The rebellion against the Nehru-Gandhi family within the Indian National Congress is escalating and now nine Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh, who were expelled from the grand old party last year, have shot a letter to Sonia Gandhi, the interim INC President. They have asked Sonia Gandhi to rise above familial interests and restore the democratic traditions of the grand old party.
But this is not the first time that senior Congress leaders have dropped a ‘letter bomb’. Earlier, a letter by some Congress heavyweights had sought radical changes in the Congress party, particularly in the leadership lies at the centre of the war which has broken out today between family-loyalists and those who would rather remain loyal to the party. The letter, signed by the Congress’ 23 senior-most stalwarts including the likes of Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Milind Deora, etc had asked for “sweeping changes” in the party.
But now the tradition of such letters seems to be gaining popularity amongst State-level leaders who form the foundation of any political party. The latest letter from Uttar Pradesh, for instance states that the Congress is going through its worst phase in the most populous state of India.
The senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders, including former MP Santosh Singh, former Minister Satyadev Tripathi and former MLA Vinod Chaudhary, who have signed the explosive letter have alleged that they have been seeking an appointment with Sonia Gandhi for the past one year, but they are being denied the opportunity.
In reality, the backlash against the Nehru-Gandhi family leadership coming from the state of UP mirrors the disillusionment that is also setting in within the Central Congress leaders. Senior party leaders at all levels have realised how incompetent leadership has marginalised the INC at the Centre and in the States, and therefore patience is wearing thin within the top echelons considered close to the first family of the Congress and also the regional leadership.
Remember, the Congress is no regional satrap or political minnow. For decades, the Congress was in power at the Central, State and regional levels that often meant plum legislative and executive positions for the party heavyweights. But since 2014, when Rahul Gandhi secured unchallengeable control of the oldest political party of India, things went South.
The Congress is showing no signs of making a comeback at the national level and is also getting decimated from all the States. Even if it wins in some states or stitches an alliance, the INC often fails to hang on. In Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, the INC was unable to hold on to power, and in Rajasthan it was about to get dislodged.
Heavyweights like Shashi Tharoor, Kapil Sibal, Sanjay Jha and Ghulam Nabi Azad, of course, blame the ineffective family leadership for the near-total demise of the INC. Today, these leaders have no qualms in speaking up against the Nehru-Gandhi family leadership which is letting the internal strife building up within the Congress go public.
A political leader cannot be accepted to be unambitious just because an heir apparent has to be put in control of their party’s affairs. This is what also leads to exit of strong regional leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and face-offs between family loyalists like Kamal Nath with new-gen politicians like Sachin Pilot.
For the first time since Sonia Gandhi took control of the Congress in late 1990s, senior Congress leaders are openly speaking about democratic reforms. As such, the Nehru-Gandhi family doesn’t seem to have a very secure future within the INC. There are several senior leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Amarinder Singh who seem more capable for leading the Congress than the Nehru-Gandhi family.
However, it seems that the first family within the Congress couldn’t read some very obvious signals. In face of the ongoing rebellion, the members of the Nehru-Gandhi family always had the option of giving up leadership and leave the Indian political landscape in a graceful manner. But it seems that the Congress is now headed towards an ugly spat which could see a coup getting staged against the grand old family currently ruling the INC.