Full speed ahead, in back gear...Congress’s old guard refuses to let go offthe past
The biggest lessons in life, they say, are learnt from the hardest fall; a black eye, a swollen knee, a bruised ego. Not for the Congress, though. On August 10, the oldest political party of India fell back on its matriarch Sonia Gandhi, all of 72 years, to steer a sinking ship through the roughest seas it has encountered on its 134 yearlong journey. The move by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to nominate Sonia as interim president did end 78 days of intense speculation and suspense. But it also raised newer, tougher ones. Does Sonia still have the credentials to revive the party which once dominated the country’s political discourse? And even more importantly, will the people repose their faith again in the Nehru Gandhi family which had given Ind ia three prime ministers.
For Sonia, who first became Congress president in 1998 and was its longest-serving chief, there are no easy answers; some 18 months ago she had handed over all responsibilities of the party to her son and heir, Rahul Gandhi, 49. Now it’s her burden to bear, again. So much for Rahul’s May 25 renunciation and insistence on a non-Gandhi party president. With Sonia back, the Congress lost a golden opportunity to shed the dynastic enterprise taint. Nearly every party leader described Sonia’s return as the “best decision in the current circumstances”. Among these leaders were Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and Mumbai leader Milind Deora who had demanded that a “young, dynamic consensus-builder” be chosen as Rahul’s successor.
This story is from the August 26, 2019 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 26, 2019 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Propaganda Files
A recent spate of Hindi films distorts facts and creates imaginary villains. Century-old propaganda cinema has always relied on this tactic
Will Hindutva Survive After 2024?
The idealogy of Hindutva faces a challenge in staying relevant
A Terrific Tragicomedy
Paul Murray's The Bee Sting is a tender and extravagant sketch of apocalypse
Trapped in a Template
In the upcoming election, more than the Congress, the future of the Gandhi family is at stake
IDEOLOGY
Public opinion will never be devoid of ideology: but we shall destroy ourselves without philosophical courage
The Many Kerala Stories
How Kerala responded to the propaganda film The Kerala Story
Movies and a Mirage
Previously portrayed as a peaceful paradise, post-1990s Kashmir in Bollywood has become politicised
Lights, Cinema, Politics
FOR eight months before the 1983 state elections in undivided Andhra Pradesh, a modified green Chevrolet van would travel non-stop, except for the occasional pit stops and food breaks, across the state.
Cut, Copy, Paste
Representation of Muslim characters in Indian cinema has been limited—they are either terrorists or glorified individuals who have no substance other than fixed ideas of patriotism
The Spectre of Eisenstein
Cinema’s real potency to harness the power of enchantment might want to militate against its use as a servile, conformist propaganda vehicle