It is yet another jolt to grand old party Indian National Congress when senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from the Party by writing a five-page sharp letter to the Congress leadership Sonia Gandhi. Azad had joined the Indian National Congress in Jammu & Kashmir in mid-1970s. In his letter, he said that he was inspired from his student days by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, and other leading lights of our freedom struggle, and also highlighted why it was “a taboo joining the party” at the time.
Earlier too, the Congress faced a crisis when the ‘young brigade’ who were close to Rahul Gandhi quit the Party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and became ministers in the Modi government. However, this time the step has been taken by a very senior member who was the face of the Party after the Gandhis for several decades.
In a letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Azad mentioned how the senior leaders of the party were being sidelined and the increasing influence of a “coterie of inexperienced sycophants” as the reasons behind his exit from the party. The development comes after Azad quit the post of the head of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress campaign committee on August 16.
In a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi in particular Azad blamed his “immaturity” and “childish” approach which is leading to Congress’s dwindling political clout and poor performance in elections. It is to be noted that on December 28, 1885, 72 social reformers, journalists and lawyers congregated for the first session of Indian National Congress at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay. From the days of 1885 till now, the grand old party is undergoing crisis on a daily basis since the Bhartiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
Azad in his letter to Sonia Gandhi also pointed out Rahul’s “One of the most glaring examples of this immaturity was the tearing up of a government ordinance in the full glare of the media”. He went out to say that this ‘childish’ behaviour completely subverted the authority of the Prime Minister and government of India.” This one single action more than anything else contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA government in 2014 cited Azad.
The charge made by Azad was that all senior and experienced leaders were sidelined and a new coterie of inexperienced sycophants started running the affairs of the Party. This is a very serious charge by senior leader who was with the party for five decades. The Party has not been having regular election of their leaders and during all internal party elections it is ‘left of the leadership to take the final decision’. This is not a healthy sign for any political party.
The sudden resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad from the primary membership of the Congress is also likely to hamper “Bharat Jodo” campaign which the party is set to flag off on September 7. In fact, the Congress Working Committee is also meeting on Sunday when all the three Gandhis (Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka) are likely to be abroad. Political analysts are already commenting that the Gandhi’s are losing interest in the party.
Two years ago, 23 senior Congress leaders had also written to Sonia Gandhi requesting immediate and active leadership and organisational changes to ‘revive’ the party. In the letter, they sought an overhaul within the party in view of frequent failures in the Lok Sabha and state elections. However, nothing happened after that but those who wrote the letter had to face the music.
For a Party it is major concern now and before starting a ‘Bharat jodo campaign’, the leadership now may have to undertake ‘Congress jodo campaign’. All political activities can only happen when the internal house is in order. The Party workers need clear message and direction from the leadership. If they do not get that the ship would become rudderless.
