SONIA GANDHI'S FALTERING INNER VOICE

Congress President Sonia Gandhi's journey has truly been pathbreaking and unique. From a happy housewife, she went on to become the iron hand that ruled the country for 10 years. She is the longest-serving president of the Congress -- A party that played a pivotal role in India's independence and subsequently ruled it for the next 50 years.

Today, the party is staring at political irrelevance. It is absent in many big states and has not been able to win a single election after 2018. Congress has also failed to keep its state governments intact. It has a non-functional party headquarter at the Centre and the decision to keep Sonia Gandhi at the helm is ad-hoc in nature. Today, Congress, the biggest Opposition party has a non-functional President because it cannot decide on its future leadership.

It would be an understatement on my part to say that despite a spirited fight against BJP, Congress performed miserably in the assembly elections. The flak has been reserved for Rahul Gandhi but none have questioned Sonia Gandhi on her continuance as a non-functional President when robust leadership and active engagement is required. None has questioned her that despite being the President, the party is being run from the office of Rahul Gandhi who resigned as the President of the party? No question has been asked of her as to what merits this decision and why is the party being run by the backdoor?

Sonia Gandhi on many occasions has reminded people that it was her inner voice or conscience which led to her refusal to become the Prime Minister in 2004. It is said that she did not appreciate the idea that her becoming the Prime Minister would divide the nation. This was not the first time she rejected the position of Prime Minister. She rejected it once before in 1991 when Congress came back to power after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. Then the reason was her children and their safety.

It was her sense of duty, subsequently, that made her take the plunge into politics in the late 1990s. In her own words, she could not see the biggest national party disintegrating as she felt it was her duty to become the unifier in chief of the Congress Party. All critical decisions in Indian politics were dictated by her inner voice or sense of duty towards the party which also nourished the Nehru Gandhi dynasty. Sonia Gandhi was rewarded for both her sense of duty and inner voice. It provided the halo of godliness and detachment towards the material world of power.

After Rahul Gandhi's abrupt decision to resign from the Congress Party Sonia Gandhi has been holding the brief. It is reasonably suspected that she is waiting for Rahul Gandhi to change his mind who may be waiting for a good opportunity to make a re-entry into the organisational fold. Therefore the question is where has her inner voice disappeared? What remains of her sense of duty towards the Congress which does not outweigh loyalty towards her son Rahul Gandhi?

Where is the humility which was witnessed when she crossed the road to walk to Ram Vilas Paswan's residence to stitch UPA1? Where is the inner voice which was in tune with the needs of the Congress Party and not just the love for her son? Her continuance at the top has deprived the Congress Party from having a brush with a non-Gandhi at the top. Her continuance at the top is seen as a mother waiting for her son to come back and take up the reign of a political party that is gasping for life. It is during her tenure that both children have become part of the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the Congress.

One thing which should be expected of Sonia Gandhi is to at least do one honest 'Chintan Baithak' to revitalise the organisation. She is the only unifying force within the Congress Party. There is one word in Hindi that applies to Sonia Gandhi and that is 'Aankh Kee Sharm' and 'Lihaaz' because of which Congress has some semblance of function. This too is getting weakened day after day.

Today the question is irrelevant as to who becomes the president of the Congress Party in the coming months. The question is why has Sonia Gandhi failed to initiate organisational reforms or a discussion within the Congress Party when Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly failed at the helm of affairs. She has given a spirited response in recent months to the alleged callousness of the Modi government but under her tenure, Congress has been reduced to a clapping boy at a party. Sonia Gandhi in her last term as the Congress has failed the party.

She is increasingly being perceived as a status quo politician. The unifier in chief must fall back on her inner voice, marshal strength for one last time, feel her deep sense of duty towards the Congress Party and then step down from the position of the Congress President.

More than the Gandhis, a rejuvenated Congress is required by the Opposition in India. So whoever occupies the top position, (even if it is Rahul), Sonia Gandhi must vacate the position because her being there is adding to the inertia which otherwise would have opened venues for a vibrant discussion and contest within the Congress Party.

by sanjeeva