Dynasty politics has been part and parcel of the Congress’ culture. The entire Congress party works towards promoting one particular family. Time and again we have seen examples of this. Despite an abundance of more able leaders, Indira Gandhi was considered as the ‘natural successor’ of Nehru. During the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi acted as the power centre and when Indira Gandhi died Rajiv became PM. After a brief interval from the Gandhi dynasty, India and the Congress party again had to contend with another Gandhi at the helm, Sonia Gandhi. She indirectly controlled power unlike the preceding members of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The same Congress party which claims that it freed India from the clutches of foreign powers allowed a foreigner to control their party and remote control the government for more than a decade. After Sonia Gandhi, now her son is the President of the Grand Old Party and the entire party is working towards projecting him as the PM candidate. According to a Sunday Guardian report, now, Rahul Gandhi could be elected as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha ahead of the 2019 General elections. Mallika Arjun Kharge has held the post of leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, since 2014. But now, he has been asked to make way for the Gandhi scion who will take charge as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. The ostensible reason behind Kharge’s removal was his appointment as General Secretary of Maharashtra Congress unit.
This is just one more example of shameless dynasty politics practiced by the Congress party. A leader who is a laughing stock and have no discernible oratorical skills might be now escalated to the post of Leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. Everyone is well aware of the debating capacity and intellect level of Rahul Gandhi. Under his leadership, Congress is constantly in decline. He single handedly reduced the party’s strength to 44 in 16th Lok Sabha elections. Since 2014, the Congress has lost almost all the state elections under the leadership of the Gandhi scion.
On the other hand, seasoned and experienced leader like Mallikarjun Kharge adroitly and strongly played the role of strong opposition leader despite of the all time low strength of Congress in the Lok Sabha. He stood strongly against the elephantine majority of the BJP. He debated, protested and staged walk outs and tried his best to stop any sort of government legislation on the floor of the house despite the overwhelming strength of the NDA majority. His task was made even more difficult by the wavering loyalties of his party members for whom the only leader worth following orders from must be a Gandhi. On the other hand, the BJP had highly disciplined members enthusiastically committed to the ongoing legislative agenda. On many occasions, BJP was completely paralyzed in front of Mallikarjun Kharge’s political maneuvers. Just because of him, the government had to take the ordinance route many times. Kharge, despite being 75 years old, actively participated in the Lok Sabha proceedings and debates but on the other hand, Rahul Gandhi despite being so-called ‘energetic Youth leader’ was many times seen sleeping during the Lok Sabha proceedings. Whenever Rahul Gandhi had spoken, he ended up only evoking laughter. It’s because of dynasty politics that perhaps now a leader like Kharge will be replaced by an apology of a leader. By practicing such dynasty politics, the Congress is contributing towards its growing irrelevance. If the Congress wants to gain currency again in the national politics then it should do away with non-performing leaders and stop practicing dynasty politics.
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