Dear leader,me too

Meetings of the All India Congress Committee are occasions for great choreography,as most assemblies of parties elsewhere often are. And at a function meant to endorse the re-election of the party president,as the AICC meet at Delhis Talkatora Stadium on Tuesday was,one would expect a degree of celebration of the leader. Yet,even by that expectation and by the Congresss spectacular legacy of sycophancy,the spectacle was staggering. In a competitive spiral of praising Sonia Gandhi and often Rahul Gandhi too any pretence at debate was abandoned for durbar-style flattery. Girija Vyas hailed Sonia Gandhi as the pride of India,pride of the world and pride of womanhood. The Congress president had the grace to make a gesture of bemusement at that,but it wasnt just the flights of hyperbole that were maintained by Vyass colleagues. The action matched the words. The party president was authorised to nominate Congress Working Committee members.

Therefore,if Sonia Gandhi wanted to make light of the manner in which she was being enthroned for another term,she chose the wrong tactic. Now that you have reposed faith in me,you should be ready to incur some loss, she smiled. By the way,if one keeps patience in the Congress,sooner or later ones number comes. Her Congress is so enfeebled by an established culture of waiting for ones number,of currying favour with the high command in the hope of getting a post or a party ticket,that this old-style Congress sycophancy should ring warning bells. For a party that cites its organisational weaknesses for a lack of revival in its old strongholds in north India,this should be especially discordant. This kind of durbar is the luxury,howsoever dubious,of an organisation confident of one-party domination,not one still in revival mode. The Congress,at just over 200 seats in Lok Sabha and staring at a string of assembly elections where its expected to be an also-ran,can hardly afford to abandon the revitalising rhythms of internal democracy. Such sycophancy also weakens the party leadership. When,in the late-90s,Sonia Gandhi took charge of a party seen to be rapidly fragmenting,she gained immense legitimacy from the fact of having had to contest for the leadership (against the late Jitendra Prasad) and from having to weather a rebellion (led by Sharad Pawar). If the party today,six-and-a-half years after returning to power at the Centre,still flails around for a leader in,say,Bihar,to take on rival satraps,its because renewal from within,from the contest of aspirations that internal democracy nourishes,is still not seen to be an option.