A Non Gandhi as Congress President; Chidambaram is right, and wrong

So, P. Chidambaram thinks that Indian National Congress might elect / appoint a non Gandhi as President. This piece is an attempt to analyze the possibility of such an occurrence.

In the prevailing political situation, average Congress worker does not believe that Rahul Gandhi can lead the party out of its current morass. Forget about a victory at hustings, the worker on the street has lost faith in his ability to lead a spirited campaign which the opponents will take seriously. They squirm at the way opposition simply laughs off his attempts to deliver a game changing speech and are also tired of waiting for their prince charming to come back from his frequent absences (rumored to be vacations, possibly abroad) to take out some time to attend to the political issues.

Next rung leaders are behaving like zombies, ambling around without purpose or direction. They

Life is tough, Mom.

don’t know whom to blame for the loss in parliamentary elections, whom to give credit for the windfall in by-elections and again, whom to hold responsible for the devastating defeat in Maharashtra & Haryana assembly elections. The leadership has to be kept spotlessly clean, of any blemish; they cannot accept that they are the reason of defeat while the current situation cannot be wished away. The smart ones, especially those who can sense that the future is bleak, have already started thinking about striking on their own.

The Gandhi family though, does realize that the old & trusted methodology of getting votes by narrating bits of family history, careening in khadi sarees and displaying dimpled royal darshans to the unwashed masses before elections with some hackneyed ideas of playing competitive communalism & caste cards has lost its effectiveness. They may also have realized, though some its bleary eyed supporters have not, that changing the existing set of dimples with the new, fair & fresh ones is not going to work either. Or for that matter, the strategy of escalating the play on divides, whether on caste or religion or language is going to work anymore.

They may not have, however, realized that their traditional style of running the party from the cocoon of the palace through a select set of durbaris does not work when your middle rung is disoriented, worker is disheartened and everyone one else is ready to recite your epitaph. And no durbari would ever have the courage to show them the mirror or tell them that, “The emperor has no clothes.”

Even more importantly, the flak which is being hurled at the family is increasing day by day and the family, as usual but more so now, does not trust anyone. With sundry congressmen indulging in a corridor whispering campaign for Rahul Gandhi’s removal, no one knows where the next Brutus or Tharoor is coming from. Gandhis needs a strategy to stave off the flak & quell the fast emerging rebellion. Unfortunately, it does not have much time.

Ideally, in the current situation, if the party has to survive, it has to move with the times. It needs a leader who can lead the party out of the current psychological trough, rejuvenate the organization by giving it new purpose & direction, present new programs & policies for the new, young, modern India to connect with it better and challenge the ever rising popularity & influence of BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi & its president Amit Shah.

No member of the family seems to be fitting the role as defined above, even remotely. Obvious solution in such a scenario is a new President from outside the family, as P Chidambaram has stated.

Though he did not explain as to how it could come by, we can find two possible ways of his prophesy becoming true. First being the family deciding in order to stay away from blemish while keeping control, a time has come for it to appoint a president from one of the durbaris or the second, the unthinkable one is where a Congress leader throws his hat in the ring for organizational elections, challenging the family’s hold. Let’s look at the second possibility first.

For a leader to emerge out of this current hopeless situation and challenge the owners of the party he / she would have to first abandon what he /she has practiced as Congressman in last sixty years.

He / she would need to rediscover his / her principles, dharma or conscientiousness of doing what is right. This baggage which was unnecessary till now as it came in way of swift manoeuvres a Congressman has to normally undertake to move ahead in life now becomes important.

He / she would also have to rediscover his / her faculties of self respect and esteem, related to by now extinct bone structure called spine. Because of Darwinian evolution of survival, these unwanted feelings had to be eliminated long back as they served no purpose except induce shame & guilt and give sleepless nights by forcing contemplation of behaviour demonstrated during the course of the day. Now they would be needed.

He would have to unlearn the order of primacy of interests from Leader (read Owner), Self, Vote bank, Party, Caste, State and finally the Country and learn the new order where Country’s interest is  paramount followed by society, party and then self. This would require highest level of transformation which not many congressmen are capable of.

One important skill that would need to be unlearned can only be defined with a well known phrase. It is known as, "Hunting with the hound, running with hare and fooling both at the same time." This virtue taught the congressman the beauty of taking the middle path and reaping rewards by keeping him / her away from the glare faced by the ignorant fools who take principled stands.

What are the odds of finding such a leader in Congress? Most would agree that the answer is close to zero, even some Congress sympathisers would concur with this assessment.

With such remote possibility of such a leader emerging from Congress, P Chidambaram’s prophesy may not be fulfilled through this option.

The other possibility of family appointing or nominating a person of its choice has a better chance of happening.

All it needs is a second rung leader who has no stated purpose in life other than to serve the family, who is not popular at grass root level and owes his / her position / station in life to the Gandhis, he / she carries no potential threat of developing as a separate power centre later, can be trusted to keep the seat warm till the situation has changed to such an extent that dimples & sarees are the in vogue again, can take all the flak & blame for the failures and defeats while crediting even a squirrel’s fart to the family and most importantly, if the events play out in their own curious way, does not mind being locked in a bathroom.

Additionally, such a leader would not need to go through the painful process of developing a spine (it is not needed) or rediscovering his / her principles (no stands need to be taken) or demonstrate that the family’s interest are of prime importance to him even at the cost of national one’s.

Such a course is easy to take, it has already been done, several times.

Disclaimer: If the description conjures an image of any prominent leader or an ex Prime Minister or other ministers, it is coincidental and unintended.

Lastly, P Chidambaram may not be suitable for both the roles. He is known to be outspoken and ambitious which disqualifies him as a family nominated president.

And it is very difficult to picture him leading a revolt in Congress, leading by example, using the power of his moral authority, rejuvenating the party, connecting with the people of India. LOL is the only phrase which comes to mind.

So, in a way, P Chidambaram is right about a non Gandhi becoming a Congress president but if he is angling for this position, he is in for a disappointment. He is both right and wrong.