Survival of the fittest; that is what Charles Darwin had taught us long ago. While some follow the Darwin theory to survive, others seem to be more interested in inventing new theories. Congress President Rahul Gandhi is definitely one of them. Without being fit enough, Rahul aspires to lead this country at this crucial juncture. No, it is not a personal attack on the young leader as we are not talking about his personal fitness. Rather, the people of the country are more worried about the health of his party.
The century-old Congress, the spearhead of our freedom struggle that ruled the country for over six decades since Independence, is now in total disarray. Earlier, many Congressmen used to proudly claim that apart from the Parliament, the only place where one would find representation from every nook and corner of the country was the Congress. It was a fact too. Congress was present from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; from Kutch to Kohima. But the picture is entirely different today. The presence of the grand old party is shrinking rapidly. Today, in many states of the country, the party has mere signboard presence only. The place has been taken either by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or by regional parties. Forget about bigger states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or West Bengal, even in smaller states like Nagaland, Congress’ presence is rarely felt these days.
The party has two options to restore its lost glory. Firstly, it can go back to the people at the grass root level with its oft-repeated ideals of secularism and development. Definitely it is not an easy task. It will take years for the Congress to get back the support of the masses like it had enjoyed previously. The second option is a bit easier. Keeping the present ground realities in mind, the party can have alliance with the non-BJP parties, mainly the regional forces. It may pave way for electoral success of the party and if that happens, the Congress can concentrate to win back popular support.
But even months after becoming the party president, Rahul Gandhi is yet to spell the path that Congress will adopt in the coming days. Sometimes Rahul says that he is ready to become the Prime Minister if his party becomes that single-largest in Lok Sabha. The same person on a number of other occasions had also stated that he was ready to accept any person to lead the country barring those who believe in RSS ideology. Sometimes his party joins hands with other opposition parties to corner the government, while in some other occasions chooses to go solo. The latest example of Rahul’s flip-flop was evident in selecting a candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman’s post. The other day the opposition parties in Rajya Sabha combined together to defeat the ruling alliance candidate for Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) membership. Many thought in the election of Deputy Chairman the same formula would be adopted. But for reasons best known to them, the party put up its own candidate disregarding the need of opposition unity.
Clearly, by going alone, Congress has lost an opportunity to make the foundation of opposition unity strong. If this trend continues, talk of fighting BJP together will remain a distant dream. Sooner than later, Rahul Gandhi will have to spell his stand. Otherwise, his dream of dethroning the Modi Government will remain a distant dream. And that is definitely not good news for the Congress.
