PRITAM SENGUPTA in New Delhi and PALINI R. SWAMY in Bangalore write: Udaoed in Uttar Pradesh. Pichkaoed in Punjab. Upset in Uttarakhand. Gored in Gujarat. You might think it can’t get any worse for the Congress, but it could. So how can the Congress be resuscitated to believe that there might be life after death?
Your answer might be, why the eff should we be bothered, that’s Sonia Gandhi‘s problem. If that is your answer, stop reading right here. On the other hand, if you spot a management challenge—a 122-year-old brand in dire need of fresh thinking, better positioning—here are 12-and-a-half steps the Grand Ol’ Party must take if it is not to be pummelled in the next general elections.
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1) Have the humility to recognise that somebody could be better than you at playing this game. Merely because three members of your family have been prime ministers, it doesn’t mean there is something special about the water and air at 10, Janpath that will keep power in the family’s bloodstream forever. In other words, admit there is a problem. It could just be wrong brand of tea you are sipping (Narendrabhai, wink-wink).
2) Stop looking for scapegoats; go into election mode—now. Get thinking heads like Sam Pitroda and Jairam Ramesh to strategise on the key issues you are getting hammered on like terrorism, internal security, minority appeasement. Hire top-flight American image makers to communicate this lucidly to the educated, urban middleclasses—it is they who are deserting the Congress in droves. Use the traditional media like newspapers, radio, television by all means, but also exploit new media to reach out to the young. Set up blogs, send SMSes, have Sonia Gandhi speak on YouTube. Heck, get a “Second Life“!
3) It’s not a nuanced game the BJP is playing. It’s a primal, jugular campaign that appeals to the lowest common denominator. Let the BJP know that two can play the game. Get some aggression into the system. Get a few straight-talking ruffian-types, for want of a better word to describe the Rajiv Pratap Rudys, to fight the nightly television battles with the BJP spokesmen, not smooth lawyers like Kapil Sibal or Abhishek Singhvi or hopeless wimps like Veerappa Moily. Remember, the English channels are a small constituency. And they don’t bloody vote.
4) It’s a young country; get the young into the thick of things. There is no point claiming that Rahul Gandhi is “Our Dhoni” and keeping him in the reserves. Remember, Dhoni doesn’t score his runs in the pavilion. Remember, also, that L.K. Advani has a 50-year headstart in politics. Push Rahul baba to open the innings. Give him the partners he wants, not just other sons he has played with (Jyotiraradhya Scindia or Sachin Pilot). Let him get his hands dirty fighting his battles. He might fail as he has in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, but he will be wiser; he will learn he’s to blame, not somebody else. After all, didn’t he grandly speak of “meritocracy”? Let the boy realise that there’s no such thing as a free prime ministerial lunch. He has to earn every morsel. Ensure that the message gets to every leader down the line.
5) Stop giving out the signal of protecting the “unprotectable” and undeserving. If Jagdish Tytler and his ilk are guilty in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom, allow law to take its own course. In fact, go out of your way to help the law take its course. Not just with Tytler but with every tainted Congressman everywhere in the country. Be open, be transparent, be fair, be fearless. Let the country know that nobody, howsoever mighty, howsoever close to “the family”, will be spared if there is even a taint. Adopt a zero-tolerance approach to criminality, corruption, rape, kidnap, murder, extortion… Like Hindustan Lever, advertise a “New, Improved” Congress. The nation will respect you for this.
6) Pull the rug from underneath the chaddis. Come clean on every single controversy you or your family have been involved in or accused of. Deprive them of readymade issues. If Ottavio Quattrochi is indeed guilty of anything, he should pay for it. In fact, go out of your way to help the CBI catch him. If he is not guilty, communicate to the country on where you stand. But don’t allow the impression to gain ground that you are using CBI to scuttle all moves to get him here. If you really play non-partisan, people will respect you for this. By being transparent, you will win the hearts of people.
7) Demonstrate that you look at all Indians equally, not as Hindus, Muslims, whatever. If you want to hang Afzal Guru, hang him. If you don’t want to hang Afzal Guru, say so why, clearly. Don’t dither. Stop giving the impression that you are shielding him because he is a Muslim. Terrorism has no religion, but terrorism is also not the place to show your secularism. It will fetch you votes, of course, but only minority votes. Remember, the majority is always bigger in size than the minority. Adopt the same strategy in all States.
8) Stop being so bloody defensive. Take the battle into the enemy camp; communicate, communicate, communicate. Shout from the rooftops that the BJP’s claims on handling terrorism are bogus. It sent Jaswant Singh with a known terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar. It released Peter Bleach. Shout from the rooftops that POTA did nothing to halt terrorism. After the IC-814 was hijacked when it was around. Parliament was attacked when it was around. Shout from the rooftops that its grandstanding on Naxalism is crap. BJP-ruled Chattisgarh is the hotbed of Maoist activity.
9) Stop being such control freaks. Encourage party leaders all the way down to the State, district and city levels to demonstrate that they are adult human beings with their own opinions, desires, demands, needs. You cannot win trust and confidence by ruling a State from Delhi all the time. When Modi is being tom-tommed as chief minister, how can you have a Bharatsinh Solanki say, “I will wait for ‘High command’ to decide!” This was good when Indiraji was ruling 25 years ago!” Times have changed. Give people what they want, and hold them accountable if they screw up.
10) Don’t let the tail wag the dog any longer; don’t get bogged down by the Left or by allies like the DMK. They are running the Government by proxy. They have succeeded in portraying you as running a weak government with a weaker prime minister. Stand up and stand firm. It is far better to go to the polls than to be seen and perceived as a weakling by all and sundry. Give the Left an ultimatum to put up or shut up; or tell them to take a long hike.
