{Arun Jaitley**}
As the General Elections 2014 comes to a close, the logical expectation is that the Congress Party will be reduced to a double digit. The question that arises is – Why has this happened ? How will the Congress Party itself react to its lowest ever figure in history.
Electoral defeats are a part of the natural process. A party must show graciousness in defeat and be ready to learn from the causes of the defeat. It should go back to its basics , strengthen the organization and try to throw up the most acceptable leadership. But will the Congress Party ever do that?
The tragedy of the Congress Party is that it has converted itself into a non-ideological crowd around a family. Its reaction to a double digit figure can only be expected. I do not believe that it will have any role in government formation. It has mandate to sit only in the Opposition and should gracefully accept that position. The three principal causes of the Congress Party’s defeat would be its mismanagement of the economy, its image of encouraging corruption and failure of its leadership.
Its traditional managers of the economy comprised of those with liberal attitudes. Mrs.Sonia Gandhi’s preference for a European socialism coupled with the domination of the NAC agenda took the party on a path of confusion. Its inability to stand up and prevent the 2-G spectrum scam, the coal-block allocations, the Commonwealth Games scam gave to it an image that it had completely compromised on probity. Corruption along with lack of policy, stability in policy, disturbed the investment environment in the country. The mood of economic gloom that was set in was predominantly because of these factors. The weakening of the institution of Prime Minister contributed to disillusionment with the leadership. No country can govern itself if the office of the Prime Minister has diminished and its authority diluted. The consequences of a parallel extra constitutional structure in our system were obviously felt.
I have always believed that indefinite continuation of a dynasty as a mode of leadership selection can be counter-productive for a party. The strength of a party is only as much as the acceptability of that generation of the dynasty. Rahul Gandhi’s leadership failed to inspire both the nation and the Congressmen. A dynastic party will never accept that. It will at best consider that if one member of the dynasty has failed to deliver, dependence should be made on another member of the dynasty. We did see this happening during the Lok Sabha polls.
I do not expect the Congress Party to change even slightly its mode of functioning if it is reduced to two digits. It will at best appoint an AK Antony Committee to review the failures of the Party in the poll which in turn will come with a report when everyone has forgotten about the defeat.
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**Arun Jaitley
