Do the Gandhis love the Congress? Answer is “NO”. They need a party to come to power and rule. They can harm, split and even destroy the Congress if the situation arises.
Look at the below facts.
Lets analyze how many times the Gandhis have split Congress and compare with BJP.
BJP and its earlier avatar, Jana Sangh have not split even once where as Congress underwent many. The splits were not due to any ideological reason, but to cement the Gandhi’s hold on power. All the splits progressively weakened the Party.
Look at the list below.
- First Split (1969): The first major split occurred in 1969 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced opposition within the party, primarily from senior leaders like Morarji Desai and others. The split was primarily over issues of leadership and ideological differences. This split led to the formation of two factions: the Congress (O) led by Morarji Desai and the Congress (R) led by Indira Gandhi.
- Second Split (1978): After her electoral victory in 1971, Indira Gandhi faced increasing dissent within her party, especially from leaders who questioned her leadership style and policies. The split in 1978 was related to issues like her government’s decision to impose the Emergency in 1975, centralization of power, and alleged authoritarianism. The dissenters formed a breakaway group known as the Congress for Democracy (CFD), which later joined the Janata Party.
- Third Split (1986): In 1986, the Congress Party faced another major split when several prominent leaders, including V.P. Singh, Arun Nehru, and Arif Mohammad Khan, broke away from the party. This split was largely due to differences over the Bofors scandal and allegations of corruption within the government. V.P. Singh later formed the Janata Dal and became the Prime Minister.
- Fourth Split (1999): In 1999, Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar broke away from the Congress Party to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). This split was related to differences over Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and her leadership of the party. It resulted in the formation of a new political entity in Maharashtra and some other states.
- Fifth Split (2016): Although not a formal split, there have been ongoing internal dissent and factionalism within the Congress Party, particularly at the state level. This has led to several leaders leaving the party or forming their own factions due to differences in leadership and local issues.
Lets analyze the prominent and capable leaders were booted out in recent past just because they were more capable than the Gandhis and posed a threat to them but were indispensable to the party.
- Madhavrao Sindhia, Jitendra Prasada and Sharad Pawar contestsed aginst Sonia Gandhi in 1998 elections for the President of the party. Madhavrao Sindhia died in a car accident, Jitendra Prasada died in a heart attack and Sharad Pawar left and formed his own party.
- Sitaram Kesari was stripped off his dhoti by the party workers for not giving his way to Sonia Gandhi to become the party president.
- Pranab Mukherjee was made the President (and thereby removed from active politics) to pave way for Rahul Gandhi as the top leader of Congress. But that backfired on Congress as the party did not a leader of the stature to match Modiji.
- All leaders in G23 were sidelined as they questioned Sonia and Rahul. Many of the leaders were veteran and capable leaders. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Shashi Tharoor to name a few.
- Jyotiraditya Scindhia was forced to join BJP as he was becoming a threat to Priyanka Gandhi who wanted to choose MP as her turf after badly failing in UP.
- Himanta Biswa Sharma proved to a threat to Rahul Gandhi’s stature. He left Congress and he wiped out Congress entirely from NE.
Lets analyze a few incidents the Gandhis gave away ground to the rivals of Congress Party to keep their hold on the party?
- Aam Admi Party: The Gandhis removed Capt. Amrinder Singh who was almost sure of winning elections just 2 months before the elections by deputing mercurial Sidhu as the state chief. The political drama resulted to the loss of face of Congress and the party was decimated. The Gandhis also transferred their votes to AAP in Delhi to help them win. Why did they do so? The Gandhis historically had relied on Communists for support (the never trusted the Congress people). And after 2009 when the Communists became weak they needed another party to fill in for them and created the AAP.
- DMK in Tamil Nadu: Indira Gandhi needed help from DMK to stay in power after 1969 split. She tied hands with DMK and in the deal let DMK gorw in Tamil Nadu at the expense of Congress.
So, in nutshell, the Gandhis never bothered for the wellbeing of the Party. They used the party as a means to grab power as India is a Parliamentary democracy.
What will happen after the Gandhis are kicked out of Congress?
- A democratic and nationalist Congress will rise.
- Capable, dedicated and non-selfish leaders will be allowed to grow.
- The capable leaders will choose and groom talent.
- The Congress Party will not split again (just like BJP). The only reason Congress party had split so many times is the selfish, insecure and corrupt dynasty.
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