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| Bad days ahead for Congress | | | Sunita Vakil
Margaret Alwa's frustrated whistle-blowing about the cash for ticket practices within the Congress has only served to intensify the already raging storm brewing in the Congress cup.
Over the past more than 40 years, the grand old party that dominated India’s political landscape is today facing a situation where it is unable to find a way forward. Afflicted by inner party strife and rising discontent of its members which is providing enough fodder for media consumption, the Congress seems to be demoralized and directionless. While problems like terrorism, economic crisis, regional and linguistic chauvinism are getting more acute by the day, the coalition allies pulling in different directions only adds to the problems plaguing the party. Not surprisingly, the grand old party has pushed itself into an unenviable position thanks to its in-decisiveness and tunnel vision.
It was some four years ago that the Indian National Congress achieved something even its most ardent admirer won’t have dreamt of “ it inflicted a surprise defeat on the BJP led NDA government. The UPA came to power at the Centre making some tall promises of improving the lot of ˜aam admi”. The party rode on the plank of human welfare rather than GDP growth and stock-market indices that had attained relevant success during the previous NDA regime. The party slogan encompassed policies and programmes aimed at social equality, reaffirming secularism, addressing the agrarian concerns and working on the unemployment scene in the country. And yet, despite the promises, its leaders moved away from the needs and aspirations of common people. Instead, it bred a culture of sheer inertia and nepotism considering the whole nation as their fiefdom. Its delusions of grandeur which allowed for its failure to appreciate the ethics of democracy as well as selfless duty towards the nation is largely to blame for the deep trouble the party is in today. The truth is that even since the UPA came to power, its sole aim has been to cultivate its vote bank by pushing for policies aimed at wooing minorities. Its procrastination over action against the perpetrators of violence across the whole of the country provides the starkest instance how far it is ready to go to appease select sections of its vote bank. This tactile blunder on the part of the Congress led UPA has resulted in its dangerous dalliance with dreaded Islamic organizations by confusing Muslim sentiments with their diabolic fanaticism. The impression that its leaders cutting across the party lines are advertently advocating the cause of SIMI and other terrorist outfits is becoming more pronounced. Indeed, it needs no reiteration that Congress has a long history of pandering to the enemies of nation. For too long, it has overlooked the large scale migration of Bangladeshis which has now emerged as a major security threat for the nation. Not surprisingly, they are well on their way to change the demography of Assam. Also, Maoists are holding the country to ransom. Instead of acting firmly and sending the right signals, the foot-soldiers of the government are busy doling out voter identity cards to these illegal migrants while the leaders are playing their own games by welcoming them. The unremitting acts of terror and the government’s reaction to them do little to inspire confidence among the people. More than anything else, its ostrich-like attitude has led to a complete failure on the security front.
With barely six months to go before the expirty of its term, the party is emitting the signals which betray cross purposes amongst its leaders. It is no wonder than that they have started speaking in different voices with scant regard for the concerns of the common man. The UPA seems to be embroiled in its own conflicts with allies playing their individual games. The ganging up of two Cabinet Ministers, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vila Paswan with their rival Nitish Kumar to put the Congress as well as its Maharashtrian CM Vilas Rao Deshmukh in the dock for the ill treatment of Biharis in Maharashtra is a case in point. Discontent seems to have been pouring in from other quarters also. M Karunanidhi’s open support to LTTE knowing fully well that it had everything to do with Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination as well as recent ally Amar Singh’s attempts of putting the government in a hotspot by demanding a judicial probe in the Jamia Millia encounter amply illustrate this point.
Moreover, politicians have become so self-centered in their quest for power that they help provoking disturbances and ruining the harmony between communities. Due to the government’s skewed response to terror, people become easy victims of those seeking to create trouble by dividing the society. The result is there for all to see. The whole of the country seems to be in the grip of a civil war. While Biharis are fighting Maharashtrians, the situation in J&K continues to be tense even as the state goes to the polls very soon. There seems to be no love lost between Hindus and Muslims also who have become each other sworn enemies due to UPA’s divisive agenda of minority appeasement. Any political party patronizing violence, be it the Afzal Guru case or the recent serial bomb blasts is really harming the Indian democracy, and is no better than the terror outfits they aim to protect. Our so-called leaders fail to understand that dividing the country on the lines of religion goes against the greater national interest. These are all symptoms of India’s rapid move towards disintegration.
While it is not unknown that Congress and other political parties have an old practice of indulging in favoritism and nepotism in distribution of tickets, Margaret Alwa was only giving voice to all that actually happens in the highly democratic parties like UPA. While her outburst seems to set the stage for organizational turmoil, it also strengthens the old impression of Congress as family run nepotistic party.
It speaks a lot about the inner party culture that has its roots in sycophancy and is making a mockery of much touted democracy. While Ms Alwa has been subjected to disciplinary action for voicing her opinion publicly it is also a fact that the Congress is fast earning the unique distinction of having more dynastic leaders than any other party. More than anything else, her open expression of grievance has brought into sharp focus the dangerous trend in the candidate selection process whereby influential leaders get party ticks allotted to their kith and kin but genuine party workers do not get a chance to contest elections. One thing, however, stands out clearly “ politicians today have no compunction in mortgaging the interests of the nation for short time electoral gains. The coming days are likely to be discomforting for the party as its cup of woes seems to be brimming over due to the simmering discontent of its members. Given that our politically compulsed leaders have no intention of acting with collective responsibility- for the good of the country, it can be safely said that all is not well for congress.
The real problem, however, is that the government continues to deliberately sleep over unremitting terrorist incidents because it suits the congresss political agenda. On the face of it, the party is making the right noises by mouthing platitudes, losing no time in condemning the acts as despicable besides parroting oft repeated lines like those responsible will not be spared. But these routine expressions of sympathy fizzle out after a while as the government seems to be inept in formulating a long term strategy to take on the challenge. The truth is that all such talk is just empty rhetoric as the government seems to be unprepared to tackle the grave situation.
The terror attacks that kill hundreds and injure thousands speak volumes about the failure of our intelligence agencies. Between 2004 and 2008, India has been the worst victim of 25 major bomb blasts in which more than 717 people got killed and thousands injured. Yet, the Prime Minister and Home Minister are clueless about the perpetrators. Our government, which is famed for following a perverse anti-terror policy is virtually letting terrorist groups have a free run and wreck havoc day after day.
It is ironical that while other countries like Britain and US have a zero tolerance towards terrorism, we can truly boast of a 100 percent tolerance. While the UPA government seems to have given upon fighting terror, its efforts of giving communal colour to terrorism are quite appreciable. The case in point is the motivated frame up of Sadhvi Pragya Singh in Malegaon bombing despite lack of any substantial evidence such double standards aimed at diverting the attention from UPA’s long list of failures puts to question the “secular†character of the party.
Having said that, the Congress needs to emerge from its coterie politics, reshape itself and do an immediate course correction. Otherwise, it will have to pay a heavy price for its inaction and incompetence. |
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