India’s main opposition party faces leadership crisis
The Indian National Congress on Monday rejected a request from its leader, Sonia Gandhi, that she be allowed to resign.
In her opening remarks at the seven-hour-long online meeting, Gandhi offered to quit from her post and asked the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s top decision-making body, to begin the process of “transition” to relieve her from her duties.
The Italian-born widow of former PM Rajiv Gandhi had offered to step down as interim leader after 23 senior Congress figures wrote a letter calling for sweeping reforms and better leadership of the party.
The signatories to the letter reportedly called on the Gandhi family to either play a more pro-active role or step down.
“I don’t hold any ill-will or other thoughts of any other nature against any colleague. I have risen above issues to fight for the cause of the people and the forces that are failing this country,” said Gandhi. “The need of the hour is to tackle issues facing the country. Organizational issues, the process of constitution or reconstitution is a continuous process,” she added.
Read more: What does the future hold for the Gandhi dynasty?
The CWC decided that Gandhi will continue in her role until a new chief will be decided at its All India Congress Committee meeting in six months’ time.
It was not immediately clear whether an election would take place, but Congress politicians hope to persuade her son Rahul Gandhi to assume the post, even though he has appeared unenthusiastic about returning as party chief.
Read more: India: Rahul Gandhi replaces Sonia Gandhi as Congress Party leader
Leadership downfall
The Congress is in power in just six of India’s 28 states, and in four of those, it governs as a member of a coalition.
Sonia Gandhi took over the de facto leadership of the party last year from Rahul, who stepped down following the 2019 election loss. There has been no full-time president since then to revamp the party.
Read more: Narendra Modi’s victory worries Indian Muslims
“There is no logic in this kind of behavior by the Congress. How long can one drag it out when there is no leadership to match up to Prime Minister Narender Modi’s? The party has to look within and introspect,” Political scientist Sudha Pai told DW. “The party has been rudderless. Sonia was brought in as interim president but that did not work as she has been keeping unwell,” she added.
Rasheed Kidwai, a political analyst and author of “Sonia – A Biography,” is also left feeling skeptical.
“This [the letter] is a call for putting in place better systems in the party. Many of the leaders who wrote the letter are basically saying it was about time that someone belled the cat,” Kidwai told DW.
For others, Monday’s decision represented only a reaffirmation of the party’s loyalty to the Gandhi family.
“The debate finally turned into: Are you with the Gandhis or are you against them? The more things change, the more they stay the same,” a top Congress leader, who requested to remain anonymous, told DW.
The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has dominated the Congress party for seven decades. Rahul Gandhi’s father, grandmother and great-grandfather were all prime ministers of India.
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Partition of India: The way forward
Birth of two nations
In 1947, British India was divided into two countries – India and Pakistan. Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his All-India Muslim League party had first demanded autonomy for Muslim-majority areas in the undivided India, and only later a separate country for Muslims. Jinnah believed that Hindus and Muslims could not continue to live together, as they were distinctly different “nations.”
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Partition of India: The way forward
The line of blood
The partition of British India was extremely violent. Following the birth of India and Pakistan, violent communal riots began in many western areas, mostly in Punjab. Historians say that more than a million people died in clashes, and millions more migrated from Indian territory to Pakistan and from the Pakistani side to India.
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Partition of India: The way forward
The 1948 war
India and Pakistan clashed over Kashmir soon after their independence. The Muslim-majority Kashmir region was ruled by a Hindu leader, but Jinnah wanted it to be part of Pakistani territory. Indian and Pakistani troops fought in Kashmir in 1948, with India taking control of most part of the valley, while Pakistan occupied a smaller area. India and Pakistan continue to clash over Kashmir.
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Partition of India: The way forward
Like US and Canada?
Liberal historians say that Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi wanted cordial ties between newly independent states. Jinnah, for instance, believed that ties between India and Pakistan should be similar to those between the US and Canada. But after his death in 1948, his successors followed a collision course with New Delhi.
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Partition of India: The way forward
The ‘other’
Indian and Pakistani governments present very different accounts of the partition. While India emphasizes the Indian National Congress’ freedom movement against British rulers – with Gandhi as its main architect – Pakistani textbooks focus on a “struggle” against both British and Hindu “oppression.” State propaganda in both countries paints each other as an “enemy” that cannot be trusted.
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Partition of India: The way forward
Worsening ties
Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan have remained acrimonious for the past seven decades. The issue of Islamist terrorism has marred relations in the last few years, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of backing Islamist jihadists to wage a war in India-administered Kashmir. India also blames Pakistan-based groups for launching terror attacks on Indian soil. Islamabad denies these claims.
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Partition of India: The way forward
The way forward
Many young people in both India and Pakistan are urging their governments to improve bilateral ties. Islamabad-based documentary filmmaker Wajahat Malik believes the best way for India and Pakistan to develop a closer relationship is through more interaction between their peoples. “Trade and tourism are the way forward for us. When people come together, the states will follow suit,” Malik told DW.
‘The mirror has cracked’
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds a comfortable majority in the national parliament.
The BJP refrained to release official comments on the CWC meeting.
“The Gandhi-Nehru family’s existence is in crisis and their political dominance is over. Congress is finished… so who stays in what position hardly matters now,” BJP leader Uma Bharti told media.
Tom Vadakkan, another BJP leader, told media that while he does not want to comment about the internal affairs of the Congress party,” as a former Congressperson, I can say that the mirror has cracked, and it is all out in the public domain.”
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/india-s-main-opposition-party-faces-leadership-crisis/a-54694911?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf