visual image for the cameras. She is more charismatic and that was one of the reasons the media went gaga when she started retorting to Modi during the recent campaign.
Despite the media going euphoric and apart from her resemblance to Indira Gandhi, there is nothing that really warrants so much media attention on Priyanka. Her retorts to Modi were very mundane and were more of an emotional outbursts talking about the sacrifice made by the Gandhi family. It is an irony that she chose to come out once in five years that too only to seek votes during elections.
Public memory is not so short that they can forget Priyanka’s failure to react or apologize to Robert Vadra’s atrocious comment calling Indians “Mango people in banana republic”. Some Congress leaders are singing paeans about her calling her charismatic, pragmatic, street-smart and shrewd. But so far people haven’t got a glimpse of these traits of Priyanka Gandhi except for her 'snoopgate retort' on Modi , that failed to create any political ripples.
Now that the Congress party is ready for some serious introspection, there is going to be a major overhaul and some heads are going to roll. One wonders whether the Gandhis who have owned the responsibility for the party’s debacle, are ready to step down and thus end the dynastic rule of the party. This is unlikely because it is the Gandhi dynasty that has put holds to the aspirations of greedy Congressmen. If at all such a situation emerges, infighting within the Congress for the top post would hasten its demise. Now it is the Gandhi family which keeps it on the ventilator. Either way, Congress, the grand old party of India, is finding itself between devil and the deep sea.
Ends/-