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Journalism of Courage
Sonia Gandhi is in a position to speak truth to her party. So why did she avoid hardtalk at the CPP?
There should be no factionalism,said the Congress president,calling it the single most important factor that will decide whether the party wins or loses future elections. Sonia Gandhi was speaking to the Congress Parliamentary Party,and in her first public reaction to her partys debacle in the last round of assembly polls,her diagnosis and prescription was more platitude than politics. The Congress must shed all manner of factional behaviour and fight as one disciplined team at all levels,she said. She suggested that reports of the Congress rout in Uttar Pradesh are exaggerated. While she admitted to disappointment at the partys inability to form governments in Punjab and Goa,she found comfort in the fact that the Congress increased its vote share quite considerably in UP and was seen as a serious player after 22 years in the state this,when the Congress stood fourth and added just six seats to its dismal 2007 tally after a campaign in which party general secretary Rahul Gandhi shed his reticence to become the face of the partys campaign. Finally,the Congress president hit out at critics. Attacking the government had become fashionable,she said.
The high-powered committee headed by Union defence minister A.K. Antony that was set up to take stock of the Congresss dismal showing in the latest round of five assembly elections,has submitted its report. But if the Congress presidents speech is any indication,that report is unlikely to seriously look within. Her loyalists may always tell her what she wants to hear but,surely,Sonia doesnt need to do that. As the party stumbles from one setback to another,she should have been the one asking the tough questions,instead of taking refuge in cliche.
