Tharoor Vs Kharge | Congress’ intra-party democracy withers on the vine

Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor (left) and Mallikarjun Kharge are in the race for Congress presidency. (File photos)

In all likelihood Shashi Tharoor will lose the October 17 polls to the post of the Congress President — unless either Congress President Sonia Gandhi or former party President Rahul Gandhi comes out and says that there is no ‘high command’ candidate, or there is an undetected groundswell of support for change within the party delegates. One seldom wins by playing a dice loaded in favour of one's opponent.

Yet by the very act of contesting the polls, and refusing to withdraw his nomination, by refusing to settle for a ‘consensus candidate’ and thereby making a mockery of the process, Tharoor has won the hearts and minds of many who yearn for change in India’s grand old party.

The odds seem to be stacked against Tharoor in favour of senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge; and before Kharge, the balance was tilted in favour of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Though Tharoor threw his hat in the ring early on, the unofficial ‘high command’ candidate was Gehlot. Gehlot, almost as though he wanted to be disqualified from this election, is alleged to have orchestrated a rebellion in Rajasthan against his bête noire Sachin Pilot, and is now back in Jaipur. It is here that Kharge stepped in. The senior party leaders have rallied behind Kharge, and Tharoor, as he tours various states to campaign, is welcomed by a handful of young party workers, or the odd senior leader.

All this gives the impression that the party leadership is telling Tharoor, ‘heads he wins, tails you lose’.

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It appears that the party — to dispel the notion that it is run in an undemocratic manner by the Gandhi family — is forced to hold elections to the post of the President. The fact that none from the Gandhi family are contesting this time has raised hopes that maybe (and after 24 years) the grand old party will be led by a non-Gandhi. To understand the importance of this, we must realise that half of India’s population have grown up seeing a Gandhi heading the Congress.

This makes it all the more important that an even contest is held. However, the prevalent notion is that Kharge is the party leadership’s choice (though no such announcement has yet been made), and Tharoor is standing for the sake of a contest. Kharge is seen as close to the Gandhi family, and this adds weight to the perception that he has their blessings, and if elected chief would follow their diktat. This does not help in negating rumours that irrespective of who is elected party chief, it will be the Gandhis who will take the decisions. To dispel this rumour, and to give more credence that it is indeed a free and fair election that will be taking place, the Gandhis must clear the air.

The argument against Tharoor is that he is relatively new to the party — never mind that he has won three consecutive Lok Sabha terms from a constituency that has a pitched three-way contest — and the Congress’ internal mechanisms need an old war horse. The answer to that is to ask where the seasoned generals have brought the party to? The time for an orchestrated charade of an election that does not change the way the party functions is long past the Congress. Years ago when it was in power, and when it had things going in its favour, it did not matter who or how the Congress leader was elected. That is a distant past.

Today’s voter is more discerning. The Congress needs to reach out to the ~19 percent who still believe in the party, and for the many more who are looking for an alternative to the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). It needs to not only hold free and fair elections within the party, it needs to be seen as doing so in a manner than inspires confidence in its followers and well-wishers. In this the Congress has failed.

The developments over the past few weeks make one thing clear (if it was not already) — many Congress leaders are not comfortable with Tharoor’s political trajectory. In January 2010, hardly a year after Tharoor had joined the Congress, this author had written how Tharoor’s ‘lateral entry seems to have not gone well with many in the party’. More than a decade later, it remains true for the diplomat-turned-politician.

This does not mean that Tharoor is the only hope to revive the Congress. It means that it would have been better if the party had handled this election in a more agreeable manner, where the election process itself would be a victory for the party. If the aim of holding the elections were to instil confidence in party workers, to reach out to undecided voters by upholding a democratic process within the party, and to break status quo, the Congress has failed in achieving it.