The internal democracy of the Congress party is in tatters as the leaders of the grand old party walked from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in an effort to unite India under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. A political party should practise at least some internal democracy to safeguard the democracy in India, but the Congress has instead been pursuing a collection of fragile egos and selective affection based on sycophancy. The party’s perspective on three of its leaders, who have lately made news, can help explain the Congress’ dubious stance on internal democracy and blatant hypocrisy. Anil Antony, Digvijaya Singh and Sachin Pilot are these leaders.
A political party’s internal democracy is a concern for the party itself, but it also illustrates how that party functions. A number of accusations have been made against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by the opposing political parties, most notably the Congress, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had complete control over the organisation. It’s up for dispute whether actions like toeing the party line and maintaining discipline are the results of some leaders’ dictatorial methods. One thing is certain, though: The Congress cannot claim moral superiority and criticise other political parties for lacking internal democracy, because the grand old party engages in selective internal democracy. The moral posture of the political party and its future leaders can only be harmed by such political speech.
One of the most recent changes in the Congress involves normalising this intolerance. For instance, Sachin Pilot publicly rebelled against Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot while he was the deputy chief minister of the state. Pilot has been defying Gehlot for more than four years, every single day. The state-wide solo padayatra campaign for Sachin Pilot was started today. Pilot is making a strong statement about his leadership, legacy, and significance in state politics in his colossal rallies across Rajasthan. The party would have taken serious action against Pilot if there had been any internal democracy that treated every leader equally, but that never happened.
Meanwhile, the party’s high command turned against Congressman Shashi Tharoor when he candidly ran for president of the party. Everyone was aware of Mallikarjun Kharge’s intimate ties to the Gandhi family and their support for his campaign for Congress president. Shashi Tharoor received censure for this reason from each Pradesh Congress Committee in the states where he ran for office. In the same vein, the G-23 encountered resistance when it spoke out against the Gandhis. Senior party figures, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, were forced to resign. Anand Sharma, formerly the deputy leader of the Congress party in the Rajya Sabha, is no longer active in Congress politics. The error continued, and it was disrespecting the Gandhis.
However, what happened to Digvijaya Singh and Anil Antony–two important leaders — demonstrates the chaotic state of the Congress’ internal democracy. Singh requested documentation of the surgical strike on Balakot from the Indian Army during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Rahul Gandhi disagreed with Singh’s remark, but the senior leader made no attempt to retract it. He was not coerced by the party to apologise or step down. However, Antony was compelled to retire after criticising the BBC for its documentary that demonised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He didn’t even congratulate the prime minister or the BJP; instead, he only pointed out the BBC’s bias. But the Congress leadership gave him the evil eye. Antony tweeted, “Despite large differences with BJP, I think those in ???????? placing views of BBC, a ???????? state-sponsored channel with a long history of ???????? prejudices, and of Jack Straw, the brain behind the Iraq war, over ???????? institutions is setting a dangerous precedence, will undermine our sovereignty.”
After 22 years, the Congress held a presidential election and chose a non-Gandhi president to show that the party is internally democratic. The scope of internal democracy inside the Congress started to get smaller post-Indira Gandhi. There were no democratic decisions made against Rajiv Gandhi after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi. The Congress is engaging in risky dynasty-based politics without even realising it. The Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are three of the four political parties that are centred on a single leader. Others do not anticipate that anyone will criticise the supreme leader and get away with it. However, the Congress has continued this internal trend even if they publicly tout democracy. The party is aware of the risks associated with this type of politics, but they are fortunately blind.
The Punjab Congress was destroyed by a lack of democracy inside the party. The Gandhi family, particularly Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, encouraged Navjot Singh Sidhu to become the Pradesh Congress Chief of Punjab instead of supporting the position taken by the then-Congress Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. When Sidhu was elected PCC leader, he continuously disregarded Captain Singh and put an end to the politics of the Congress in Punjab. However, Amarinder Singh’s politics won because Sidhu was a blind follower of the Gandhi siblings and Singh was a vociferous opponent of such behaviour. The Congress suffered a dismal defeat in the Punjab Assembly election of 2022, and the party is currently losing political clout in Punjab.
The internal democracy of the Congress has to be reviewed. A party cannot advocate for unity while upholding a corrupt internal code of ethics. The Congress, which is picky within its own ranks, is attempting to instil diversity and plurality in India. The hypocrisy of the Congress must stop. The grand old party’s value system is deteriorating, and without correction, if they simply try to cover it up by blaming others, their credibility will never rise.
The author is a Columnist and Doctoral Research Scholar In Media & Politics. He tweets @sayantan_gh. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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