(Kuradi Chandrasekhara Kalkura)
“Blaming subordinates is bad leadership; simply threatening to walk away in the face of setback is irresponsible brinkmanship,” commented a leading daily in its Editorial on, June 5, 2019.
It was referring to the adamant behavior of Rahul Gandhi to insist on his resignation from the post of President of the Indian National Congress and rejection to be the leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha after the 2019 General Elections.
If by chance, the Congress either individually or collectively along with the UPA partners were to win majority seats in the Lok Sabha elections, would he have renounced his leadership? Would he have repeated 2004, when Sonia Gandhi chose Manmohan Singh to be the PM?
2019 Elections were fought between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Congress and the UPA had, for all practical purposes plunged into the elections on the premise that Rahul was their choice for Prime Ministership.
A leader is made in a crisis, war, trouble, and defeat; not in the calm and serene atmosphere. With this background, the daily was charitable and mild.
The Indian National Congress leadership needs a more harsh language to wake it up from the slumber.
If the BJP won the Elections in 2014 and 2019, it is not it’s strength; but the bankruptcy of the think tank in other National Parties, particularly the Congress. It is not thinking beyond Sonia and Rahul.
When the BJP calls Gandhiji and Nehru by names, there’s no counter attack with facts and figures. Nehru is almost branded unpatriotic by the urchins. They had neither seen Nehru nor read about him.
The tragedy is Sonia and Rahul’s gross ignorance makes the innocent belief the cock and bulls story of the BJP Leadership. Simple examples: Who built, Bakra Nangal, Hirakud and Nagarjunasagar? Who caused the Green Revolution? Who established IITs, RECs, ISRO, Sriharikota, etc.
Photos of the Stalwarts of the Freedom Movement are removed from the Congress offices; from Mandal/Taluk to AICC. No Congress leader worth his position has ever made a reference to the 150th Jayanthi of Gandhiji.
Achievements of Five Year Plans are not made known. What is the difference between the Planning Commission and the NITI AYOG? Has this issue been ever raised?
Only once, in 1962 we lost the War with China. All subsequent attacks by the foreigners were repelled. Pakistan was humbled and dissected into two in 1971. Regional Parties raise their hoods because the regional interests are ignored and the leadership suppressed.
Nehru was not all happy with many Chief Ministers of the States. But he did not play with their popularity. On the other hand, he converted it as useful resources for the development of the States. Nijalingappa stresses this point in his Autobiography: My Life And Politics.
He was one of those disliked by Nehru. But he was not disturbed by the Chief Ministership. Indira Gandhi pulled him to Delhi. Not only Nijalingappa, but she also pushed and tossed many more Chief Ministers.
The meteoric rise of N T Rama Rao to power in AP is a monumental example of the ill-effects of meddling with the local sentiments.
There is no grace and humility left among the National Leadership of the Grand Old Party. Until and unless it comes out of Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul shell, there is no salvation for it. Are they really working towards the realization of Gandhiji’s dreams?
On the morning of 30 January, 1948 Gandhiji dictated and carefully corrected the draft: “The Congress as a propaganda vehicle and parliamentary machine has outlived its use. India has to attain social, economic and moral independence, in terms of its seven hundred thousand villages. Congress shall keep out of its unhealthy competition with political parties and communal bodies. The AICC, therefore, resolves to disband the existing Congress organization and to make it to flower into a Lok Sevak Sangh with rules, and power to alter them as occasion may demand,(Mahatma Gandhi, (The Last 200 Days; published by The Hindu).
Are they more Gandhians than the followers of the Bapu, who were reluctant to follow Gandhiji including the great grandfather of Rahul.