"Lekin ab zulm ki miyaad ke din thoden hain
Ik zara sabr, ke fariyaad ke din thoden hain
(Now the days of torment are not much; the days of our patience will also pass away soon)
What is unpredictable is how the resulting uncertainty will affect the future trends. One of the biggest pitfalls is we do not always hear or understand the nuance.
The ray of hope is the faceless Congress worker. He or she is the greatest agent of change but he is tutored to be silent ... albeit in most cases. In other words, we may not blame the dynasty alone. It may be wise to say that the DYNASTY has not been nasty in that sense and has ruled over the party actually by popular consent from the rank and file.
In 2025 the Congress party is in severe test. The leadership continues to look "suspiciously" at those who think freely and fearlessly. The likes of Jyotiraditya Scindia has quit the party and is now a Minister in the Modi government. The fact of the matter is Flattery thrives in this grand old party.
Hence Mallkarjun Kharge is the Dalit face and also the AICC president but the real power is with the family and especially Rahul Gandhi. His mother Sonia Gandhi is the queen and his sister is in the news from time to time mostly on wrong reasons. Even for Ahmedabad, the talk is more about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra getting some additional roles.
The mother-son-daughter troika and to an extent her son-in-law Robert Vadra run the show.
One of the political stars in Congress said -- "Change is the essence of life. We have to change; otherwise the people will change us". Small wonder that rhetoric gets repeated in new vocabulary.
In the past Rahul Gandhi himself had said -
- "I want to reduce the distance between people and politicians". But he has stalled the process of change. He may not admit but the fact is Rahul has only encouraged personalised political culture around him.
And here only personal loyalty and sycophancy thrives. These two ultimately add up another factor -- the corruption. These have sown the seeds of mushroom growth of leaders at different levels but most often these are devoid of hard work. This has only vitiated the atmosphere within the party.
It is true a new era has set in Indian politics and the Congress is not ready for this.
Several leaders have been groomed and they grew into trained ministers.
The problem is that these senior-most leaders have exposure to a minister’s office, but not the field. Since the party has been kept out of power by the Modi wave for more than a decade now and these leaders are trapped in a quagmire that demand a different skillset.
The real challenge lies in seeing the bitter truth. Mirror is something no Neta likes to see objectively. The Congress leaders are worse. The challenge lies in understanding the grassroots reality and also identify the invisible hands of power brokers.
Old Congress watchers say Rajiv Gandhi talked about them but could hardly do anything to eliminate them. Sonia Gandhi had to most often trust the same kinds of leaders. Rahul Gandhi has only encouraged that culture.
If Congressmen and women continue to follow Rahul Gandhi blindly; they cannot be complaining for being out of power for so long.
The man in the street understands that Politics has ceased to serve the public. In the case of Congress, it is only worse.
Sonia Gandhi remains the uncrowned queen and Rahul the crown prince. Making Mallikarjun Kharge the party president did not help change the public perception about the party much.
In the ultimate, the Congress fortune would largely depend on whether Rahul or even the family click as vote-garnering stars. What is not being realised is that the voters of India know who is what and what is what.
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