Congress mukt azad final warnings for grand old party

Congress mukt azad final warnings for grand old party

Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation from Congress, and his savagely critical resignation letter, could be the final warnings for GOP to save itself from self-destruction. His exit came just as Congress developed cold feet over holding party-presidential elections. Azad’s scathing assessment of Rahul Gandhi as a “non-serious individual” dependent on an inexperienced coterie, and the blame Azad puts on this group for being a feeble opposition to BJP, isn’t far from the truth, whatever be his motives in calling a spade a spade now. The next few weeks are crucial for Congress. CWC is slated to meet on Sunday. Gandhi family favourite and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has publicly signaled his reluctance when asked if he is in contention for becoming the next president. Going by how Congress has functioned in the last two decades since the party stopped conducting elections, only nominees of Nehru-Gandhis have occupied top party positions. So the possibility that a Gandhi proxy will become president when Sonia demits office cannot be ruled out.

That would be an unmitigated disaster. Free and fair elections encouraging a number of contenders to come forward and battle it out for the top post would give the new president a credible start. On the assumption that despite the enormity of a new chief’s responsibility, there still may be leaders who want the job, Nehru-Gandhis should let it be known that they welcome ambition and will fully back the winner, a promise that means letting the new chief get on with his/her job as he/she sees fit. In fact, Nehru-Gandhis should stop playing high-profile roles, which will always diminish a new chief. Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra starting in September is therefore staggeringly poorly timed. As Azad said, “remote control” destroys “institutional integrity”.