Yet Another Congress Sepoy (YACS)

The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : The Congress party’s last chance

It must be recalled that in the early decades after Independence, the concept of a social democratic political alternative to the Jana Sangh representing an axis of landlords and big capital and to the Communist Party of India had caught the public imagination, enabling the Congress and its various splinters to wield considerable political influence over the decades.

What gibberish! The Congress was the heavyweight political party for a long time after independence. Jana Sangh and CPI hardly had any political presence. Peoples' love affair with Congress was not a result of seeking alternatives to some non-descript parties.

Part of the carefully structured reinvention of the Congress party as a social democratic formation offering a “third way” was the declared interest in a new foreign policy paradigm. This included restoring cordiality with Pakistan, taking new steps forward with China, but more significantly engaging the United States, increasing the strategic content of the relationship, of which the nuclear deal is a prominent element.

Congress brought India to its knees through its socialistic policies and it never had any pretensions about democratic traditions. Talking of "carefully structured reinvention", why not elaborate on the groundbreaking non-alignment policy and its relevance in Congress' newly found approach. Malini has nothing to say about this. Instead she talks about how Congress has restored relationships with Pakistan and US. Poor BJP used to get blamed for building relationships with Pakistan and US. The Leftists went to the extent of calling BJP a US ally. But Malini credits Congress for building the relationships and appreciates it.

That the nuclear deal rather than any other issue of equal import such as inflation and rising prices became the breaking point between the Congress and the Left parties was not surprising.

Why is it not surprising, is it because these two parties are unscrupulous, opportunistic crooks. And why is Malini not concerned that the Congress, instead of worrying about inflation and its impact on aam aadmi, is concentrating its efforts on nuclear deal.

The marked inability of the Congress to stake out a position for itself in the public discourse, despite its high-profile leaders, Dr. Singh and Ms Gandhi, charismatic figures who have caught the public imagination in different ways, testifies to the intrinsic weakness of its organisational structure.

Dr.Singh who? When did he become a charismatic figure? Is he not the one with the lowest ever popularity ratings for a PM? Public imagination, my foot. Malini is letting her imagination run wild.

It is clear that the present leaders of the Congress party, Dr. Singh and Ms Gandhi, have an ambitious political and economic vision. While the spectacle of inflation and rising prices might present a sharp challenge to the proposition that it is possible to pursue policies that stress both growth and equity, it is evident that the two leaders are unwavering in their conviction that reforms and distributive justice can go hand in hand.

It is "clear" only to Malini, who is clearly hallucinating. How about listing the economic reforms done under the ambitious Dr.Singh's regime. Ok, how about listing one economic reform. Try writing novels instead, Malini. All those drugs and hallucinations might come in handy then.

Unless the Congress party becomes more realistic in terms of its engagement with other centrist political forces, shedding its own notions of its traditional hegemony in certain States, particularly U.P., it will not be possible to recapture the political space it has yielded to extremist forces, particularly of the Right.

Apart from giving labels to parties as centrist and extremist, is there on single valid point in the article why congress must be revived? What achievements has it got to its credit? It moved away from its foreign policy of non-alignment and is following the path shown by BJP. It stalled all economic reforms and introduced populist measures. The economy is on a topple, farmer suicides are at all time high, terrorism is rampant, and inflation is touching record highs every week. Once again, why revive the congress, Malini, if it is no good for the country? Your bank records might tell the story.