Clueless Congress

There is something terribly wrong with the Congress party and the Congress party does not seem to know it. The political resolution at the e...

There is something terribly wrong with the Congress party and the Congress party does not seem to know it. The political resolution at the end of an extended CWC brainstorming 8212; the first such exercise after the party8217;s mauling by Modi8217;s BJP in Gujarat 8212; shows a party still lacking in the imagination or courage or both to think afresh.

There are the same old platitudes on secularism and a familiar mincing on alliance-making. The drubbing in Gujarat has not roused Sonia8217;s party from its torpor long enough to seriously ask itself: what went so awry in Gujarat? With the leadership avoiding that question by the simple expedient of lobbing it into the unexceptionable court of senior leader Manmohan Singh 8212; the final word on Gujarat, we are told, shall come from him 8212; the party goes on as before after Gujarat. No admissions made, no lessons learnt.

8216;For the Congress, secularism is the battle to rescue India8217;s religious traditions, teachings, and practices from the forces of bigotry and hate8230;8217; Of course. But how, pray, does the Congress propose to fight? With what tools and weapons? What will be the ideological underpinning, what political tactics will it deploy, in the fight to defeat the BJP8217;s 8216;diabolical design8217;? Dare we even hope for a strategy? Because in Gujarat, there was none. Unless soft Hindutva could be given that name. In Gujarat, a genuine alternative to the BJP was conspicuous by its abdication. Remember the elevation of old RSS hand Shankarsinh Vaghela to helm the Congress8217;s challenge? Or the sadhus crowding the dais? The discrepancies in the two manifestos released by the party in English and Gujarati, or its loud silence on the riots after Godhra?

If there is no evidence of a rethink on how to tackle Hindutva, or should that be Moditva now, an old ambiguity is recycled on coalitions. The party, says its spokesperson, is 8216;open8217; to alliances with 8216;like-minded8217; parties and would not like the 8216;secular vote8217; to be split.

Haven8217;t we heard that before? Even if that declaration marks a step towards a new mellowness on the issue of tie-ups, as some insist it does, it is too little, too late. The truth is, the Congress today is basically a party that reacts to what the BJP does. It8217;s been a long time since the Congress wrested the political initiative. Going by the CWC resolution, it will be a long time before it will.