Managing change in the Congress party
After years of dithering, some attempts are being made to reinvent the Congress, giving it a younger leadership profile. As in any corporate body, restructuring can be a painful process, but it needs to be done from time to time to remain competitive and relevant. The problem within the Congress is not that it is doing it now but that it took so long for it to end the inertia.
Those who are not willing to be part of the change can take the freeway to exit; that appears to be the message of Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, while stamping their authority. Restructuring would necessarily mean chopping the deadwood and letting fresh talent and ideas bloom. That should be fine if the larger goal of robust management change is properly handled, so as to infuse energy to retain and expand its political space. Unfortunately, the way they are going about it in some states is creating imbalances and ruptures, leading to a lot of heartburn.
Lateral entry of talent ought to be welcomed, but giving them prime positions without a thorough assessment of their leadership skills and adequate cooling period could boomerang as it has in Punjab. Remember, celebrated strategist Prashant Kishor was a lateral entrant in the JD(U) with a senior position, but could not jell with its leadership matrix and was eventually expelled. Former JNU students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar has just been inducted and the Gandhis appear to be in a hurry to give him an important organisational slot in Bihar.
It could trigger dissent within the party’s state unit and put him on a collision course with the RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, the bigger opposition ally in the state, who is said to despise both Kanhaiya Kumar and Prashant Kishor. But the situation in Bihar is manageable unlike in Punjab, which goes to polls in just about five months. The Punjab unit is not just fractured, the party is haemorrhaging as a humiliated Amarinder Singh breaks away to carve out a new outfit. However, the setbacks must not detract the Gandhis from their goal of total revamp. A clearly defined Central leadership rejig will send an unambiguous message that they mean business.