The slow drip of negative news about the Congress has suddenly turned into a flood. Former ministers and senior leaders are leaving left and right and they're not doing so quietly. A phenomenon that many expected in the immediate aftermath of the party's massive electoral defeat last May is finally taking place. Crucially, those leaving are beginning to point their guns at the people at the centre of it all: the Gandhi family.
Former environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan's letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi which was published in The Hindu on Friday reveals, almost in minute detail, everything that is wrong with the way the party works. Natarajan's 3,500-word letter includes everything from her family's background in the party and the freedom struggle to the anguish she is currently feeling about the way she was treated by the Congress over the last year and a half. But one paragraph effectively explains the entire problem with the Congress for anyone who doesn't have Gandhi in their surname (emphasis added by Scroll, not in the original letter).
In other words, Natarajan is saying she did what the party, particularly vice president Rahul Gandhi, wanted her to do despite pressure from the cabinet, companies and the rest of the world. Yet she was nevertheless removed from the job 100 days before the elections and never given any role in the party afterwards. To make matters much worse, more than a year on, no explanation has come from the high command about why this happened.
Effectively, Natarajan is making clear what people have long suspected about the party: that it runs entirely on the whims of the family and, despite toeing this line, you can still be dropped without explanation. Some of this may of course be self-serving ‒ party leaders could well have believed that Natarajan was indeed doing a bad job as environment minister, but that wouldn't justify the summary sacking and follow-up silence that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi maintained. If they did otherwise talk to Natarajan, it's not as if the Congress party leadership has any lack of avenues to get their version of the story out.
This allegation counts as the hardest blow yet for a party that seemed to be wandering in the wilderness in the aftermath of its rout in last year's Lok Sabha elections. Leaders and workers have started to leave in droves, with well-know Dalit face Krishna Tirath in Delhi being only the most recent. Others have been dissenting to the point of taking on the high command, with the Punjab Congress currently embroiled in a leadership battle and former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti refusing to reply to a show-cause notice from the Tamil Nadu Congress leadership as well.
Since the Congress is not a cadre-based party, it tends to thrive only when its leaders are in power, and suffer when in the opposition. It has now been reduced to just nine states, a majority of those in the northeast, and now, at long last, the lynchpin of the entire edifice ‒ the Gandhi family ‒ is also being blamed for its woes.
Former environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan's letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi which was published in The Hindu on Friday reveals, almost in minute detail, everything that is wrong with the way the party works. Natarajan's 3,500-word letter includes everything from her family's background in the party and the freedom struggle to the anguish she is currently feeling about the way she was treated by the Congress over the last year and a half. But one paragraph effectively explains the entire problem with the Congress for anyone who doesn't have Gandhi in their surname (emphasis added by Scroll, not in the original letter).
My object in pointing out the above to you is to bring to your notice that, in several cases the party high command had very strong views regarding environmental violations. This was the reason that I repeatedly challenged my colleagues in cabinet, thus bringing down upon my own head the anger and wrath of the entire cabinet, and also the entire corporate world. Still, I soldiered on doing my duty. This is the reason why I am so stunned and shocked that in the end, I was removed as Minister just 100 days before elections although I had committed no wrong doing, and none was pointed out to me, in fact the then Prime Minister praised my work, while accepting my resignation. Thereafter, although I repeatedly sought clarification, as to what wrong doing I was guilty of to have been so brutally humiliated, and further humiliated by being removed as Spokesperson, no answer was given to me. Despite my repeated attempts to meet Shri Rahul Gandhi and you, no appointment was given to me. Dr. Manmohan Singh, and you, both assured me at the time of making me resign that my services were required for party work. No other explanation has been given to me till date.
In other words, Natarajan is saying she did what the party, particularly vice president Rahul Gandhi, wanted her to do despite pressure from the cabinet, companies and the rest of the world. Yet she was nevertheless removed from the job 100 days before the elections and never given any role in the party afterwards. To make matters much worse, more than a year on, no explanation has come from the high command about why this happened.
Effectively, Natarajan is making clear what people have long suspected about the party: that it runs entirely on the whims of the family and, despite toeing this line, you can still be dropped without explanation. Some of this may of course be self-serving ‒ party leaders could well have believed that Natarajan was indeed doing a bad job as environment minister, but that wouldn't justify the summary sacking and follow-up silence that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi maintained. If they did otherwise talk to Natarajan, it's not as if the Congress party leadership has any lack of avenues to get their version of the story out.
This allegation counts as the hardest blow yet for a party that seemed to be wandering in the wilderness in the aftermath of its rout in last year's Lok Sabha elections. Leaders and workers have started to leave in droves, with well-know Dalit face Krishna Tirath in Delhi being only the most recent. Others have been dissenting to the point of taking on the high command, with the Punjab Congress currently embroiled in a leadership battle and former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti refusing to reply to a show-cause notice from the Tamil Nadu Congress leadership as well.
Since the Congress is not a cadre-based party, it tends to thrive only when its leaders are in power, and suffer when in the opposition. It has now been reduced to just nine states, a majority of those in the northeast, and now, at long last, the lynchpin of the entire edifice ‒ the Gandhi family ‒ is also being blamed for its woes.
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