24 5 august 2019

the way forward would be to entrust a group of people with the

task of beginning the search for a new president. I have empow-

ered them to do so and committed my full support to this process

and a smooth transition.”

The “process” has not taken off and there is no transition yet.

Rahul Gandhi has gone away to foreign lands and no one can

claim to know when he would be back. And, in his absence, the

“process” remains stalled.

After initial signs of an imminent meltdown, Congress leaders

across the country seem to have recovered their breath; factional

equations stand, more or less, frozen, without anyone attempting

to start a serious street fight. Except in Goa, no large-scale deser-

tions have taken place. The JD(S)-Congress coalition in Karna-

taka had to collapse, with or without Rahul Gandhi at the helm of

affairs in the Congress. A chilling realisation is taking place: Rahul

Gandhi is not being particularly missed.

Yet the Congress leaders are reluctant to cross the Rubicon.

A

nY ATTEmpT To make sense of why the Congress

finds itself in such a state of utter lack of imagination and

initiative has to necessarily begin with an understand-

ing of the nature of Sonia Gandhi’s presidential innings. The very

fact that she remained the president–and, a very controlling and a

very commanding boss at that—for 19 long years has inevitably

shaped the Congress and its political reflexes and impulses, not

just its organisational culture but also its self-image.

most serious students of political history are in general agree-

ment that the personality of the person at the top does end up

defining an organisation’s élan and its collective behaviour. And,

historians often trace a leader’s failures and accomplishments

to the strengths and weaknesses of his/her personality—their

anxieties, the nature of childhood experience, the content and cir-

cumstances of adolescent socialisation, the inner moral struggles

in adult life, the spiritual scars acquired in public life, etcetera.

Ironically, so little is known about Sonia Gandhi’s psychologi-

cal profile; yet this very personality has left its imprint on the Con-

gress’ organisational abilities and capacities.

much before Sonia Gandhi got ensconced in the Congress

presidential gaddi on march 14th, 1998, it was commonly sug-

gested by her myth-makers that she had had an excellent political

education. on the face of it, it was an easy assumption to make and

concede. After all, she was the daughter-in-law of one of the most

successful political leaders in independent India; what could be a

better classroom than Indira Gandhi’s dining table; and, she had

a ringside view of how in and out of power Indira Gandhi got

the better of her political detractors and adversaries. A unique

learning experience.

It also needs to be remembered that Sonia Gandhi became

Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law because she had fallen in love

with the handsome and charming Rajiv Gandhi. He was a

professional pilot. He was demonstratively ‘not in politics’ and

was uncontaminated by the demands of ‘dirty politics’. ‘politics’

was what Sanjay did. not Rajiv.

cover

Story

t has been more than two months

since Rahul Gandhi announced to the

whole wide world, at a meeting of the

Congress Working Committee, that he

was walking away from his 18-month-

old job as the president of the Indian

national Congress. no one was sure

what he meant. Then, on July 6th, he

put out a public statement, asserting

that the party must find itself a new

president. not only that, Rahul Gandhi

was categorical that the search for a

new president must take place outside

the Gandhi Family. Easier said than

done. Delhi without the Qutab minar!

Agra without the Taj mahal!

In his July 6th statement, the

Congress president-“resignate” had

disclosed that “Immediately after re-

signing, I suggested to my colleagues in

the Congress Working Committee that

I