Tags:
Journalism of Courage
On the eve of its three-day national conclave in Raipur, which is expected to set the tone for the party for coming electoral battles, including 2024, the Congress Thursday found itself again facing the twin challenges it has been trying to overcome for the last eight years.
The first was the dramatic deplaning and detention of its media department head Pawan Khera, and the second was the exit of C R Kesavan, the great-grandson of late Congress stalwart C Rajagopalchari.
Ever since its rout in 2014, the Congress has found itself at the receiving end of the BJP’s prowess at narrative-setting and political spin, as well as facing intermittent exits by its leaders. As the senior leadership assembles at Raipur for the AICC plenary, both the issues are again knocking at the door.
While Khera’s detention by the Assam Police, over remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, garnered much attention, the exit of Kesavan, a national media panelist of the Congress, went largely unnoticed.
Announcing that he was leaving the party, Kesavan said: “I am truly sad to say that, for a while now, I have not seen any vestiges of the values that made me work for the party with dedication for over two decades. I can no longer with good conscience say that I concur with what the party presently symbolises, stands for, or seeks to propagate.”
The Congress denounced the action against Khera as another attempt by the BJP to derail its plenary after the Enforcement Directorate raids on top party leaders in Chhattisgarh. The party said the BJP was again playing mischief and misreading remarks like it had done in the case of comments such as “chaiwala” and “neech aadmi” by Congress leaders.
However, the party would have heaved a sigh of relief that its quick-thinking in approaching the Supreme Court had helped it score an early hit this time, with interim bail for Khera. The hope is that the issue will subside, and not overshadow the Raipur session.
The party, though, is still to figure out the topmost item on its agenda: whether to hold elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) or not. Though elections would send just the message the party wants to after its presidential polls, there is palpable anxiety about the resultant divisions leaving the party further bruised.
The Steering Committee (erstwhile CWC) is to meet Friday morning to take a final decision. “We are ready for elections. Every arrangement has been made. If the decision is in favour of elections, then there will be elections,” the party’s communications head, Jairam Ramesh, said.
CWC member P Chidambaram has already demanded elections and infusion of fresh blood into the top decision-making body.
A section of the leaders said Rahul is in favour of elections and that the possibility of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contesting in such a case cannot be ruled out. An amendment might be proposed to reserve a permanent seat in the CWC for former party presidents and ex-prime ministers – thus making Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Manmohan Singh shoo-ins.
On the issue of Opposition unity, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge set the tone at a recent poll meeting in Nagaland, where he said that the party was in talks with other parties but also that an alliance “led by the Congress” will come to power in 2024. Since then, Rahul and the Trinamool Congress have made open barbs at each other.
The political resolution to be passed at the plenary is expected to be along the lines Kharge talked about – Opposition unity but with the Congress as the central pole. Party leaders said that this is the stand, with the full realisation that K C Chandrashekar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, apart from Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, may not be amenable.
On Thursday, Jairam Ramesh again hit out at the TMC. Without taking its name, he said only one Opposition party had not supported the demand in Parliament for a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the Adani affair. “If an alliance is formed, all the constituents must raise their voice against the Prime Minister’s policies and intent,” he said.
On Khera’s arrest, Ramesh said the BJP is “rattled” by the success of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and is indulging in politics of “vendetta and intimidation” to derail the plenary session. The ED raids against Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh and the arrest of Khera were all part of “the politics of harassment”, he said.
Rahul’s Yatra is expected to enjoy a prominent place at the plenary, with leaders showering praises for him for the trek as well as for scaling up the party’s attack over the Adani issue.
As for organisational reforms, the other item on the agenda, the Congress is expected to amend its Constitution to allow up to 50% reservation for SC/ ST/ OBC/ minorities and women at all levels, including in the CWC. Out of the 50 per cent, 25 percent would be for SC and STs. Overall, there will be 50 per cent reservation for leaders below the age of 50, popularly known as the “50 under 50” formula in the Congress.
The first day of the conclave on Friday will see the leadership take a call on elections to the CWC and finalise resolutions on six topics — including political and economic — to be discussed during the open session on Saturday and Sunday, which will be attended by nearly 15,000 delegates from across the country.
