Rebels have had their way in Arunachal. Pema Khandu and not Nabam Tuki would be the new chief minister of the state. Congress may celebrate not one but two legal-political victories - first in Uttarakhand and second in Arunachal Pradesh.
But once the celebratory mood settles, Congress needs to do some deep introspection. It needs to listen to the inner voice, the voice within the party. In state after state, both where it is in power and in opposition, Congress faces intense infighting. While this is common to most political parties the problem lies in the top leadership not giving time to listen to grievances.
In Assam, Hemanta Biswa Sarma had complained that when he would go to meet Rahul Gandhi, he failed to grab attention of the vice president of the party. While Congress has since denied this claim, there are many who have left the party who agree. They point out that first it's almost impossible to get an appointment. And when they do finally get to meet their leaders, the look of disinterest angers them.
Jagdambika Pal who was Uttar Pradesh chief minister for a day from the Congress, and who left to join the BJP in 2004, has a story to narrate. He says he met Rahul in Parliament once and asked to speak to him. He was asked to accompany him home in his car but all the way, Rahul was on his phone and when they reached home, he bid goodbye to Pal. A humiliated Pal eventually decided to quit the party.
Every party has its rebels, and while many of their demands may be unreasonable and unacceptable at times, it shouldn't cost the top leadership much to show some respect by paying attention. In Arunachal, trouble had been brewing for some time. But Tuki had managed to monopolise the high command so much so that rebels weren't even given a chance to meet, making them easy fodder for overtures from th BJP. If only the top leadership had met them and tried to reach out, maybe this heartburn could have been avoided.
The story is the same in Uttarakhand. Defying the ground support for Harish Rawat, Gandhis had chosen Vijay Bahuguna as the chief minister of the state. Rawat had sulked, and in a definite show of strength, flaunted his supporters at his residnce in Delhi. It was only when Sonia Gandhi pleaded with him to take charge as Parliamentary Affairs minister that Rawat had relented, but it was a trouble which was merely hidden fora while.
Even there, as in Arunachal, the Congress had to listen voices from the ground voice and make Rawat the CM. Afterwards Bahuguna rebelled, the rest is history, but the lesson was lost on the Gandhis.
Karnataka is another state going to polls soon. A rebellion against CM Siddaramaiah is brewing and all that Sonia has to do is to give them an appointment and win them over. She is unlikely to do that, and once again the Congress may turn out to be the loser.
Surprisingly congress has gone back on its own convention. When Digvijaya Singh was made Andhra state incharge after YSR died, Sonia told him to first speak to the dissenting voices. She told him, "We need to have them with us not against us. "
Congress needs to relearn its own lesson now.
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