to the Party’s higher echelons. Those higher in the hierarchy enthusiastically announced to the world, on television, that the time had come for gradually handing over the reins of the Congress. Party general secretary and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh—who went on to become one of Rahul’s closest advisers from the older generation of Congress leaders—told the media that it was only a matter of time before circumstances made it necessary for Rahul to shoulder greater responsibilities for the benefit of the Party and its political future. A news report in the
Times of India
on 22 January 2006 noted:
The country needs Reformist, Accomplished, Honest, Upcoming Leadership (RAHUL)’ reads a billboard put up by the Youth Congress at a busy corner of the city. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Ambika Soni, along with central leaders Digvijaya Singh and Ashok Gehlot, has suggested that the young parliamentarian, elected from Amethi, play a more active role in the Party. Soni said delegates might raise the demand for his nomination to the CWC.
A report in the
Tribune
, on the same day, said:
AICC general secretary Ambika Soni is hot favourite for the TV cameras. Even as nothing much seems to be happening at the venue till evening, she is seen providing filler sound bites to the eager camera crews.
The most sought-after comments, though repeated ad nauseam, are about Karnakata and Rahul’s induction into the CWC. Ms Soni appeared particularly pleased to talk about Rahul. Couched in euphemisms, the purport of her message was that the party needs the young Gandhi badly, and it is up to Sonia to appoint him.
Rahul wasn’t scheduled to speak at the plenary. But with the demand and the din for it peaking, he did make a stage appearance, almost coyly. On the first day of the proceedings, a chorus rose from the crowd demanding that Rahul speak. In order to pacify the crowds, he had to get up twice and promise to speak the next day. At that point, he was just the Amethi MP. He had largely confined himself to his constituency and neighbouring Rae Bareli. Despite the speculation, he did not join the Congress-led UPA government or accept a position in the Party organization.
When he spoke, politically, he made just one point: the Congress needed to revive itself in north India.
In some states our organization is not working effectively. People give many reasons for this failure. They blame communal- and religion-based parties. I absolutely disagree with this assessment. My thinking on this issue is, we have failed only in those areas where we have stopped fighting for the voters and their problems.
He said this to Congressmen hiding behind the premise that Mandal-and-
mandir
politics had taken its toll on the Congress base. The last time the Congress had come to power on its own at the Centre was in 1991.
Contrast Rahul’s opinion with Sonia Gandhi’s address to the Party on 14 September 1998. Voted out of power in the 1996 general elections and then again in 1998, the Party had organized a brainstorming camp at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. The idea was to introspect and come up with ways to arrest the Congress decline. Compared to 1991, the Congress’s vote share had gone down by more than 7 per cent in the 1996 elections. In 1998, it had dipped even further, by another 2 per cent or so. The panic-stricken Congress chose to go into a huddle over the losses at Pachmarhi. In her presidential remarks, Sonia said exactly what her son was to debunk as a false theory later at Hyderabad. As she listed out the reasons for the Party’s decline, she said:
Many of us thought that economic development and progress would roll back the spread of communal ideologies and put an end to the politics of hate. This has clearly not happened. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we have, in any way, diluted our commitment to the fight against communal forces. It would perhaps be tempting to say we
Times of India
on 22 January 2006 noted:
The country needs Reformist, Accomplished, Honest, Upcoming Leadership (RAHUL)’ reads a billboard put up by the Youth Congress at a busy corner of the city. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Ambika Soni, along with central leaders Digvijaya Singh and Ashok Gehlot, has suggested that the young parliamentarian, elected from Amethi, play a more active role in the Party. Soni said delegates might raise the demand for his nomination to the CWC.
A report in the
Tribune
, on the same day, said:
AICC general secretary Ambika Soni is hot favourite for the TV cameras. Even as nothing much seems to be happening at the venue till evening, she is seen providing filler sound bites to the eager camera crews.
The most sought-after comments, though repeated ad nauseam, are about Karnakata and Rahul’s induction into the CWC. Ms Soni appeared particularly pleased to talk about Rahul. Couched in euphemisms, the purport of her message was that the party needs the young Gandhi badly, and it is up to Sonia to appoint him.
Rahul wasn’t scheduled to speak at the plenary. But with the demand and the din for it peaking, he did make a stage appearance, almost coyly. On the first day of the proceedings, a chorus rose from the crowd demanding that Rahul speak. In order to pacify the crowds, he had to get up twice and promise to speak the next day. At that point, he was just the Amethi MP. He had largely confined himself to his constituency and neighbouring Rae Bareli. Despite the speculation, he did not join the Congress-led UPA government or accept a position in the Party organization.
When he spoke, politically, he made just one point: the Congress needed to revive itself in north India.
In some states our organization is not working effectively. People give many reasons for this failure. They blame communal- and religion-based parties. I absolutely disagree with this assessment. My thinking on this issue is, we have failed only in those areas where we have stopped fighting for the voters and their problems.
He said this to Congressmen hiding behind the premise that Mandal-and-
mandir
politics had taken its toll on the Congress base. The last time the Congress had come to power on its own at the Centre was in 1991.
Contrast Rahul’s opinion with Sonia Gandhi’s address to the Party on 14 September 1998. Voted out of power in the 1996 general elections and then again in 1998, the Party had organized a brainstorming camp at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. The idea was to introspect and come up with ways to arrest the Congress decline. Compared to 1991, the Congress’s vote share had gone down by more than 7 per cent in the 1996 elections. In 1998, it had dipped even further, by another 2 per cent or so. The panic-stricken Congress chose to go into a huddle over the losses at Pachmarhi. In her presidential remarks, Sonia said exactly what her son was to debunk as a false theory later at Hyderabad. As she listed out the reasons for the Party’s decline, she said:
Many of us thought that economic development and progress would roll back the spread of communal ideologies and put an end to the politics of hate. This has clearly not happened. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we have, in any way, diluted our commitment to the fight against communal forces. It would perhaps be tempting to say we
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