Scindia's Resignation from Congress Indicates Party's Unwillingness to Break out of Its Cocoon

The grand old party of Indian politics seems to be doing everything right to make itself extinct. If the plan is to die, there is no better way to kill it than the course being followed in the last 10 months or so.

After the party put up a dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections last year, Rahul Gandhi took the moral high ground and resigned from the position of party president. That was not a bad thing to do. To take responsibility as the leader of the party rejected at the hustings is the sign of a good leader. However, every move that followed, slowly but surely, led it towards decay and slow death.

The party kept waiting for the prince to change his mind but couldn't manage to persuade him to return. The Congress is not devoid of good leaders but they simply could not muster up the courage to think beyond the Gandhi family. The responsibility of leading the party was once again assigned to an ailing Sonia Gandhi, as an interim measure. And ever since, the party has been in hibernation mode, though many would argue, it seems more like a shutdown.

Take the case of how the party handled the Jyotiraditya Scindia trouble, which has been simmering for several months. Unless the Congress leadership wanted him to leave, the way it dealt with the crisis is a textbook case of how not to handle a difficult situation. This was brewing for a very long time. And Scindia gave enough warnings before he finally took the plunge. The party leadership was either hoping the black clouds will pass on their own or wanted Scindia to leave, though there seems to be no logic behind allowing him to go. For a party which has very little ground support left, why would one let go of a leader who enjoys mass support in several assembly segments of a large state such as Madhya Pradesh?

Now to suggest that Scindia is expelled for anti-party activities is expecting Indians to be kindergarten kids who will believe what is fed to them. But then such is the Congress party of today. They live in their own cocoon and see the world through their coloured glasses. This is a sad situation for a party once associated with India's freedom struggle.

Is there any hope left for the Congress? Can it pull itself up from the abyss it has plunged into? Impossible is nothing; anything can happen at anytime. One has seen enough to never say never. But at this stage, I am inclined to hazard my view – Even God cannot save the party, in the given circumstances.

Do you agree?