The people of Punjab have grown and lived with the idea that whenever there is an attack on India, they have to form the first line of defence, along with the soldiers in olive greens.
Similarly, now when there is a threat to the idea of India, it is these people who have played their role. India has not become a Congress-mukt Bharat as Prime Minister Narendra Modi would like it to be, since there is still room for other ideologies.
But unless the Congress gets its acts together, we may actually live in a frighteningly saffronised, Congress-mukt Bharat. Nobody would like this, and the people will blame the Congress.
And worse, the grand old party will dig itself deeper into the cesspool of despair and dejection. Blaming Rahul Gandhi will not help the party, but it sure will be much better if he becomes just another Congressman and lets the party grow into a democratic, vibrant one.
If one needs evidence to show the Congress that it is the only forward for the party, we need to look Punjabward.
It was an election where, for the Congress, there was nothing like depending on the now extinct Gandhi family charisma to successfully woo voters with their votes. Rahul Gandhi did go canvassing. But as a senior party leader put it, that was a bit of formality that they had to indulge in.
“It just meant making that many arrangements for him, trying to tempt people to attend his rallies and hear him out. Nothing of that sort needed to be done for Captain Amarinder Singh. It was his show,” the state leader said.
Punjab assembly election is the first one where the Congress manifesto was, lock stock and barrel, Punjabi. The issues of the state were presented with local priority – in a local idiom. It was the Captain, his ideas, solutions and promises to the people, all the way.
While Singh got that freedom to lead his own way, he was not named the chief ministerial candidate for quite some time. This was because the high command was afraid that it would lead to factionalism. But when they realized the people’s backing the former chief minister had, Rahul Gandhi announced that Singh would be the chief ministerial face.
Far from resulting in a divided state leadership, others realized they had to rally him if they had to win. It was also left to Singh to deal with the rebel candidates as he thought fit. He did, and the rebellion was over before the poll day.
The former chief minister campaigned all over the state, while himself fighting from two prestigious seats. One was Lambi, where he took on chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in the latter's pocket borough. Though Singh lost in Lambi, he gave Badal a tough fight.
He retained Patiala Urban – the second seat – with the highest margin in the state. Akali Dal had fielded former army chief J J Singh against the captain in Patiala Urban.
A look at the Assembly figures is quite interesting – a tally of 77 seats with 38 per cent votes for the Congress. This comes at a time when people are flocking Modi and the BJP like the way rats and kids followed Pied Piper in the legendary tale.
It is a lesson for the Congress leaders from other states. They have to earn people’s trust, remain rooted to the ground and stand for the cause, unmindful of the party high command. The high command has to realise that if Punjab can have a Congress government, the party still exists. Party high command exists only if Congress leaders in the states are strong. Simply put, without having strong state units and state leaders, the high command will tend to become a mere address of the party’s head office.
