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Journalism of Courage
Congress national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill Wednesday resigned from the party saying “sycophancy” had taken precedence over merit. He also said he had not been able to get an audience with the leadership because of his lack of proximity to a “certain coterie”.
An advocate, Shergill had not been happy with the party for some time.
In a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said: “(The) ideology and the vision of the current decision-makers of the Congress is no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth and modern India.”
He added in the letter that the party’s decision-making is influenced by “self-serving interests of individuals indulging in sycophancy and consistently ignoring the ground reality”.
Shergill had been left miffed after not being invited to the chintan shivir in Udaipur. Hailing from Jalandhar, he entered the Congress through a “talent hunt” conducted by the party in 2014 to identify young and articulate faces.
He was appointed as a national media panelist in 2014 and elevated to a national spokesperson in 2018. Shergill was also given the charge of coordinating communication efforts of the party in states such as Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra during Assembly elections. He was a star campaigner of the party in some states.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Shergill said he had been sidelined from party events and press conferences, just because “I don’t pander to somebody’s whims and fancies”.
“There are people in the offices of Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi…I don’t sing to their tunes. I don’t make weekly visits or weekly calls…if that is my sole disqualification then I am not fit to be in the party,” he said.
Shergill alleged: “Decision-makers (in the Congress) have stopped weighing the decisions in the scales of electoral wins and losses but are purely guided by individuals who are serving their self-interest.”
Asked to elaborate, he did not take any names but said there are many examples. “Only those individuals who have consistently lost elections, lost deposits and as state in-charges have led the party to consecutive losses… those who do not perform are being crowned and other people who have capability… who have been waiting for more than one-and-a-half years are not being given an audience for the simple reason that we do not have the proximity to a certain coterie and cabal,” he claimed.
Asked whether he did not get an appointment to meet Rahul Gandhi, he replied: “All the three.”
“I do not hail from a political family. I am a first-generation politician. I am grateful to Sonia Gandhi for all the opportunities she has given but I cannot compromise on my self-respect or sit back and see that sycophancy is the currency rather than talent or merit. I waited for two years, seeking time for one-and-a-half years despite being benched for one-and-a-half-years without breaking the discipline of the party… my only disqualification today is that my spine is intact,” Shergill said.
