Digvijay,Antony’scomments reflect dissidence within Congress

Saswat Panigrahi

Both BJP and various right-leaning political commentators have been outlining Rahul Gandhi’s chronic aversion to take responsibility on various occasions. Now, Congress’s very own Digvijay Singh has coincided with the very fact publicly and put the party in a tight spot.

“If the main cheerleader of the Congress is casting doubts on Rahul’s ability, isn’t it a poor reflection on both the cheerleader and the main leader,” said BJP leader Nalin Kohli.

In politics, a leader is the one who leads. If the number-2 leader of theCongress can’t lead, he has no right to be in the business of politics.

Rahul Gandhi has failed to add any value to the Congress. His high-handedness which hides behind the bubble of ‘greater democracy’ has done serious damage to the Congress.

At the time when Congress is fighting for its survival, party veteran AK Antony has also hurled another political bombshell.

Touching the raw ‘secular nerve’ of his own party, Antony said there has been erosion in people’s confidence in party’s ‘secular commitment.’

“There appears to be doubts in the minds of people that while professing and practising secularism, the Congress has some slants… that all sections of people do not receive equal justice,” Antony said speaking at a party function in Thiruvananthapuram.

“This doubt is created by party’s proximity to minority vote bank. Hence, some sections of society have an impression that the party is inclined to certain communities and doubts Congress’s promise of equal justice for everyone,” he said.

The statement is very significant because it came from the senior most leader of the Congress who has been entrusted with the task of analysing party’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election.

The fact of the matter is that Congress has thrown its so-called agenda of secularism from the window and has been indulging in wild minority appeasement. This is a point raised by the BJP, outlined by various right-wing commentators and accepted by a large chunk of voters during the last Lok Sabha election.

Antony reiterated the same point. This is a straight from the heart statement from a veteran leader, and he deserves kudos for this.

Though, the Congress has tried to downplay Antony’s statement by calling it ‘Kerala-centric’, the party is caught in a trap where it has officially refrained from endorsing or criticising the very statement.

If Congress wants to survive in India’s political cosmos, it will have to do two things. One, the grand old party should dump the Dynasty. Second, it should stay away from communal politics. But, the Congress had not and will not start working on any of the two points.