Once again the grand old party-Congress is in tatters. If Rajasthan’s political crisis and a central leadership vacuum were not disasters enough to be faced with, the grand old party now stares at the prospect of a potential internal feud, between the Sonia Gandhi-loyalist old guard, and her son- Rahul’s youthful lot. The indication of the same rift brewing within the party’s ranks was given with news breaking out of the Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP’s meet that a heated exchange had taken place.
While the elder lot, comprising of the likes of Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram kept their ‘reformative’ suggestions rather vague, Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Satav went rather blunt on the Congress’ current political situation. Reportedly, newly-elected Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Satav said, introspection should begin at home. “Introspect by all means…. but how did we come to 44…that should also be looked into. We were 200-plus in 2009. You are all saying this (need to introspect) now. You were all ministers then. Frankly, it should also be looked into where you failed. You have to introspect from the UPA II period,” an MP quoted Satav as having said during the virtual meeting.
As soon as Satav courageously completed his remarks, the Congress’ old guard had its knives drawn out, and for how dare someone question Sonia Gandhi and her minions? A suggestion to get the Congress to introspect upon its faults from the UPA II era saw at least four senior leaders of the party get irritated, who took to social media to vent their abhorrence over such dissent.
Senior leader Anand Sharma remarked that no party disowns or discredits its legacy and that Congress leaders and workers must be proud of the legacy of UPA and former PM Manmohan Singh.“Congressmen must be proud of the UPA’s legacy. No party disowns or discredits its legacy. Nobody expects the BJP to be charitable and give us credit but our own should respect and not forget,” he added in a series of tweets.
Congressmen must be proud of UPA’s legacy. No party disowns or discredits it’s legacy. Nobody expects the BJP to be charitable and give us credit but our own should respect and not forget. (11/11)
— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) August 1, 2020
Manish Tewari told the Indian Express that those who are unable to see the good from UPA-II must take to re-educating themselves. On Twitter, the senior leader said, “BJP was out of power for 10 years 2004-14. Not once did they ever blame Vajpayee or his Government for their then predicaments. In Congress, unfortunately, some ill-informed would rather take swipes at Dr Manmohan Singh led UPA govt than fight NDA/BJP. When unity is required, they divide.”
BJP was out of Power for 10 yrs 2004-14. Not once did they ever blame Vajpayee or his Govt for their then predicaments
In @INCIndia unfortunatly some ill -informed ‘s would rather take swipes at Dr. Manmohan Singh led UPA govt than fight NDA/BJP.
When unity reqd they divide.
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) August 1, 2020
To this, Milind Deora considered a rather sane voice from the Congress, surprisingly voiced his support for the online hounding of an MP who voiced his dissent against the party’s old guard.
Well said, Manish.
When demitting office in 2014, Dr Manmohan Singh said, “history will be kinder to me”.
Could he have ever imagined that some from his own party would dismiss his years of service to the nation & seek to destroy his legacy – that, too, in his presence? https://t.co/HQyihXkFvk
— Milind Deora मिलिंद देवरा (@milinddeora) August 1, 2020
Shashi Tharoor took to twitter to dismiss genuine grievances of one of his party colleagues, further suggesting that people like him were playing into the hands of Congress’ ideological opponents, aka – the BJP.
I agree with @ManishTewari & @milinddeora. UPA’s transformative ten years were distorted & traduced by a motivated & malicious narrative. There’s plenty to learn from our defeats & much to be done to revive @INCIndia. But not by playing into the hands of our ideological enemies. https://t.co/Ui6WUlBl3F
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 1, 2020
It seems that the grand old party do not like ‘Freedom of Expression and Speech’. Earlier, Sanjay Jha was suspended from the Congress party after he took to criticizing the party rather openly. The suspension came on the same day when Jha had criticised the Congress for its action against Sachin Pilot.
At the same Congress Rajya Sabha MPs meeting, party leaders also requested Sonia Gandhi to make her son – Rahul, the Congress President at the earliest. A narrative is carefully being carved for the imminent return of Rahul Gandhi as the party president, even as Sonia Gandhi’s stooges continuously hound those who voice their dissent internally. The news, for now, remains that Rahul Gandhi is all set to ‘arrive’ once again, even as non-Gandhi leaders of the party continue to be snubbed for having independent opinions.