Grinning at the Congress' funeral: It is time for Rahul, Sonia to resign

It’s nice to see Rahul Gandhi looking relaxed and refreshed after his two day holiday post the “grueling” campaign. He’s had time to shave, get a trim and come out to accept responsibility for the Congress debacle, but in true Congress style take no questions. And why should he? At this moment there was only one question on everyone’s minds. Will you resign? Will your mother resign? [caption id=“attachment_1528365” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi during their speech. AFP[/caption] The Congress is clearly not ready to answer that question. Actually the best thing that could have happened to the Congress today was for Rahul Gandhi to have not just gotten a scare in Amethi but to have lost that seat. It would finally have managed to perhaps snap the umbilical cord tying the party to the First Family. Instead we have just seen a clamour for Priyanka Gandhi. As a veteran Congress leader in Varanasi said Priyanka will not have to enter politics, Congress on its own will seek her out. As of now with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi winning Rae Bareli and Amethi, the Gandhis still own the copyright over the party. Even more so when the one silver lining in the Congress rout, Captain Amarinder Singh in Amritsar tried to valiantly shield Rahul and Priyanka, whom he said he has known since they were three or four, from blame. Captain Singh tried to shift that onto the weary shoulders of Manmohan Singh since he was the head of the scam-bitten UPA government. This is called having your party and eating it too. Sonia Gandhi gets power without accountability. Rahul Gandhi gets to turn down cabinet positions, but reverse cabinet decisions by storming into the Press Club to tear up an ordnance. But when it comes to blame Manmohan Singh is the convenient scapegoat. In the end Sonia Gandhi says she takes (zimmidari) responsibility for the defeat. But her speech accepting responsibility was also a typical Congress speech in that regard — accepting responsibility without taking any responsibility. That means there was not a whiff of an offer to resign, even for appearance’s sake. Tarun Gogoi might do that in faraway Assam, but the Congress has to be content for its mother-son leadership to merely accept the results as a sort of crown of thorns, yet another sacrifice they are bearing for the sake of the nation with humility. This is no ordinary defeat for the Congress. As Amit Shah pointed out in his press conference there are seven states where Congress could not even open its account. In no state has it won more than ten seats. In any other democracy such a result would have meant that heads would roll right at the top. In any other democracy the leader of such a party would have formally resigned, not offered to resign but resigned. After such an extraordinary drubbing, the moment for graceful acceptance and we-shall-push-on-to-fight-for-another-day rhetoric has to end and Sonia Gandhi should have taken this opportunity to gracefully step down. It remains to her credit, that as a much maligned foreigner she has managed to lead her party to victory but that well of goodwill and good luck has run dry. Some Congress leaders are going around telling television talk shows that even the formidable Indira Gandhi was once defeated at the polls. But that was Indira Gandhi post the Emergency. That was a huge and cataclysmic event. This is just voters turning away in droves from a party because of general disgust and distrust. If Captain Amarinder Singh is any indication, the Congress “back to the drawing board” plan looking ahead into the future is to think of a Rahul-Priyanka joint team because according to him “they complement each other." That idea has come up before on the campaign trail. At a Rahul rally in Amethi, Congress worker Chetan Prajapat said “Rahul-ji is a little too much of thinker. Priyanka is made of different material. She needs to take charge of the organisation. Rahul can be in charge of the vision.” I wonder what Prajapat was thinking today as he watched Rahul-ji take “responsibility” for his party’s fate. Rahul might have said I hold myself responsible but the abiding image his party workers will be left with on the this darkest of dark days for the Congress is the image of the man who is supposed to lead the party grinning foolishly while his mother accepted defeat. Why was Rahul Gandhi grinning like a 12-year-old called to the front of the class as punishment for opening his lunchbox in class? tweeted Sadanand Dhume. Perhaps Rahul meant to suggest fortitude and put on a brave face for his battered party. Instead he just looked like he was having a good time on its worst day. It was as if the elections were a giant practical joke foisted on his party. If the Congress has any leaders left standing they should hold Rahul Gandhi accountable if not for the defeat, then at least for that grin. But then that’s assuming there will be Congress leadership with real teeth left after today.