Prince in Waiting

The “Prince-in-waiting” had made a comment that took the entire Indian political arena by surprise. He remarked, “The internal democracy in the Congress party is to be nourished”. Had any other party member made such remarks, he would have been bullied from all corners of the country by the so called loyalists of the party for the audacity. Such a golden opportunity was not provided to the sycophants of India’s oldest party.

If you were a close follower or observer of Indian politics, you would know the reason for the surprise. However, this has opened the eyes of those who still think that this lad can prove different. All one can do is to pity the Prince-in-waiting, Rahul Gandhi for his lack of knowledge on Indian politics or even the lack of knowledge of his own party’s history. Perhaps, Rahul needs a re-visit to the school of politics if he had made this statement genuinely.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry is aware that it was Rahul’s grandmother who sealed the fate of internal democracy of the nation’s oldest political party in the early 70’s. He cannot escape that he is unaware of this. If he is unaware of this, then he is unfit for the post he aspires or his party loyalists want him to. Indira Gandhi’s unabashed behavior in killing the internal democracy, purging those who opposed it, encouraging sycophancy were the salient features of this party from 70’s.

It reached its worst height when Rajiv Gandhi was made the Prime Minister without convening the meeting of the CPP. Sonia brought new heights when she enacted a well-executed drama in the name of putting down the papers.

All of us could not forget what happened to Sitaram Kesri, who was bundled out of his office the next moment Sonia was elected. However, the question of not adding even a single more seat in the following election under her leadership goes unanswered. Narasimha Rao met with a similar fate. All of us are aware what had happened to stalwarts like Morarji bapu, Nijalingappa, Kamaraj (the man who made her the queen), and likes of those.

Rahul should not forget that if internal democracy would have been there in the party, he could not have become the general secretary so easily. He should realize that this party is nothing but a family-run firm in the name of dynasty whose fame is fading.

I would prefer let Rahul discover his party in its original form rather than discovering India. We will see his discovery expedition in blogs to come.