THE PARTY IS OVER

Sequeira said he had no idea and nor was he interested. When Herald read out the office “Memorandum and Order” signed by PCC President John Fernandes, a haphazardly put together charge-sheet, which wasn’t even discussed in the disciplinary committee, Sequeira said “I do not believe that this kind of a letter has been written. I’ll believe it when I see it”. The letter,

written by John Fernandes incidentally went to the extent of calling Sequeira “a culprit in directing Congressmen against the party, as he wanted his alleged illegal hotel at Salcete coast to be legalized”, the same one for which he perhaps

was choosing fish. Fernandes has gone on a witch hunt against most former leaders in an apparent bid to cleanse the party. But rather than use the study, analyse, plan and execute route to revive the party, Fernandes is hell-bent on bombing the

headquarters, getting rid of all senior Congressmen and functioning with a bunch of rookie spokespersons more in touch with their Facebook profiles than that of the party. And, while social media is used effectively, their Twitter timelines are about their press statements and quotes.

The story in short is this. The Congress is

going down a disastrous course self-inflicting itself

with wounds, with no sense of purpose of

any revival. People who were not even heard of

till a few years ago, like Pratima Coutinho and

Durgadas Kamat, have been given positions in

the executive and in the disciplinary committee

or appointed as spokespersons with a free hand

to take in senior leaders. While their role as fresh

faces is important and they could be the core of

the long-term team, they are unfortunately been

used as hatchet men and women to do the dirty

work of John Fernandes.

After the last elections, there was a change of

the observers with Digvijaya Singh being appointed

to ‘revamp’ the party at the State level. But

nothing came of it. This obviously demoralized the

party workers who were obviously under pressure

after the resurgent BJP cadre sought to consolidate

its hold on the State, mindful that within two

years the country was going to the polls.

Unfortunately, due to this the grassroots

workers already alienated shifted even further

from the party and ultimately went underground.

The Congress faced one of its worst routs in its

Lok Sabha history as it lost both seats by quite a

margin. There was no proper campaign, no organization

and leaders were openly fighting with

each other.

The party today is in doldrums and is in the

reckoning in the state besides itself. But if the

high command does not get its act together,

then the party will decompose even though

there is widespread sympathy or following for it.