It is surprising to find Congress leaders taking shelter behind the alibi of the democratic process of consultation to defend the party’s lethargic ways
The nomination of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as the UPA’s candidate for the post of President electrified the mood in the Congress and the ruling coalition when the choice received broad-spectrum endorsement.
After being shell-shocked and downing shutters for 12 hours — which is half the daily news cycle in the era of instant news and impact perceptions — the ruling party made a smart recovery. Its chief spokesman appeared before the media, asserted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was under no challenge whatever, and rejected the names for President being proposed defiantly by Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav, all the while taking swipes at the Trinamul Congress leader. This did the trick. The sleeping juggernaut appeared to move at last.
The episode should hold lessons for the Congress, which is wont to move at a stately pace, and frequently appears out of sync with the need of perception-related politics in the age of round-the-clock television. The hulking, protocol-ridden and kow-towing approach the Congress has slipped into over the years — and this became all too evident in the run-up to the nomination for President — appeared to have been exploited by some of its challengers to operate in a manner aimed at destabilising the government, hoping to lead the country into unscheduled polls. Had the move succeeded, the already shaky economy would have been rocked hard. Not to put too fine a point on it, the President’s election was sought to be converted into an instrument of regime change, with the Trinamul and Samajwadi Party acting as unwitting agents of a quiet enterprise .
It is surprising to find Congress leaders taking shelter behind the alibi of the democratic process of consultation to defend the party’s lethargic ways. The celebration of such “virtue” is unlikely to make the Congress-driven UPA-2 regime rise to the challenge of meeting the demands of a country that is seeking to break into the trajectory of progress for all its citizens, and not just the privileged few. It is undeniable that the eventually successful management of the process of the President’s election has given the UPA and the Congress a shot in the arm. The mood of despair has lifted completely. The party and the government look steady. But in order to retain the spirit, there is much that the UPA, particularly the Congress, has to do. For one, it must act purposively, and let the kinetic be felt widely through effective communications with the public. The time to take important executive decisions and move key bills that lie blocked is now, when the Trinamul is unlikely to be a hurdle. The role of the government and the Congress Party need cranking if they mean to give a credible account of themselves in 2014.