National Herald case: 'Spontaneous' bhakti culture for Sonia, Rahul lays bare Congress desperation

The mood of Congress workers gathered outside of Congress headquarters 24 Akbar Road today is somewhat reminiscent of May 1999 when Sonia Gandhi’s position as Congress president was challenged by Sharad Pawar, Tariq Anwar and PA Sangma on her Italian origin issue. The intensity of their protest and colour, so characteristic of the Congress Party on any occasion, good or bad concerning its First Family, is however, much diluted. These are different times and the situation entirely different. Then the Congress workers were responding to an attempted internal coup and the party still had substantive presence in Lok Sabha and was ruling many states, in all regions of the country. [caption id=“attachment_2552438” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Congress workers protest in Delhi on Saturday. ANI[/caption] Today Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and trusted senior leadership Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda are made to appear before a Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House in New Delhi on orders of lower court and high court in National Herald case to respond to charges of cheating, misappropriation and criminal conspiracy. In Lok Sabha, Congress has shrunk to 44 and its presence is withering away across the nation. It rules only in a handful of states. In May 1999, Congress workers tore into Pawar, Tariq and Sangma with their pictures held as ‘hate objects’. On December 20, some Congress workers wore or carried masks of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Subramanian Swamy to raise vendetta politics war cry. But a banner broadly captured similarity of sentiments that prevailed in 1999 and 2015 – “Raebareli Ka Tufan badlega Hindustan”. Internally, Congress leaders and workers realize that the crisis is much graver for the party because no one can really predict what course the trial in National Herald case would take. So far, since 2012, when Subramanian Swamy filed the case against Gandhis in National Herald case for appropriating Rs 2000 crore property of the erstwhile newspaper group by forming a Rs 5 lakh company called Young India, court proceedings have gone against the Congress’s brass. Inside the party headquarters an elaborate arrangement has been made for senior party leaders to stay together and express solidarity with their top leadership before Sonia and Rahul leave for Patiala House to honour court summons. There are multiple sides of the protests which Congress is holding today, not only in Delhi but in various other parts of the country including Mumbai, Lucknow, Bhopal, etc. Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said this was all spontaneous, a kind of emotional overflow by Congress rank and file – a kind of Bhakti syndrome. It’s true. All this is part of Congress culture but that’s the way the party’s first family has cultivated it. In present case, there have been reports that the Congress is making preparations to turn this occasion into a show of strength. Though there was some lip service by Sonia Gandhi to Congress cadres to stay calm and be at home but at the same time she asked all MPs to be in Delhi till Parliament session concluded and also be present at AICC headquarters by noon on Saturday. The message was thus clear to the rank and file. Senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said their fight was ‘Sansad se Sadak’ (from Parliament to streets) and recalled that it was Congress which made India Independent and went on giving a long speech on Congress’s contribution in nation building and Indira Gandhi’s fightback to power in 1978. The Congress has stalled Parliament on the issue. Rajya Sabha, in particular has been made completely dysfunctional but how they fight it out on the streets and what course it takes will have to seen. The popular perception is not on their side. Azad, taking a cue from earlier utterances and from directions in internal meets from Sonia and Rahul is trying to turn a legal battle into a political one. The idea is rejuvenate Congress’s workers whose morale is otherwise low. The Congress tends to forget that this is a legal battle and courts can’t be browbeaten by these protests. On the contrary, it can take an adverse opinion. Or Congress wants the nation to believe that the law should apply differently to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, because to a political dynasty which has ruled most part of Independent India and few entitlements, even legal immunity should come naturally to them.