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New Delhi: As AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi seeks to capture the imagination of the Gen Next with his out-of-the-box and somewhat iconoclastic approach to politics and governance, the 124-year-old Indian National Congress, it seems, is finding it difficult to keep in step.
Last week, Rahul’s attribution of Naxalism to lack of development and states’ inability to reach out to people, for instance, only reiterated the Congress’s long-held stance on this issue that invariably bracketed the law and order aspect with socio-economic problems at its roots. The party’s thinking was often encapsulated by Sonia Gandhi’s description of Naxalites as “misguided youth”.
Barely 48 hours after Rahul pronounced the party line on this issue, the Congress made a significant shift de-coupling the law and order aspect from the socio-economic aspect and recommending “firm” action against those who believe in violence “and nothing else”.
Again, days after the Congress expressed outrage against Union Minister Shashi Tharoor for his defiance of the party’s diktat on austerity by staying in a five-star hotel and then ridiculing it on Twitter by his infamous cattle class remark, Tharoor got succour from unexpected quarters. Last Wednesday, Rahul declared in Thiruvananthapuram, “Shashi Tharoorji is a Minister of State also. So, he has to also spend a lot of time in travelling. So, it is bit unfair to say you know he comes, at times, on computer. I have spoken to him a couple of times between and after the elections and I get a sense that he is working hard for the country.”
Rahul’s support failed to mollify the Congress as was evident from the editorial of the Congress Sandesh, the party mouthpiece that was released on Saturday. “Being wealthy does not by itself give us a right to spend as we please. People who have nothing to do with the basic values of life normally end up offering wrong reasoning to hide their violation of values,” said the editorial in an apparent jibe at Tharoor.
These were only the latest instances of incompatibility between the current establishment of the Congress, in terms of its institutional response to issues, and the party’s heir apparent. Consider a few more examples:
n In Chennai last month, Rahul opposed the inter-linking of rivers project saying, “We should not play with nature on such a massive scale.” While the Congress had never opposed the project, the UPA government had actively sought to implement it in its first...
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