That Sinking Feeling

After a brief lull, the Congress is once again at war with itself even as it goes into high-stakes electoral battles against formidable opponents—the BJP, in particular—in four states and a Union Territory. The uneasy truce that ailing interim party chief Sonia Gandhi had brokered last December, when a faction of Congress leaders demanded sweeping organisational reforms, has run its course.

Viral videos of Rahul Gandhi sea diving off the Kerala coast, his ‘push up challenge’ to a school student and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra learning how to pluck tea leaves at Assam’s Sadhuru tea garden may proffer supporters some hope of an electoral revival for the crisis-ridden party. However, the coming together of erstwhile Nehru-Gandhi family loyalists in Jammu last week to reiterate concerns over the withering edifice of India’s grand old party is evidence that knives are, once again, out for the 135-year-old organisation’s ruling family.

In Jammu, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Bhupinder Hooda, Manish Tewari, Raj Babbar and Vivek Tankha—all signatories to the controversial letter sent by 23 party leaders to Sonia last August demanding urgent organisational overhaul and an effective leadership—refrained from launching a direct attack on the party high command. But they reiterated concern for the Congress; Sibal declared that the “truth is that we see Congress getting weak”. However, party colleagues—including some of the 23 who have now returned to the ‘family fold’—made it known that the Jammu Declaration was an act of betrayal.

Senior party leaders like Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Abhishek Manu Singhvi made it clear that if Azad and company really wanted a strong party, they would “work to ens­ure the Congress’s victory in the upc­oming assembly elections instead of raising these issues in Jammu”. The Jammu Chalo brigade, which is now planning to host public meetings in various states­—starting with Bhupinder Hooda and Anand Sharma’s home states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh respectively—with the objective of “preserving the idea of India”, is mum on why it isn’t campaigning for the Congress in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Pondicherry and West Bengal. Sharma has triggered ano­ther row by slamming the inclusion of Islamic cleric Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front (ISF) in the Left-Congress pre-poll alliance in Bengal. While Sharma termed the ISF’s inclusion as going “against the core ideology of the Congress”, Chowdhury hit back, saying Sharma was “only serving the polarising agenda of the BJP”.

Congress leaders who continue to exp­ress confidence in the leadership of the Nehru-Gandhi family point at various ‘clear signs’ of betrayal by Azad and his comrades. Narendra Modi’s flambouyant praise and tearful adieu that marked the high point of Azad’s farewell from Rajya Sabha last month, amid speculations that a possibility of his re-nomination to Parliament’s Upper House had been quashed by Sonia and Rahul, had already been a cause for much consternation. The former Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) made matters worse by heaping praise at Modi last week for “not hiding his true self”. Rumours have been rife ever since—from talk of an imminent split in the party to mass resignations by the ‘rebels’ and even the possibility of Azad being Modi’s choice for succeeding Venkaiah Naidu as Vice President next year.

Party insiders believe that there are critical twists and turns that the outburst by Team Azad portends for the Congress in particular and the overarching Opposition in general. While Azad declined to comment on the controversy that the Jammu outing has triggered, a confidant of the former J&K CM and co-signatory to the letter tells Outlook “the meeting in Jammu should caution Rahul and his coterie that none of us can be treated as pushovers…we have all given our lives to the party and can’t be ignored purely on the whims of one man”. He adds that the election of the Congress president, due in June, would see the rebels pushing for a contest “whether Rahul is in the fray or chooses to field a proxy”.

Another ‘rebel’ Congress leader says that the Azad camp will decide on its future course once results for the upcoming assembly polls are declared on May 2. “If the Congress performs poorly, and as of now we think it will perform poorly except in Tamil Nadu where it may come to power on the strength of its alliance with the DMK, there will be a major churn within the Opposition because leaders like Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee will no longer want to play second fiddle to the Congress…the leadership of the UPA too will be up for the taking,” he says.

The question of Pawar replacing Sonia as the UPA chairperson had come up some months ago too, but the Maratha strongman had quashed the rumours. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut has kept the discussion alive by rep­eatedly red-flagging the need for better coordination within the Oppo­sition bloc and the inability of the Congress to do so. While the Sena is not officially part of the UPA, Congress sources say, Raut’s words can’t be brushed off lightly and that he may as well be speaking at Pawar’s behest “just to test the waters”.

