Keenly aware of her responsibilities towards the Nehru-Gandhi legacy and the need to keep Congress intact, Sonia has helmed the party through some tough times.
Still, the current phase may well prove the most challenging. She needs to ensure Congress is up and ready for the next Lok Sabha elections due in 2024.
After having steered Congress through the UPA years, Sonia could have expected to take a back seat as heir Rahul Gandhi managed affairs of the party.
Even now, his “return” is still some 10-odd months away unless an unpredictable bounce in the party’s fortunes encourages him to change his mind.
In the meantime, it is for Sonia to lead, fending off a mighty BJP and opposition parties like Trinamool and even allies like NCP, which are in no mood to give Congress any quarter.
In 1998, incumbent Sitaram Kesri was brushed aside to allow Sonia to take charge when the party was shrinking. It is not very different now, with worse numbers in Lok Sabha.
It can be argued that the accurate decisions are indeed being taken by Team Rahul, such as inductions of leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mewani, or various organisational appointments, like that of Navjyot Sidhu.
But given the turbulence that had followed some of these decisions, it seems that Sonia’s role will be more than a holding operation.
At 74, Sonia finds herself leading a Congress that had moved more Leftwards and has embraced causes and leaders seen as “fringe” by most in the party till recently.
Rahul Gandhi asks for ‘ideological clarity’ among party members.
He also sought “ideological clarity” among party functionaries. Pointing to Punjab CM Charanjit Channi, Rahul said when he called to convey to Channi that he would replace Amarinder Singh, the latter broke down in disbelief.
Channi told Rahul that he could not believe a Dalit from a humble background was being appointed as the CM.
With that anecdote, Rahul said caste consciousness still exists and was hard to accept. Narrating other incidents he had witnessed, Rahul said he does not believe in “untouchability” and that every helpless and persecuted person, including women who face discrimination and are not being heard, are oppressed.
A CWC member said Rahul added that during the Akhlaq lynching episode, he wanted to visit the village as the crime repulsed him, but some people had other views. The Gandhi scion said any helpless person denied hearing should be supported regardless of identity.
Channi said the decision to appoint him as president was for the CWC to take and that he should not resist, a request that met with concurrence from Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and Priyanka.
Participants in the CWC said senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik gave suggestions about the party’s functioning.
AICC managers Randeep Surjewala, Jitendra Singh and Ajay, Make lashed out at G23 for holding dinners and giving press statements. The issue of organizational elections, which has polarized the party and even created a dissident bloc G23, passed off relatively peacefully.
Security situation alarming, but the government in deep slumber: Sonia at CWC meet.
It said China has not vacated the territory, nor has India recovered old positions.
While Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said the Centre was “becho becho becho (sell sell sell)” of all assets built over 70 years to hide its failures, the party slammed the BJP government for the country’s economic downslide and spiralling inflation.
It also said that India is no longer regarded as a democracy but is viewed as an “electoral autocracy”.
Accusing the BJP regime of authoritarianism, the party said the judiciary had been debilitated by not filling the vacancies. In contrast, watchdogs have been rendered toothless, media forced into submission with threats, and ordinary people and political rivals targeted through surveillance.
Congress called on all political parties to oppose the BJP regime in the interest of democracy. In the resolutions passed, Congress said the aggressive posture of China and unabated infiltrations from Pakistan have resulted in dramatic deterioration in the security of J&K.
After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the situation is “graver”, but the government seems to be “oblivious or in deep slumber”. Calling the J&K administration “incompetent”, the party said statehood was the way forward.
It also pointed to security challenges in the North East and inter-state flareups in the region. Congress said the seizure of 3,000 kgs of heroin at Gujarat’s Adani port has exposed that drug trafficking has assumed monstrous proportions under the Narendra Modi regime.
While pointing to the sliding economy and growing joblessness, Congress said the farmers’ agitation is in its 10th month, but the “arrogant” Centre has refused to engage with them while rogue BJP elements were inflicting violence on them in the massacre in Lakhimpur Kheri.
However, the party steered clear of any mention of the lynching at the Singhu border near Delhi this week.
Congress also slammed the recent home ministry amendments to empower the Border Security Force in states, calling it an attack on federalism.
