THE comment by Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee, daughter of former President of India Mr. Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, that the decay in the Congress party needs a serious introspection, deserves a serious consideration. She has stressed repeatedly that the Congress party finds itself in a “sad state of affairs” that require an immediate and mature handling. Though Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee refers to the bad treatment the Congress party gave to her illustrious father, the context is much larger and encompasses the entire history of the country’s premier political party -- right up to this moment. She insists that there is an urgent need of a serious self-examination by the party so that corrective measures could be undertaken and the party is saved from a total collapse. Nobody can disagree with Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee on this count. Of course, it is essential to take into account the immediate reference to the undesirable treatment the Congress party meted out to (the late) Mr. Pranab Kumar Mukherjee.

 

His daughter has stated in neat detail how the Congress party did not even pass an official condolence resolution when Mr. Pranab Mukherjee passed away. She has given an expression to many such points tormenting her from within for years. As a person from a family dedicated to the Congress party, Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee has every reason to expect a fair and honourable treatment to her father (who made a great contribution to the larger national good). She and her family expected that the Congress party recognised the importance of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as a national personality -- and build an aura of his worth around his name. Unfortunately, most such legitimate expectations stand belied today in the Congress, thanks, of course, to the self-centrist attitude adopted by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra who claim the legacy of their Nehru roots. The threesome has ensured that the command of the party and the credit for its success of whatever nature does not go to anybody outside the family. Not only has the Nehru-Gandhi family cornered the glory but has also stifled growth of most other Congress leaders -- in national politics or in internal organisational matters.

 

That obsessiveness that caused the Congress party heavy damage -- by way of loss of leadership layers often from which emerge leaders of good worth and genuine merit. That stubbed process has ensured that no true and genuine leaders come up in the party’s internal structure. The reference to ‘decay’ by Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee talks of all this -- metaphorically or materially. It is common observation of even the common people that the Congress party has lost its sense of history, its sense of leadership tradition, its sense of national cause, its sense of the need to make higher sacrifices to build the organisation to serve larger purposes -- larger than personal aggrandisement of a handful few at the top. In the narrow exercise of leadership domination, the organisation of the Congress party started decaying -- which has been referred to by Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee.

 

Very clearly, she said that the Gandhi family did not allow anybody else to rise above itself. Of course, the exception to this could be of Dr. Manmohan Singh for whom the party appears to gear up to kick up much political dust. But there also is a reason to suspect some ulterior motive on the part of the Gandhi family -- to use Dr. Manmohan Singh’s name as a tool with which to beat the Narendra Modi camp. And that makes the point raised by Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee stronger and more worthy of serious consideration. Of course, under the Gandhi family, nothing spectacular could be expected in the Congress. But a critical point has been brought to fore by her.