Congress is on the verge of completing its second consecutive term in office but its ride all along had been very bumpy and difficult. While there were some external factors like global recession responsible for this, there were too many internal reasons as well. The government could have confidently marched towards the poll for a third time victory, had it put its own house in order on some simple yet important issues.
We look at 5 most important reasons, which have led the government to this situation, where it is being regularly deserted by its allies for past few months, very few parties are willing to go with it for polls and the survival of government itself is in doubt till the polls in May 2014.
Arrogance
A party is always known by its leaders. Unfortunately, today the senior leaders in Congress have developed a sort of arrogance, which was never seen in Congress before. The casual way, in which Chidambaram and Sibbal handled Anna Hazare case, the insensitive way in which Chidambaram handled Baba Ramdev case, the brazen manner in which Manish Tiwari commented on Anna Hazare etc all speak about arrogance in minds. Salman Khurshid was much arrogant in calling Arvind Kejriwal a ‘गन्दी नाली का कीड़ा’...!
The arrogance in dealing takes a dangerous turn when the same behavior is extended to the allies, on whose support the government survives. Mamata was looking for a safe exit after she was insulted repeatedly by the Congress. She chose to use the FDI pretext to part ways. DMK was terribly upset over the way congress shielded its own leaders in 2G scam, but jailed the DMK ministers. So, the DMK chose Sri Lanka issue to exit from the long standing alliance.
There is a difference between ‘being brave’ and ‘being arrogant’. Unfortunately, for the Congress, being brave is equivalent to being arrogant. Luck has been on their side all these years, but it cannot be ever taken for granted.
Disconnect with Voters
The last two years of UPA II rule are characterized by inflation. The government appears to have almost stopped thinking about the voters. The prices of Petrol and Diesel have risen to astronomical levels. Limiting the number of Gas cylinders in a year was something very new to the Indians. The vegetable prices are soaring high. But the government is not at all bothering to check the prices. It is as though, it is none of their concern. How can they forget that these are the same people, to whom they have to go in 2014 for votes? It is stupidity on part of Congress to assume, that people will think, that the government is trying its best to control prices and these things are beyond government’s control. How will the people forgive a government which has been insensitive to their basis needs of governance?
The think tank of Congress collectively felt that under the names of ‘economic reforms’ they can push hard decisions on the people, which are actually caused due to their misappropriations, wrong actions and wrong doings…!
No check on corrupt leaders
One thing which characterized the last three years of UPA II was the regular expose of some scam or other. There have been corruption cases in almost every conceivable area of activity. It started with the Common wealth games, followed by 2G scam. The coal scam was the biggest of all, pegged at Rs. 1.86 Lakhs Crores. The latest scam to hit the government was the chopper deal with Italy. The most high profile one was that of land deals between Haryana Government, DLF and Robert Vadra.
However, what was more surprising was that literally there was no any action initiated against any Congress leader for any corruption charge against him. The congress leadership turned a blind eye in all cases and their spokesperson vehemently denied all charges on various TV channels. In some cases, like Salman Khurshid, he was elevated in rank after the charges were proved against him. This showed a kind of ‘don’t care’ attitude which has angered the people most. First there is corruption, and then there is no remorse for doing corruption.
Overconfidence
The UPA II is blessed with one silver lining that the opposition was in absolute disarray throughout the period. At no single point, the entire opposition projected a united face to cause any harm to this government. This resulted in some sort of overconfidence in Congress leadership. They started believing that they are invincible and only god can stop them. They started almost challenging the opposition whenever they raised their voices, to bring a no-confidence motion. Incidentally, the opposition was never so much disunited in history, as it is now. Due to the increased power of regional forces, all of them have started stressing and forcing their importance in the national role. It is hard to defeat Mamta, Jayalalitha, Mulayam / Mayawati and Patnaik on their home turf today. At the same time, their views on national agenda are equally divergent and not in unison. This has given breather to the Congress on many issues like Presidential elections and FDI bill. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the real credit of survival of UPA II goes to the opposition.
However, as a rule of nature, an overconfident person becomes reckless and his chances of committing mistakes increase many fold. It is this overconfidence which is making Beni Prasad Verma to openly criticize Mulayam and Shinde to send CBI to Stalin’s house immediately after DMK withdrew support to UPA. The overconfidence of Congress is bound to bring them down sooner or later.
Weakening Power Centre
Even a child knows that Manmohan does anything exactly as Sonia directs him to do. He has absolutely no say in the decision making on any point of national importance. Rahul Gandhi has been elevated formally as Vice President, but everyone knows that his meetings with office bearers are more or less ‘moral class’ lectures, which do not mean anything in reality. Very soon, all the general secretaries of Congress are going to get frustrated at being led by a person who is not only incapable of leading them through decision making, but does not even understand any issues put forward to him.
Therefore, the only remaining power centre in Congress is Sonia Gandhi. She has not remained the same person she was 15 years ago, when she took over the leadership of Congress. Much water has flown under the bridge since then. She has become old, she is suffering from some disease for which she is taking treatment abroad, and her priorities are very different today than what they were some time back. Her predicament is very similar to that of Balasaheb Thakre, who had appealed to the party workers in his last Dassera address, ’to accept and adjust with Uddhav and Aditya for however they are…’
She wants to retire in peace whenever Rahul is ready to take the mantle. But that day is stretching much farther than her imagination. She seems to have been fed up with the various power struggles within the government and the Congress. This could be her last election as President of Congress.
If Manmohan is ever asked, ‘What are your 3 mistakes of your life?’ he would undoubtedly reply, ‘CWG, 2G and Sonia ji’.
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