Exit Polls 2019: The message for Congress - Please go hibernate
The party high command, i.e., the Gandhis, must introspect. Where did they go wrong? Why do they have Sam Pitroda and Mani Shankar Aiyar? Who should emerge as alternatives to them now?
The grand old party could be in for a colossal loss when the final seats are counted on May 23. If the results of the exit polls 2019 hold, the Congress could again find itself way behind the three-digit figure.
In 2014, the party got only 44 seats in Parliament — a total so embarrassingly low that the Congress did not even qualify for the leader of Opposition in Parliament.
In the last five years, the party failed to take on the BJP in an effective, coordinated and formidable manner. In fact, the Congress was actually found hibernating in the first four years of the BJP's rule. It was only towards the fag end of the Narendra Modi government that the Congress could manage to come of its slumber. But the issues that the party chose to target the BJP on actually strengthened the ruling party.
Party president Rahul Gandhi’s amateurish 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' war cry was in fact such a dud, it now seems desirable the Congress slips back into its slumber and hibernates.
Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav has already said, “The Congress must die.”
In Yadav’s view, the party has only acted as an impediment to the creation of a political alternative.
Forget about winning elections, the Congress now stands accused of helping the BJP to walk away with victory!
This is thus the worst the party could have done for itself and it is because of this that the Congress must take to hibernation, freeing up the space for another opposition to rise.
The party high command — which means Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi — should take some rest because the country needs a break from them. That holds true even for their long-term allies.
The trio can take a cue from their very own Digvijaya Singh, who went on a padyatra, having lost Madhya Pradesh to the BJP in 2003.
Sonia has anyway taken a back seat. She can push her seat even further back and spend time giving tips to her son, if he cares to listen, on how to run a party. Priyanka can spend more time thinking over whether she wants to be just a star campaigner, whose stardom is not turning into votes, or broaden her role as a serious politician who wants to fight and win tough elections.
Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, has the maximum work at hand.
He should begin by contemplating whether he actually wants to work or not. His touch-and-go politics is not really helping his party. The 'Pappu' image is no laughing matter either because for any healthy democracy, it is important that there is a strong, formidable and seriously taken opposition in place.
If the exit polls are right, Rahul has a minimum of five more years to consider his role. He can also take holiday breaks and roam about freely, using the time to figure out where he has gone wrong. If he does go travelling, perhaps he can take the likes of Sam Pitroda and Mani Shankar Aiyar along — that helps the Congress give the country a break from unnecessary faux pas that steal the space for the main narrative.
Another person who is not yet considered 'party high command' but has expressed a strong desire to join politics is Robert Vadra. It is important he sticks to his businesses and battling the corruption charges slapped on him.
Collectively, they should all just vacate the space for others to now speak because quite clearly, the country has told them it is not interested in what they have to offer — not even Rs 72,000 in their bank accounts.
Time to call it a night. For many nights.