If Rahul Gandhi sincerely wants to build a new Congress, the power-brokers of the party need to be replaced. By doing so, Rahul will not only be able to bring back the party’s lost glory, but will also be fulfilling his late father’s promise to shed such elements from the party, made at the centenary session of the Congress in Mumbai. Quite clearly, the century-old party’s popularity is on the decline as numerous power-hungry politicians have hijacked the Congress. The disease started affecting the party in the mid-sixties, when late Indira Gandhi began installing loyalists in various important posts, ignoring senior leaders and party workers who were well-connected with the people. As a result, the party became top-heavy without realising that concentration of power at the highest level would actually weaken the party. Till the time Indira Gandhi was in power, the disease didn’t affect the party much during elections as she was the tallest leader of her time. Like her father, she was the ‘darling of the masses’ and was the principal vote-catcher of the party. Due to her ability to garner votes, nobody dared to point out the flaws in the functioning of the party. But with her untimely demise, it was only a matter of time before the so-called high command culture within the party began to crumble.
Since then, the party’s acceptance among the masses has been on the wane as instead of grassroot-level workers root-less leaders continue to dominate the party. It has damaged the very ethos of the party and the people have lost faith in the Congress as all efforts to remove these power-brokers have failed miserably. Now, the current power brokers have become so strong that no one dares take punitive action against them even after openly defying the party leadership. The ongoing power-struggle in Rajasthan is the best example of such disobedience as the incumbent Chief Minister raised a banner of revolt on being asked to relinquish his post to take over the reins of the party. But the party leadership couldn’t do anything fearing a vertical split in the party. Definitely, the indiscipline shown by the Chief Minister and his followers will have an adverse impact in the forthcoming assembly elections in the state and that may cost the Congress dearly.
Similar incidents have taken place in states like Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, wherein even after winning assembly elections, the party failed to provide much-needed political stability. In all these states, the party MLAs ensured the fall of the government after being denied a larger share of power. So, the only way to strengthen the party is to revert back to old Congress culture by discarding these elements and giving importance to the people connected with the masses. Otherwise, despite Rahul Gandhi’s yatra, the downward journey of the Congress will surely continue.