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| The Congress is flaunting its only USP, the Nehru-Gandhi legacy, as a unique selling proposition | | Rebranding Congress | | Sunita Vakil
That the culture of sy
cophancy has always
been at play in the grand old party was evident a few days back when Congress leader and Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal announced that whoever emerges as the Chief Minister of UP after the Assembly poll, the remote control would lie in the hands of Gandhi scion and party general Secretary Rahul Gandhi.
It sounded like an attempt by a loyal Congressman to fall back on the atavistic response of looking to dynasty as the saviour to keep the party afloat. And in fact that is exactly what it was. It is a widely acknowledged fact that Congress is the personal fiefdom of Nehru-Gandhi family. The party's sales pitch of being anti corruption and anti communal is unlikely to woo the increasingly skeptical voter. So this leaves the Congress only one card to play with which to trump its rivals, the Gandhi card. Because apart from the Gandhi brand name, the party doesn't have anything else to recommend it.
That is why it is flaunting the Nehru-Gandhi legacy as its unique selling proposition. It is therefore not surprising that the leaders and campaigners of the party are crawling when asked to bend to win the approval of the party's "first family" But Congress strategists are woefully out date if they think that treading the tired ground of sycophancy is going to yield electoral treasure.
Given that the UPA government is being assailed from all quarters due to price rise of essential commodities as well as the scams and corruption scandals that have emerged in recent times, one would have thought that in an election year the government and its allies would present a unified face to its detractors.
But due to the predilection of its gaffe-prone leaders to shoot from the hip, the party is playing into the hands of rivals and critics who have all along been talking about family's hegemony over the Congress.
The UPA government was voted back to power in 2009 with high expectations. However, the recent scams related to 2G Spectrum allocation; Commonwealth Games corruption and the Adarsh Housing Society controversy are a sad reflection of poor governance.
The term "Aam Admi" has truly lost its meaning for the Congress and its allies. It stands accused and rightly so of, having done nothing to benefit the Aam Admi. The commitment to usher in reforms have proved to be a mere rhetoric. The much published flagship programmes like the NREGP may have drained the national exchequer but have done precious little to uplift the socio economic condition of the Aam Admi.
The Congress and UPA government may well be desperate to rebrand itself and present a new face to the electorate.
But this is hardly the way to go about it. Instead, it gives credence to the opposition claims that the party is a family run enterprise based on dynasty.
It is no accident that the senior Congress leader Mr. Sriprakash Jaiswal went to great lengths to explain how Rahul would remote control the next government in UP "Rahulji has made his promises to the people. To fulfill those promises will be the responsibility of whoever becomes the Chief Minister," he is reported to have said. This is indeed an insult to the voters who are yet to hand over control to a government that will be sensitive to their needs and not one that is remote controlled by the Gandhi family. Moreover, this will also give credence to the popular belief that Congress bosses are averse to letting regional leaders grow in profile or have autonomy in exercising authority.
The UPA needs to work towards banishing such distasteful gestures indulged in by some leaders to ingratiate themselves with the Gandhi family.
The party should come out of the closet and castigate those who nurture the deep belief that the party and the dynasty are inseparable and that the former's existence is dependent on latter. Instead, it should work hard to revive its organizational base.
However, one can't blame the Congress leaders trying to fetch loyalty bonus points. After all, the culture of sycophancy is as old as the party. They thrive by pleasing the leadership. In this case too, the attempt was not different. Congress members indulge in flattery to please those above them.
And everybody is happy to prostrate before the dynasty to win its approval.
Mr. Jaiswal and some of his colleagues, all of similar vintage, can only be expected to echo this appalling trait which runs in the party and lies at the core of what has come to be known as the "Congress culture" of course it is not the first time that a senior Congress leader has openly expressed allegiance to the family. Dev Kant Baruah, the national president of the Congress Party has famously declared " Indira is India and India is Indira".
The Congress party after independence has closely identified with the Nehru-Gandhi family. Party workers loyal to the family gained leadership position while those who challenged their leadership had to leave the party. Of course, cadres were rewarded for spontaneous outpouring of affection for the family. But the party has to innovate if it wants to regain its preeminence in political spectrum. It has to discard sycophancy culture and reward genuine political leaders. To drive governance from the back seat is not practical in a democracy.
There is no power without responsibility.
No doubt Nehru-Gandhis as campaigners are crowd pullers. Yet all said and done, Rahul Gandhi has some way to go before he is seen widely as a mass leader. Sadly, he has chosen to go about his engagement with voters by dramatically parking himself in the middle of one fraught problem after another.
In the incident at Bhatta Parsaul, his statement on mass murder and rape and the subsequent climb down of that version has only painted him as callow politician who is yet to demonstrate his abilities.
If Congress wants to carve out a singular identity for itself, it can embark on something novel.
Successive elections have shown that empty rhetorical slogans don't dictate voting trend. The charisma of Nehru-Gandhi family can't be expected to work its magic every time.
That Congressmen think it can only reveals the bankrupcy of ideas within the party. Congress can not blind itself to reality for long.
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