Congress' alternative legacy

He is one of the most senior members of the Congress. And yet, he periodically lands himself and his party in thought controversy, suggesting the Congress' search to find its ideological self is ongoing and it continues.

- ADITI PHADNIS

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and current Rajya Sabha member (his term ends later this year) Digvijaya Singh's praise for the command-control-reward structure in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is once again roiling the waters in the Congress.

Attaching a picture of a young Narendra Modi sitting on the floor at the feet of BJP patriarch L K Advani, Mr Singh observed in a social media post that it was "quite impressive" that "the BJP-RSS allow grassroots workers to grow within the organisation to top posts like chief minister and prime minister".

In another post pulled up and cited by enthusiastic BJP supporters, he is said to have noted, addressing party leader Rahul Gandhi directly: "Like @ECISVEEP needs reforms, so does Indian National Congress... we need more pragmatic decentralised functioning".

Some party members say the real question he is asking is: Why can't the Congress be more like the BJP? Before the 2018 state Assembly election, he launched a Narmada Parikrama on foot. Ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, wearing saffron robes he did prayers and rituals at the Pitambara Peeth in Datia. Before that he walked in a 35-km-long Kanwaryatra, starting in Gwarighat and culminating in Kailash Dham in Jabalpur. More than 100,000 people took part in the yatra, and Mr Singh was seen walking barefoot and briefly shouldering a kanwar.