SIBAL: INDIA NEEDS A RESURGENT CONGRESS BUT PARTY NEEDS TO SHOW IT’S ACTIVE
The Congress must bring widespread reforms across all levels of the organisation to show it is no longer in a state of inertia and to present itself as a viable political alternative to the BJP, party veteran Kapil Sibal said on Sunday.
Sibal, who was among the G-23 leaders whose letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi last year demanding a meaningful overhaul of the party had triggered a storm, hoped the organisational polls, recently postponed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, will “happen sooner than later”.
The former union minister acknowledged that at present there is no strong political alternative to the BJP but said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lost the moral authority to rule and the Congress can present an alternative due to the current mood in the country.
“At present, there is definitely a void in terms of a strong political alternative. It is exactly in this context, that I had given suggestions for some reforms in my party so that the country has a strong and credible opposition. But what comes out of it is not something for me to foretell. But I am sure, a time will come when the people of this country will decide what is good for them,” Sibal said.
The veteran added that India needs a resurgent Congress and the party needs to rope in the right people to drive its poll strategy so that it can build upon the failures of the government. “Victory of non-bjp parties in recent assembly elections has shown the chinks in the BJP’S armour in terms of its vulnerability to losing when faced with a stronger opposition,” he said. “India needs a resurgent Congress. But for that, the party needs to show that it is active, present, aware and is in the mood to engage meaningfully.”