At the Congress Working Committee meeting on August 24, the old dispiriting spectacle: rumblings of dissent and calls for greater intra-par...
At the Congress Working Committee meeting on August 24, the old dispiriting spectacle: rumblings of dissent and calls for greater intra-party democracy, the Gandhis turning it into a question of loyalty to them, emotional displays by the faithful renewing their vows to the Gandhis. The Congress is living testimony to the principle that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
It was a week that started with talk of reform. A letter written by 23 senior party leaders became public. It called for sweeping changes, flagging concerns about the Congress’s eroding support base and worker morale, pointing to the need for “effective leadership”, decentralisation of power and elections to party posts.
But at the working committee meeting called to discuss the contents of the letter it was barely discussed at all. Instead, reports suggest, it saw a sustained attack on the dissenting leaders with Rahul Gandhi leading the charge. By the end of the durbar, interim president Sonia Gandhi, who had earlier offered to resign, remained in the post.
Although the Gandhis are believed to have said that a new president should be chosen in six months, they fail to convince. Ever since the Congress’s second Lok Sabha defeat in 2019, the Gandhis have...
