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Journalism of Courage
Everyone knows Sheila Dikshit has been told she8217;s under watch. The stern admonition for Delhi8217;s high profile chief minister came not from Delhi8217;s alert citizenry, nor from any vigilant Opposition party. By all accounts, there seems to be no reason for terrible discontent in the former while the latter is still fumbling for its own raison d8217;etre. It came, instead, from quarters far more blithe and arbitrary: the high command of her own party. The nearly week long public turbulence in the Delhi unit of the Congress party that culminated in a very popular chief minister being loftily permitted to keep her office, but only barely so, showcases the Congress culture in all its unembarrassed, undemocratic ways.
Of course, the high command has a story to tell: it stepped in because Dikshit8217;s government wasn8217;t carrying the party along. And hadn8217;t she stormed out of the DPCC meeting a few days ago? There simply must be greater discipline and coordination between party and government, and the newly set up coordination committee will ensure just that. The high command may even have a point there. But the problem is that the latest episode of the Delhi Drama seems of a piece with a persistent pattern. For a reminder, rewind to December 15, 2003. The leader who had just steered her party to a successive Congress victory in Delhi, defying incumbency, and flaunting incumbency, at a time when the Congress had lost the simultaneously held assembly elections in three other states, was belatedly named the party8217;s leader by the high command that took many long days to wave aside the jealous objections of petty detractors. In that moment, it had seemed such a travesty that the Congress should run down its one government and leader that had done it so proud.
