Analyse this

In defeat8217;s day after politicians don8217;t seek out the couch. Rather, they introspect. Hence Sonia Gandhi: 8220;Introspection, frank assessment and determined action.8221; This is some kind of determination, especially so as it comes in the wake of the Congress8217; worst defeat in a general election. Though it is indeed very honourable of her to look inward, the exercise should not be an excuse for not looking around. Look around and she will see in the post-battle kurukshetra the wreckage of bad karma. As the chief architect of this momentous humiliation, or, as the paramount leader of the Indian National Congress, she should perhaps be more political than psychological in dealing with this bleeding sight of reality. First of all, it is her moment of truth. For, this election, figuratively speaking, was a prime ministerial contest between a war poster and a widow8217;s passport. If Atal Behari Vajayee, painted larger-than-life in stark patriotic hues, sought the mandate in the name of national assertion, Sonia Gandhi, aswidow and daughter-in-law, sought the mandate in the name of national identity. Did she, the Leader, forget the party identity? Vajpayee fought for re-election. Sonia fought for acceptance. The Congress refused to be a counterpoint. And Sonia didn8217;t have any point except the point she was trying to make about herself.

But the point both the party and the leader are refusing to accept is: the Congress has only faith, no vision. Faith in the infallible leader, the leader as the sole agent of salvation. The rise of Sonia Gandhi has been directly proportional to the fall of party confidence. The evolutionary tale of Sonia, from First Widow to Delphic Diva to Supreme Leader, has never failed to magnify the collective self-repudiation of Congressmen. The dynastic impulse was only aggravated by every commoner Congressman8217;s lack of faith in himself. There was indeed a chance. When it was abundantly clear that the biologically tired and ideologically impoverished old men like Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri were enacting the fin of the Congress siecle, Congressmen should have taken up the challenge of reinventing themselves. Instead, they thought mortality could be suspended by another Gandhi. But for this Gandhi, from coronation to campaign, it was a wasted period of political baptism. The dynasty didn8217;t work. The faith didn8217;tdeliver.

Will looking inward 8212; i.e. introspection 8212; work? Well, it may work if the realisation of past follies can make the Congress wiser. Apart from being dynastically overconfident, the Congress under the leadership of this wannabe Mrs Gandhi has been an overwhelmingly negativist party. From the Lahore bus to the Kargil war, the Congress politics was one of oppose and be damned. The party has spent so much energy in calling the Vajpayee bluff8217;. But the party has never revealed an alternative agenda 8212; or vision. The party claimed that it could provide a better prime minister. Sonia Gandhi campaigned as if any Gandhi could be a better prime minister. The party thought it was big enough to regain Delhi all alone. Reality debunked the arrogant fantasy. Gandhi failed both Leader Sonia and the Congress as a whole. Maybe time for leaders with lesser surnames to make the proposed introspection a prologue to reality check.