Nitish Kumar’s desertion of the mahagathbandhan in Bihar to form a government in alliance with the BJP is the strongest indictment yet of the Congress’ failed politics. The writing is on the wall, if the Congress cares to read. It doesn’t have a hope in hell now of leading a united Opposition front to challenge Narendra Modi in 2019.
That task will have to be handed to someone else, perhaps a coalition of regional leaders with more political savviness than shown by the mother-son duo of Sonia and Rahul. It’s time for the Gandhis to get real, whittle down their ambitions and accept that they are but small fish in a big pond.
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Hara-Kiri by Congress
It is ironic that it took a man Rahul has been rooting for for a long time to expose his weak leadership skills and dismal politics. Rahul was the one who prevailed on his mother to convince Lalu Prasad to accept Nitish as the chief ministerial candidate of the mahagathbandhan in the fateful 2015 Bihar assembly poll. But after the alliance shocked the BJP with its sweeping victory, which netted the Congress its highest tally in Bihar over two decades, Rahul switched off and handed the state over to trusted aide CP Joshi.
The choice surprised everyone. Joshi’s lack of understanding of Bihar politics and his brusque mannerisms made him an unlikely candidate to hold a rocky coalition together. Had Rahul possessed a better political nose, he would have realised that trouble was brewing for the mahagathbandhan the day the results were declared and Lalu won more seats than Nitish.
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Nitish Jolts the Congress
- After the
victory of alliance in 2015, Rahul had handed Bihar over to trusted aide CP
Joshi
- Joshi’s lack
of understanding of Bihar politics and brusque mannerisms made it difficult
to hold the coalition together
- Unlike other
turncoats that joined BJP, Nitish has been gentlemanly enough not to lash out
at Rahul
- Though it’s
clear who he’s pointing at by referring to Congress’ ‘reactive politics’
- The ball is
in Congress’ court – it can still bring the Opposition together by playing second
fiddle to regional parties
Congress’ Reactive Politics to be Blamed?
Although the Bihar chief minister showed Rahul the courtesy of calling on him before he quit, it is clear that the Congress vice-president failed to read Nitish’s lips. He naively presumed that the JD(U) boss would not dump the mahagathbandhan for an alliance with Modi’s BJP, only to find that Nitish did precisely that two days later.
Unlike Congress turncoats like Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam and Rita Bahuguna Joshi in UP, who were critical of Rahul as they joined the BJP on the eve of assembly polls in their states, Nitish has been gentlemanly enough to not lash out at the man who had been his main backer till now.
But it is clear who he’s pointing at from his bitter words about the Congress being responsible for “the mess in the Opposition”, its “reactive’’ politics and its failure to craft an alternative narrative to take on the BJP.
Just like the BJP has morphed from the benign, accommodative party led by the Vajpayee-Advani duo into a ruthless electoral machine with ambitions of ruling from Kashmir to Kanyakumari (Amit Shah’s famous words when he first took over as BJP president in the summer of 2014), the Congress too has changed since Sonia led it to a surprise victory to form a government in 2004.
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Obstacle to Unified Opposition
Over the past few years, Sonia has slowly but surely withdrawn her quiet but capable presence because of failing health and a burning desire to install her son as Congress chief.
Sonia’s native shrewdness made up for her lack of political understanding and through her political secretary, Ahmed Patel, who is known for his diplomatic and outreach skills, she managed to keep the UPA going for ten years.
But Rahul has the pride of a Gandhi and, perhaps like his late father, he also believes in the family’s perceived importance in the political scheme of things.
Although he has painted himself as a fakir (note the on and off beard) and someone not interested in power, he has undoubtedly emerged as the biggest obstacle to a unified Opposition because of the uncertainty on the leadership question.
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Nitish Wanted a Larger Role
It is no secret that Nitish wanted more space for himself in an anti-Modi coalition so that he would emerge as the PM challenger in 2019. And he expected the Congress under Rahul to persuade regional chieftains like Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav and most specially, Lalu Yadav, to accept him.
But Rahul showed no inclination to plead Nitish’s case. Nor, frankly, does he have the stature to prevail on hard-as-nails regional bosses like the ones mentioned above. Sonia may have done it in her own quiet way. She has managed to establish a good rapport with all of them over ten years as the UPA boss.
Not Rahul. He has kept himself aloof from Opposition politics and failed to earn the respect of others, although he has had on-and-off meetings with barons like Sharad Pawar and Mamata.
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Ball is in Congress’ Court
Now that Nitish has walked over to the other side, Opposition unity seems to be in shambles, leaving the field wide open for the BJP to continue its single-minded pursuit of a second term in power. The ball is in the Congress’ court. It can lower its profile and play second fiddle to more capable regional bosses.
A unified Opposition front may – and there is a big question mark – emerge in such a scenario. Or the Congress can continue with its ostrich-like refusal to come to terms with its political failures and hand Modi another term on a platter.
(The writer is a Delhi-based senior journalist. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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