Time for change of guard?
Hard work is the only key to success
When we look at our political scenario, it seems the Congress is intoxicated in the same old period of “rajyog”. The Congress started ruling India from 1947 to 1977, and started seeing its downfall after that. The people retained some faith in the party and again gave it a chance in 1980, 1984, 1991, 2004 and 2009. The first major downfall was a signal, which should have raised the instincts of any leader with rational thinking. If we look into the history of the Congress, it never lacked leaders with skills. From founder leaders like A.O. Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji to its Prime Ministers like Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. Every time they came to power, we find realistic reasons behind it.
Take Nehru: he was a leader from the freedom struggle who had witnessed various revolutions and could well understand the ground realities of the country in terms of caste, religion, and not only could understand but also manage them. He even had an unforetold charisma of his own which brought him to power again and again. People had relentless faith in him. The personality enterprise was again gained by Indira Gandhi and even her ruling magic left an indelible mark on the minds of people, which shook only after her death. After her death, Rajiv Gandhi came to power in 1984 on the strength of a sympathy wave.
Although 1991 was a period of turmoil for the Congress, it could regain power because of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. 1998 was the time when Sonia Gandhi took to active politics, but the NDA succeeded in forming the government. The Congress again saw its golden days in 2004 and 2009, but it was not because of successful leadership, rather due to the shortcomings of their opponents.
In 2004, Rahul Gandhi announced his entry into politics by saying that he would contest the May 2004 elections, standing for his father’s former constituency of Amethi. Stepping into politics and winning an election was like being fed with a silver spoon. But he got a setback after contesting from the same seat in 2014, which he just sneaked by to win, realising that politics was no more a “family epic”. Finally, with the result of the recent UP elections, people have now entered an era wherein work speaks. Not allowing an able leader like Manmohan Singh to function was a setback for the Congress. The leadership failed to look beyond the window of the Gandhi clan, which brought them to its current position, where even its workers feel ashamed to be associated with the party.
Leaders and the party need to be empathetic about the problems of the people rather than flaunting their families. Work speaks. The family of Narendra Modi is also being spoken of but only for its grassroots growth, where no advantage is being taken from politics. Hence the Gandhis need to learn that growth will be achieved only when you will work.