Pitting leader against leader is Congress democracy
Appointment of co-ordinators to share work of AICC functionaries during elections in states weakens the position of AICC general secretaries and state in-charges creating an atmosphere of insecurity.
By Aarthi Ramachandran, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Mr Rahul Gandhi might bemoan the lack of ���internal democracy��� in the Congress, but here���s proof that the more things change in the Congress the more they remain the same.
As part of its on-going organisational shake-up ahead of state elections in 2008, followed by the general elections in 2009, the Congress has created a new rung of leaders called ���co-ordinators��� who will share the work load of senior AICC functionaries looking after states.
This group, which has a mix of leaders consisting of old hands such as Vayalar Ravi and Janardhan Poojary and comparatively newer faces such as Rajiv Shukla, is set to bring more ���manpower��� into the election campaigns, according to the party���s official spin. But, while it does that, it also weakens the position of AICC general secretaries and state in-charges creating an atmosphere of insecurity that cannot help a team gearing up for a difficult Lok Sabha contest.
���Just like a TV channel, we are also getting the party ready for the Lok Sabha elections through this innovative step,��� said one general secretary who now has ���additional help���. Others were less amused, ���We will have to go through the Oxford dictionary to know what it (co-ordinator) means,��� said another. While, yet others were pointing out that this is really the institutionalisation of a step that was followed during the Gujarat assembly elections, as it is being practised in the on-going Karnataka campaign.
���There were different general secretaries looking after different parts of the state and they worked out a common game plan,��� a leader said. He also pointed out that a similar experiment had been tried out in 1988, under Mr Rajiv Gandhi, when each state was looked after by one general secretary and one minister.
Though the Congress might have overdone itself during the Gujarat campaign in terms of involvement of senior leaders from the centre, it did not really show in the results. In Karnataka, where the Congress has deputed a wizened lot, comprising Mr Digvijay Singh, Mr Ravi and others, to help out the general secretary in-charge, Prithviraj Chavan, the strategy has definitely not made the ticket distribution process smoother or less bitter.
But the weighing of pros and cons does not indicate if this is a small but significant development as much as saying it has taken the Congress in the same direction that Mr Gandhi has found problematic. The next Nehru-Gandhi successor has repeatedly questioned why no political party in India, including his own, has internal democracy. By concentrating final power in the hands of the high command ��� for this is what pitting one senior leader against another effectively does ��� the new appointments have made Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her coterie even more powerful.
Thus the Congress might talk of an ���organisational revamp��� and even spend hours discussing meaningful changes within its ���group on future challenges���, which has Mr Gandhi as one of its members, but it is yet to acquire a new mindset which can effect real and lasting transformation.
As part of its on-going organisational shake-up ahead of state elections in 2008, followed by the general elections in 2009, the Congress has created a new rung of leaders called ���co-ordinators��� who will share the work load of senior AICC functionaries looking after states.
This group, which has a mix of leaders consisting of old hands such as Vayalar Ravi and Janardhan Poojary and comparatively newer faces such as Rajiv Shukla, is set to bring more ���manpower��� into the election campaigns, according to the party���s official spin. But, while it does that, it also weakens the position of AICC general secretaries and state in-charges creating an atmosphere of insecurity that cannot help a team gearing up for a difficult Lok Sabha contest.
���Just like a TV channel, we are also getting the party ready for the Lok Sabha elections through this innovative step,��� said one general secretary who now has ���additional help���. Others were less amused, ���We will have to go through the Oxford dictionary to know what it (co-ordinator) means,��� said another. While, yet others were pointing out that this is really the institutionalisation of a step that was followed during the Gujarat assembly elections, as it is being practised in the on-going Karnataka campaign.
���There were different general secretaries looking after different parts of the state and they worked out a common game plan,��� a leader said. He also pointed out that a similar experiment had been tried out in 1988, under Mr Rajiv Gandhi, when each state was looked after by one general secretary and one minister.
Though the Congress might have overdone itself during the Gujarat campaign in terms of involvement of senior leaders from the centre, it did not really show in the results. In Karnataka, where the Congress has deputed a wizened lot, comprising Mr Digvijay Singh, Mr Ravi and others, to help out the general secretary in-charge, Prithviraj Chavan, the strategy has definitely not made the ticket distribution process smoother or less bitter.
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But the weighing of pros and cons does not indicate if this is a small but significant development as much as saying it has taken the Congress in the same direction that Mr Gandhi has found problematic. The next Nehru-Gandhi successor has repeatedly questioned why no political party in India, including his own, has internal democracy. By concentrating final power in the hands of the high command ��� for this is what pitting one senior leader against another effectively does ��� the new appointments have made Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her coterie even more powerful.
Thus the Congress might talk of an ���organisational revamp��� and even spend hours discussing meaningful changes within its ���group on future challenges���, which has Mr Gandhi as one of its members, but it is yet to acquire a new mindset which can effect real and lasting transformation.
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