New Delhi, December 26
There are growing murmurs in the Congress after its shock defeat in the Gujarat elections that the party paid a price for deviating from its ideological moorings. Even as the party has begun the painful process of analysing the reasons for its disastrous performance, it is being suggested that this down slide could well continue unless the party goes in for a course correction.
“The Congress must not forget its basic ideology. It has always had a strong secular tradition, has identified with the poor nationally and the third world countries internationally. It has also followed the path of non-alignment in it foreign policy. There should be no deviation from these core values,” remarked an agitated senior member of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body.
The Gujarat defeat may well open the proverbial Pandora’s Box as senior leaders, who have never been happy with the direction of government policies, will no longer shy away from voicing their apprehensions openly.
It is well-acknowledged that there is a large section in the party that has never been comfortable with the UPA government’s pro-America tilt in general and the Indo-US nuclear deal, but it has not gone public with its views because Congress president Sonia Gandhi has wholeheartedly backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on this issue. The current mood in the party indicates that the deal’s opponents will become more vocal in the coming days, making it doubly difficult for the Centre to go ahead with it, which has to contend with the Left’s opposition as well.
Similarly, the party’s avowed commitment to secular values will also be questioned. Several Congress seniors are upset that the party was not sufficiently aggressive in pining down Narendra Modi on his communal agenda. They believe that instead of being defensive about Sonia Gandhi’s “maut ka saudagar” remark, the campaigners should have taken a cue from it and gone into attack mode. “The Congress just cannot afford to compromise on this issue,” said a AICC office-bearer.
In fact, this issue figured at the stock-taking exercise conducted at Sonia Gandhi’s residence on Monday when HRD minister Arjun Singh indirectly asked about the fate of the letter he had written to the Prime Minister after the latest expose on the post-Godhra violence in which he had suggested that the Centre file an affidavit against Narendra Modi.
The party’s excessive reliance on BJP rebels in the Gujarat election has also raised serious questions about the adverse impact of drafting dissidents from the rival camp. It is being acknowledged that the Congress will have to do a rethink on this issue after this last experience. “Why should we depend on rebels from other parties. We should fight on our own strength without bothering about the election results,” said another senior AICC functionary.
In fact, the party will be required to take a view on this matter sooner than later. Assembly polls in Karnataka are due in a couple of months and the AICC will now have to factor in its Gujarat experience while deciding on the merits of admitting Janata Dal (S) rebels, led by M.P. Prakash. While a section in the Congress has been pressing for their inclusion, there is also a view that this could upset their own cadres and prove counter-productive.
