Jaiveer Shergill: ‘Cong cabal’s job is convincing leadership one fine day PM Modi will make a mistake and they will be back’

You have joined a long list of young leaders who have left the Congress. Why is it that young and articulate leaders, be it Sushmita Dev, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada or Priyanka Chaturvedi, are leaving the Congress? Are young leaders not finding hope in the party anymore?

There are three to four reasons. Young educated leaders are realists, delivery-oriented, aware of the ground reality, and want to indulge in electoral reward politics. The common problem with every individual, young or old, has been that the party has lost sync with reality. The party has stopped taking decisions weighing on the scales of wins and losses. The party is damaging their self-respect. There is systematic machinery at work that ousts those individuals who selflessly want to work for the party without self-gain and who have the courage and the gumption to take issue-based stands, call a spade a spade, and question certain decision-making. So the reason for the departure is that the top decision-makers have adopted an approach of ‘my way or the highway’. So there is no other option.

Can you elaborate on this aspect — the decisions that were not rooted in reality?

There are a few decisions that are taken. First, there is an absolute lack of clarity on important political electoral issues facing the nation today, starting with secularism, nationalism and women’s safety. Second, the agenda setting, the messaging, there is complete confusion in setting the agenda to attract the voters. In the absence of a clear message being communicated, it is most of the time a guessing game by the public. For instance, just to give you a few examples, people still do not know what is the Indian National Congress’s stand on Article 370, what was its stand on Ayodhya, what was the particular stand, the nuances of the Agniveer scheme, the killing of Kashmiri Pandits. The issue is that the top decision-makers are busy with in-house housekeeping exercises rather than focusing on whether decisions are attracting voters and cutting ice with them or not.

Organisationally?

I call it the three As, whether it is at the policy level or at the organisational level. Answerability, accountability and awareness of ground reality. These three As are missing from every organisational decision — punishment or crowning individuals. Individuals who were responsible for defeats in the recent elections, where we drew a blank, still continue to call the shots. That is very demoralising, disappointing messaging for any youth or any individual working in the hope that his or her work will be appreciated by the party, that only those people who bring value addition to the table will be considered. Rather than merit and competency, a stale, ‘business as usual’ kind of politics is at play.

Yesterday, you mentioned that a cabal and coterie were at work. So is this cabal pushing Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi? Where does the buck stop?

I am pained to say saddened to say that the top leadership is a victim of this cabal and coterie. The sooner they realise the better. Even the top leadership is a victim of the cabal that plays at top levels — keeping the top leadership disconnected from the cadre and well-meaning leaders, and two, giving a different version of reality to the leadership that only suits their advances and secures their position. That is why I say that the PAs (personal assistants) and OSDs (officers on special duty) and habitual election-losing offenders … even the top leadership is a victim of that cabal. There is also a systematic effort at play by a cabal and coterie to transform Congress from a formidable political party into a poorly run, mismanaged NGO.

But as leaders, they should be able to understand and see through all this. Are they so naive?

That is the larger question every individual who leaves the party or is within the party is asking. How much more bleeding, how much more diminishing, how much more widening of the chasm between public trust and the party will it take for a course correction? How many more election losses will it take for the party to indulge in any form of course correction? So that question stares … the grip of the cabal and coterie is so strong that the larger sad message going out is that the Indian National Congress is beyond repair and reform.

So, this cabal you mention, are these people working in the offices of Sonia, Rahul, or are they office-bearers who are closer to the leaders?

I don’t want to take names. But this is a cosy club of PAs, OSDs, and a select few leaders whose full-time job is to convince the top leadership that one fine day Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) will make a mistake and then they will be back. So, there is no active engagement to bring the glory back. They make the leadership believe that one fine day the sun will shine and the Prime Minister will make a mistake.

In 2020, a group of 23 senior leaders wrote to the Congress president. They pointed out that the party needs to change how it functions. But, the party has not really engaged with them. Do you see merit in their argument?

The faster the mantra of ‘listen, analyse, and adapt’ is adopted, the faster the reforms. For that, every issue raised within the party should not be taken as a question mark on the leadership of the Gandhis. There is a fine line between raising a critical point and questioning the leadership. The job of the coterie along with other jobs, like singing the tune, is to ensure that an individual raising a critical point or positive point is painted as being against the Gandhis; or is hounded or ousted or elbowed out. Any army in the world that does not respect its own soldiers, weak or strong, any general of the Army that looks away from his soldiers cannot succeed.

The question of leadership has been lingering for a long time. Now it is said that Rahul Gandhi is not keen to return as Congress president.

The voter and the public are more concerned about what agenda, alternative solution and viable option the Congress is offering in terms of policy and the ability to lead, rather than being obsessed about which individual holds which post. Having said that, in this confusion about who should be and should not be the president, which has been lingering for many years, the Congress top leadership has lost touch with ground reality. This issue as to who should be the president or should not be the president, the longer it lingers, the busier it will keep the coterie and cabal and the trust deficit with the public will increase. More than the leadership question, today people are more eager to hear what agenda the Indian National Congress is capable of setting to attract them electorally.

Does the Congress stand any chance of returning to power in 2024?

I am not a political astrologer or a weatherman like Ram Vilas Paswan. But having said that, I don’t know the electoral chances in 2024 but definitely, with every passing day, the trust deficit between the voter and Congress as an institution is increasing. And the recently held elections, be it 2019 or the 5-0 results, are living proof of that.

What is your plan now? You have a long career ahead. Are you going to take a break or join a party like the BJP, the AAP, or the Trinamool Congress?

Once in politics, you can never take a break. Otherwise, you are not a politician. The plans for the future will be known in future. But yes, any platform, any party that has the fire in the belly, hunger to win, serve the people, give self-respect..acknowledge the self-respect of its workers, every option is open.

Even the BJP?

I am saying every option is open. I am not saying the BJP or the Trinamool. Every option that meets these criteria is open.