For now, the strategy of the Congress high command hinges on some plans, say sources; foremost being the need to win at least four of the five poll-bound territories--the only exception being Bengal, where party insiders are resigned to a rout against Banerjee’s Trinamool and its key challenger, the BJP. Riding on its “five guarantees” of stopping implementation of the CAA, providing five lakh government jobs to locals, Rs 365 as daily wage to tea garden workers, 200 free electricity units a month and Rs 2,000 monthly allowance for housewives, party leader Gaurav Gogoi says the Congress-led alliance in Assam is “confident of a historic victory”. However, the party is more subdued about its hopes of wresting Kerala from the ruling Left alliance, and doing well in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (it lost its government in the Union Territory to defections days before the polls were announced). “We are sure of winning Tamil Nadu but even Rahul is clear that we are a minor player and the true credit for a clear victory will go to (DMK’s) Stalin. In Pondicherry, there is public sympathy for us and we hope to win but Kerala looks like a tough fight right now,” says a party leader who is in-cha­rge of a southern poll-bound state.

By ensuring that Rahul and Priyanka lead the party’s charge in these polls, the Congress high command is hoping that the taint of transient leadership that the duo faces will fade. The new loyalists have also been vociferously echoing Rahul’s latest jibe of Hum Do Hamare Do at the Modi government, which has had the BJP roiled, much like Rahul’s earlier taunts of Suit-Boot ki Sarkar and Chowkidar Chor Hai. After the party’s 2019 Lok Sabha def­eat, Rahul and Priyanka had reportedly made their displeasure known to Congress seniors like Azad, Sharma and others for not backing him up on the Chowkidar Chor Hai offensive. Rahul’s current confidants are also critical of the party’s rebel leaders for “once again ditching Rahul” by not singing the Hum Do Hamare Do tune.

Poll campaigns aside, family loyalists are also busy emphasising that while Rahul and Priyanka have been at the forefront of every broadside launched against the BJP, the “so-called Congressmen who are worried about the party have been conveniently abs­ent”. Says Rahul-aide and Indian Youth Congress chief Srinivas B.V., “From Covid to China and Hathras to farmer protests, Rahul Gandhi has agg­ressively led the party charge against the BJP. He and Priyanka are addressing farmers, going to kisan mahapanchayats, meeting common people. Rahul has even said election manifestos must be made in every state after direct public consultation. What are these people, who say they want to see a strong Congress, doing to help the party; they only speak negative things and help BJP (sic).”

In recent months, there has also been an effort by the high command to dep­lete the numerical strength of the mutineers. Sources say that of the 23 leaders who had signed that contentious letter in August, nearly a dozen have already been placated. “There main grouse was that they were feeling sidelined and underutilised. In a large party like the Congress, it is natural that some people may, at times, feel left out. The leadership took note of their concern and has tried to accommodate as many of them as possible with crucial responsibilities,” says party general secretary Pawan Bansal.

The cracks within the dissenters are already visible. Former Karnataka chief minister and one of the 23 signatories, Veerappa Moily, tells Outlook, “Ours was not a dissent letter but a memorandum that we gave to the Congress president and she took note of it. As responsible Congressmen, it is now our duty to work for the party in whatever role our president gives us. Raking up old issues and complaining every other day doesn’t help anyone. For me, the chapter of that letter is over and I am no longer part of that group.” Another notable signatory, former Union minister Jitin Prasad, echoes Moily. Prasad, presently the party’s in-charge in poll-bound Bengal, also took exception to Sharma’s outburst against the Left-Congress alliance with the ISF. “These decisions are taken keeping the best interests of the party and our workers in mind. It is our duty as Congressmen to keep aside differences and work tog­ether to improve the prospects of the Congress in upcoming elections,” Prasad says.

Come May 2, the poll results would determine whether these machinations in the corridors of 24, Akbar Road alleviate the problems of the family and the party or exacerbate them further.