Jayanthi Natarajan letter bomb: Five lessons Congress must learn

1. Don't dismiss desertions

Every time a leader leaves the Grand Old Party, senion members of the party dismiss them as opportunists who have jumped ship. Be it Chaudhary Birender Singh, GK Vasan, Krishna Tirath and now Jayanthi Natarajan, on each one of these leaders' departure, the party had the same explanation. Now, politics is about power. The Congress should be aware that just as leaders flocked to it in the ten years it was in power, they will desert it when the party is out of power, even more so given the resounding nature of their defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent losses in the state Assembly elections. All said and done, these are the leaders a party has to depend on to win them elections or to mobilise crowds in election rallies. If an idealistic neophyte political outfit like the Aam Aadmi Party recognises the need to attract leaders who have some support on the ground, it is strange why the country's oldest political party can't understand this.  

2. Treat leaders better  

Two quotes from Jayanthi Natarajan's letter are particularly telling. "I request you to kindly let me know at least now, what wrongdoing I am alleged to have committed to be subject to such repeated humiliation," she tells the Congress president. Further lamenting that nobody in the party reached out to her, Natarajan writes, "Until Shri Vasan left, nobody even spoke to me." Now it is quite possible that as news reports suggest, Natarajan is in touch with BJP president Amit Shah or that her outburst has something to do with the CBI inquiry into one of her decisions as environment minister, in which land was diverted for a Jindal Steel and Power Ltd project. The fact that she is insinuating that she was forced to attack Narendra Modi on Snoopgate and to deny clearances to Adani's project, does indicate that she is trying to endear herself to the BJP. But even then, if her claims are true, it reflects poorly of the way Congress treats its leaders. The BJP will use every trick in the book to wean away leaders from the Congress. It is for the latter to treat prevent this from happening, by keeping their flock together  

3. BJP is dead serious about a Congress Mukt Bharat

Weakening the Congress by wooing its leaders is a key part of the BJP's mission of a Congress Mukt Bharat. The Congress' response to this cannot be "let them leave, we will rebuild the party from scratch". The Congress must recognise that Modi represents the biggest ever threat to its existence. It needs to close ranks and battle for its survival instead of working on some amorphous restructuring process. Janata chieftains Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have come together to fight Modi, but the Congress seems be missing the elephant in the room. The Congress must realise that not just its survival, but its idea of secular inclusive India is under threat with Modi at the helm.  

4. Communication breakdown

Jayanthi Natarajan can get away with her accusations because the Congress leadership just doesn't seem to communicate with the media and public on intra-party issues. The Congress president and vice-president appear to be of the opinion that a dignified silence is the best way to handle controversies. But we live in times in which judgments are fast pronounced in TV studios and on Twitter. Silence, in such a context, is seen as an admission of guilt.  

5. Take ownership of your decisions

There is nothing wrong if Rahul Gandhi forwarded the concerns of NGOs on a particular project to the environment minister. Corporate influence over government policy was visible during the UPA and it has becoming even more evident under Modi. Why should the Congress be apologetic if it denied clearance to Adani's or Vedanta's project based on the inputs given by NGOs? Instead of offering explanations that Natarajan had blocked key projects, the Congress should proudly assert that they worked to protect the rights of tribals and preserve the environment.