NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi’s elevation to the Congress president’s post has been in the works for long. Well, it may happen after Diwali, reveals Sachin Pilot, a close associate of the Congress vice-president.
Pilot who was handpicked to lead the Congress in Rajasthan by Rahul, told The New Indian Express: “Time is ripe. The EC (Election Commission) deadline to complete the organisational elections is upon us — it’s the most logical thing to happen now.’’
Besides, “it is the desire of all Congress party members and workers that he leads us from the front,’’ Pilot added, delivering a typical Congress line. It seems Rahul’s desire is to be ‘elected’ Congress president by the office-bearers and the workers of the party and not just named as his mother Sonia Gandhi’s successor by the party boss or the top brass.
How far that would go to deflect criticism of dynastic rule within the Congress is not known, but like all other Congressmen, Pilot ‘strongly feels’ someone’s “name should neither be an advantage nor disadvantage in politics.’’
A dynast himself, Pilot (the son of late Union minister and Congress heavyweight Rajesh Pilot) went on to justify the Congress culture of choosing a Gandhi to lead the party, with the argument that “in the end a person’s hard work, sensitivities, acumen and ideological position’’ is what sustains him or her in politics, not family identity. But “a family name should not be held against a person’’.
“People who talk about dynasty in politics have enough political families within their organisation and they’ve no qualms about associating with dynastic parties when it suits them politically,’’ Pilot said, hinting at the Thackerays of the Shiv Sena, the Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Patnaiks of Odisha.
But “what’s equally important’’, Pilot claimed, the Congress "continues to be a vibrant political platform’’ which ‘’anybody can join, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, gender, social background or economic status, and find a voice. There’s no discrimination.’’
But that takes away the fact that the Congress in 2017 is a far cry from 1885 — or what it was before the 1967 and 1977 split — an umbrella organisation where even Gandhiji had to fight it out with Subhash Chandra Bose to have his way, a former top Congress leader told The New Indian Express.
Rahul Gandhi’s elevation more of a formality
Pilot is not the first Congress leader to talk about Rahul’s expected elevation. He is, perhaps, the first one to give it a concrete time frame. An AICC (All India Congress Committee) session to complete the procedure is also expected around that time, he said.
With Sonia’s health not permitting travel or a taxing schedule, Rahul has been shouldering most of her party work, from decision-making to campaigning. So, the elevation is more of a formality than anything else. While Rahul will not sideline the old guard, his elevation would also not bring about Sonia’s immediate exit from active politics. “Experience will continue to be the guiding light of the Congress party — it would be a mix,” is how Pilot put it.
Don’t come to Amethi now: Officials
The district administration in Amethi has asked Congress vice-president and local MP Rahul Gandhi to put off his October 4 visit to the constituency. The officials have reportedly cited the administration’s inability to provide adequate security during the festive season as the reason.
Party veterans VS young blood
Asked if the time had come for a generational change in the Congress and for the old to make way for the young, the Rajasthan Congress chief in a PTI interview said, "It is not a question of making way; it is a question of working together”.
The “cut-off date” system did not work in politics, he added.
Unlike the BJP, which he claimed “humiliates” its elders, the Congress uses their wisdom and moves together, he said.
“The BJP’s margdarshak mandal has become the biggest travesty of time. We don’t humiliate elders like (they do) in the BJP. I believe we should have a good mix between the old and the new while one must keep changing,” he said.
In the Congress, he held, the new generation comes in, with the old lending their support to it. He favoured a “balanced approach” and claimed the Congress had maintained this as part of its history and
tradition.
Pilot also hit out at the BJP, saying that a particular ideology should not be thrust upon others and there should not be any hatred in politics.
“One should have competitors and not enemies in politics and we must respect that basic tenet of democracy," he said.
(With PTI inputs)