11) Allow people to stand up to you; encourage them to disagree with you. Where are the Rajesh Pilots and Madhav Rao Scindias? It is important to groom the younger leaders by giving them opportunity to lead. Give one State election to the team of youngsters to try out their plan, their method of working and see what happens. At worst, you could lose, which is happening anyway! At least you would have given them a chance to prove their worth.
12) Above all, stop acting so coy and give Manmohan Singh at the Centre and all the Congress-ruled States an ultimatum: deliver and demonstrate development in the next six months. Come up with quantitative and qualitative results to back your claims. Come up with one killer idea between now and then that you can take to the polls. Show that your growth is inclusive—it includes the majority. As shown by Mayawati, it is better to carry all sections of the electorate than pandering to supposedly minority interest always.And finally, this half-step.
And, finally, this half-step.
Stop giving the impression that you are running the UPA government by remote-control. Stop your cronies and factotums from giving the impression that they only dance to your tunes. Let the country know that Manmohan Singh is not just there to warm the seat but to run the government.
No this should be the final step:
Disband the congress. Enough is Enough. You solve a problem by attacking the root cause. When a malice like Sonia heads the Congress and the only thing she has become good at is to make personal attacks on the opposition, and such a malice spreads throughput the party, then your options are quite limited.
Ampute the leg (congress) to save the body (India).
The first thing the congress should take is to have an Indian born as the head of their party. Stop licking up to the gandhi family.
Disband the Congress. That is what the original Gandhi wanted to do immediately after Independence. How can the entire party try to save the chief from any blame like they are doing now. Let her come out and say something, anything about the Gujarat debacle.
I agree, disband congress which has run its course. Stop acting like a mafioso boss in your native Turin who excels in protection racket . Leave politics to those who are born in the country, take your family members who are misfits any way out of politics and start a movement to improve the conditions of masses of poor who deserve support.
Congress played an important role in indian independence movement and now a movement within congress is needed to get independence from the Nehru Gandhi family! Is this the party which produced great leaders like Shastriji and Sardar Patel who were not from Nehru Gandhi family?
All these years they were misusing the name of Gandhi and Nehru to fool the public about their sacrifice to the nation and that they would also do the same. You cannot fool some body all the time! Now a new generation of Indians have come ! They see Gandhi and Nehru as history, many of our MP’s and MLA’s do not know much about them. Congress should think of an young new INDIAN Hero or Heroin who have contributed for the development of the country with a mind for the future as Mr Kalam said. Think of Today and Tomorrow, forget the Past!
The first premise of this post that the Gandhi (not M.K. Gandhi) family still needs to lead congress, is antithesis to the resuscitation of Congress.
I think Congress will have a chance or quarter, if it can come out of the dynasty, which is highly unlikely.
With the status quo continuing, all of this advice looks like the one Shakuni gave to Duryodhana.
Kya Bhai, if you shoot so many arrows at a time how can they save their heads and faces. They may take years to cover these steps. The journey is too long and it is already pitch dark and the tiresomeness is visible on their faces. Thats why they are using words such as communalists, fascists, agents of death….if they stand before a mirror they see the horrors of emergency, Delhi killings etc etc…. The first step should be to have an elderly, capable Indian President for the Indian National Congress.
If congress takes any of these steps, their political wilderness at least for some years is assured.
For this reason alone congress would not take any of these steps.
Great list!
However for it to come true – you need a God at the helm of congress, not a conniving congressman (or woman).
Churumuri has compiled 12.5 well meaning steps which are easier said than done.
Congress is STRUCTURALLY INCAPABLE to implement even one of these steps.
Today, BJP can allow a Narendra Modi to grow to such a high stature in Gujarat, but Congress will never allow any State leader to reach even 10% of Modi;s stature. BECAUSE CONGRESS IS A DYNASTIC PARTY.
Rajiv Gandhi got biggest mandate in 1985, but lost it in less than 3 years.
“Communal Budgeting” will completely destroy Congress. It will unleash a bigger movement than even Ayodhya- its just a matter of time.
Some say Congress allowed Thiru Karuna in Chennai so much rope that he is hanging opponents with it! Some stature for him!
Maybe the commentators here should realise that BJP is a dynastic party. Vasundhara Raje’s mother was Cabinet Minister in Vajpaye’s govt.
Guys, grow up and realise dynastic politics is everywhere in india and abroad. BJP has been in power only till recently. The first generation of BJP leaders itself is still enjoying power, so the second generation will soon follow.
1. Benazir Bhutto
2. George Bush.
3. BJP supported Udhhav Thackeray, son of Bal Thackery is now the shiv sena president.
4. BJP supported Naveen Patnaik is son of Biju Patnaik
5. BJP supported OM Prakash Chautala is son of Devi Lall
6. BJP supported Chandra Babu Naidu is son in law of NTR
7. BJP supported Omar Abdullah is son of Farooq Abdullah
8. BJP supported (for 20 months) Kumarswamy is son of Deve Gowda
9. BJP supported Maneka Gandhi is wife of Sanjay Gandhi
10. BJP supported Prakash Singh Badal’s son, who is active in political affairs of Akali dal.
Although it looks like a open article, the author has to agree that Congress has crossed the Rubicon on some issues and cannot revert back. Say, the Q issue. Why was a cabinet minister sent to UK to defreeze his accounts? Again on Afzal guru issue. Congress is not even clear what to do? the damage has been done already. Again, the author seems to promote Rahul disregarding the experienced people in congress when PREACHING to learn from the likes of LK Advani. This to me is Hypocricy.