Maken-Sheila tussle: Congress's threats are both external & internal

The Congress, after being turned into a signboard in Delhi, is in a serious danger. Following the series of electoral debacles since February 2012 (the only big state the Congress has won since then is Karnataka), the Congress is not only facing a threat from parties like the BJP and AAP, but there is an equally serious threat shaping up within and that is the growing rift.

Congress's double trouble

The Congress has seen its leaders quitting the party and blaming each other in the open but after witnessing the ugly blame game between two senior leaders like Sheila Dikshit and Ajay Maken following the Delhi disaster, one feels the party has now entered a danger zone of falling apart. The silence of the indifferent Gandhis at the top is not helping things either.

The party caught in an ominous vicious cycle

The Congress has been caught in a vicious cycle and it is an ominous one for it begins and ends with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi. There is a dissent in the party about his way of functioning but yet it is only him who is seen as its ultimate resort to get over the hurdle. But when will Rahul Gandhi deliver? Time is running out for the Congress, even faster after the Sheila-Maken tussle.

Emotions, tears, aggression since Rahul Gandhi took over as the vice-president did not translate into votes and seats

Rahul Gandhi was made the vice-president in Jaipur in January 2013 and since then, a lot of emotions, tears, aggression has surfaced for public viewing but the Congress has gone on losing badly in almost all elections since then.

In Lok Sabha, its strength has been reduced to 44 while it has been swept away by the AAP's broom in Delhi completely. What then remains for the party that will complete 130 years in the coming December?

Rahul Gandhi is yet to set up a functioning team of his own. Ahmed Patel had once played an instrumental role in the Congress's functioning but now it is no more the same. A number of leaders, who are little effective to improve things for the party, continue to hold positions and conveniently hide behind Rahul Gandhi whenever there is a poll debacle.

What's Congress's purpose now?

The party is paying the prices for such a purposeless way of existing in Indian politics. It is just a matter of time before the Congress becomes a subject for the museum if the decay is not arrested now.

Why aren't the unwanted elements shown the doors?

And the only person who can arrest this Rahul Gandhi, not by targetting Narendra Modi or Arvind Kejriwal but by reducing the party's unwanted flab by means of throwing out useless elements.

It is not that Rahul Gandhi is not doing anything. He has met several Congress leaders in the past few months and also prepared a report for reforms in the party. It has called for decentralisation so that the party's grassroots become stronger and help the organisation in turn. But there is a lack of intent in executing the reforms by the top leadership itself. The lag is harming the party.

Rahul has failed to meet the task to make Congress an acceptable party again

The Congress can not really afford to come to a grinding halt and engage itself in blame games. The danger lies in the fact that the Congress is getting pushed to such extremes in the states (it is getting the third or fourth positions in a number of state polls) that it is losing relevance fast.

Congress is losing value as an ally for the anti-Modi forces for even the minorities are alienating it

From one-party domination, the Congress went into the phase of coalition but now even that is looking a distant possibility for with a steady decline facilitated by alienation of minority votes, the Congress is losing its last remaining currency, i.e., secularism. Parties like AAP and AIMIM look favourites to fill that vacuum and the Congress must perceive this threat with its heart.

But nobody looks to be bothered at the moment. May be Rahul Gandhi is planning to start afresh after the Congress loses its remaining identity.