Congress high command’s monarchical style of working created Punjab crisis

There is an old saying that problems do not come as a solitary soldier but battalions. Essentially, problems are symptomatic of a larger undiagnosed or unaddressed malaise and thus can assume gigantic proportions at the drop of a hat. The predicament of the Congress in Punjab is not on account of just two belligerent politicians who find each other insufferable. The fault lines are much deeper. Actually, it is fundamentally organisational. The Congress stunned forecasters with a resounding triumph in 2017 in Punjab. The popular sentiment was that Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP would replicate its successful Delhi model, decimating an emaciated Congress that had failed to dislodge an incompetent corrupt Shrimoni Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition between 2007 and 2017. But a resolute Captain Amarinder Singh, reluctantly given charge of Punjab by a cynical Congress leadership, had other ideas. In the illustrious triumphant Congress team was a former cricketer-turned comedy star turned a pugilistic politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. Sidhu had just deserted the BJP, clearly eyeing the top job in his home state. For a brief while, he pretended to be a team player. One did not have to be clairvoyant to discern that he wanted to be chief minister. It did not hurt his case that the Captain loudly announced that this was his last election. In 2022, the Congress would have a new leadership. Both the Captain and Sidhu would later backtrack on their public commitments. Sidhu, often described by many as unstable, irrational and unpredictable, is also egregiously impatient. And he has been a disastrous team player. As a cricketer, he returned mid-way through a tour of England in 1996 in a huff, as furious as Hurricane Katrina. It was an unprecedented episode in the annals of Indian cricket; very few men in white have the gall to defy the formidable BCCI. He did. Till today, his fellow colleagues have maintained a dignified silence over what really happened over fish and chips or strawberry and cream. But one thing was apparent; the former stroke-less wonder had a raging bellicosity within him. He hated being told what to do, partly because he had innate faith in his talent and abilities. If the Congress had done even a modest modicum of research into his cricketing personality, most of the recent political turbulence could have been avoided. It clearly did not. I am still nonplussed as to why the Congress leadership did not nip a ballooning problem in the bud? After all, Sidhu resigned as a minister over two years ago and thereafter sulked like a spoiled brat denied his favourite candy. The party ignored the butterfly effect that would overwhelm it later. Unfortunately, the Congress has seriously adhered to former prime minister PV Narasimha Rao’s famous prescription for problem-solving; not taking a decision is also taking a decision. While that laidback, lazy approach might work occasionally and that too for a brief interlude, it usually backfires. Procrastination is a poor strategy when the writing is on the wall. The Congress leadership was only postponing the inevitable. The chickens are now coming home to roost. As the theatrical farce played out providing daily prime time entertainment to a country aghast at the party’s amateurish handling of the imbroglio, the Congress leadership remained mummified. Why didn’t the Congress president or de-facto leader Rahul Gandhi simply bring the two warring adversaries face-to-face and hammer out a workable solution? If the Congress was in government in several states or at the Centre, I can imagine that there would be a need for trouble-shooting intermediaries. But the party is in absolute control of just three states, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, and they ought to have been our top priority. By relying on the old-fashioned, archaic political management style reminiscent of Indira Gandhi’s days, the party reflected its calcification, its rigidity. What was the need for several committees, separate meetings, interlocutors like Harish Rawat, etc? The Congress high command blundered by adopting the monarchical style of working through chosen courtiers, who usually comply with what they believe are the wishes of the emperor. They only ended up aggravating the crisis further. There was a complete communication breakdown (Sidhu would later challenge the Congress itself while releasing a video on social media to express his angst). Bottom-line: The Congress is a big loser in this sordid soap opera. Worse, this was not the usual BJP using its extra-constitutional exploits to destabilise an Opposition government. Sidhu must now deliver the goods as his wishes have been complied with, but he is a demotivated character, unsure of being chief minister if the Congress were to win again. Charanjit Singh Channi, who became chief minister through sheer serendipity, is the only beneficiary of the internecine struggle, is being positioned as Congress’s magic baton to win Punjab (he is a Dalit, who comprise 32% of Punjab’s population). But the fact is that he is caught between a rock and a hard place. Fact is, Sidhu’s political game-plan was upended by the Captain’s abrupt resignation. Thus, the primal question: Where does the Congress go from here? For one, it must learn to engage with a crisis instead of adopting a hands-off approach. The bug always comes back to bite, but by that time it becomes a not-so-easy-to-tame poltergeist. Second, we need to understand that in the hyperactive age of Internet connectivity, good news travels fast, but bad news travels faster. The Congress has itself to blame for looking rudderless, incompetent and dilettantish, which could become awful baggage in the critical Assembly elections next year and 2024. It also must proactively douse the combustible inner-wars in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh before they suffer from the contagious virus of Punjab. But most importantly, the party needs urgent reforms within and addresses the elephant in the room. Who will be the party’s commander-in-chief who will bravely lead a galvanised, motivated team forward that has seen only devastation and dismay since 2014? The BJP, despite a woebegone, underwhelming performance, is benefitting from Congress’ extraordinary lethargy. It is time to take tough decisions. At stake is the future of the world’s largest democracy. The author is a former Congress spokesperson. His latest book is ‘The Great Unravelling: India After 2014’. The views expressed are personal.