Challenges before the new Congress President

Rahul Gandhi was elected as Congress President on December 11 and he would formally take charge on December 16. The new position does not materially change his status much as Rahul exercised almost complete sway over the party as its Vice President. This had much to do with the fact that his mother, Sonia Gandhi, has been the President of the Congress for the last 19 years. However, Rahul Gandhi’s elevation has ensured that what has so far been his de facto power has now been accorded a de jure status.

Rahul Gandhi has become the Congress President at a critical juncture of the party – after a series of political debacles since 2014 both at the Centre as well as several states across the country. The biggest challenge before Rahul Gandhi is, therefore, how to stop the Narendra Modi juggernaut in its tracks and reverse it if possible.

There is no denying that the Modi phenomenon has swept different regions of the country: north, south, west and east, even large parts of northneast which was earlier considered a safe bastion against Hidutva politics.

Why has the Congress been on the path of steep decline and the BJP on a surge? This has much to do with the public perception that the Congress is a corrupt, decadent party – that when in power it is steeped in corruption at all levels; however, the BJP under Narendra Modi does not brook corruption at any level, at least, that is what millions of average voters are convinced.

The common refrain is: Modi has no personal family to leave a financial legacy; so he does not need to be corrupt; India, that is, Bharat, is his family; that whatever he is doing is good for the Indians as a whole.

This is a perception which Rahul Gandhi is now left to counter and that is a challenge of a tall order. The challenge for Rahul Gandhi, as we see it, is two-fold -- first to reassure the general public that the corrupt legacy of the Congress is a thing of the past and the Congress under his leadership will ruthlessly deal with the stinker of corruption.

The second challenge for the Congress will be to give convincing proof of the fact that corruption at all levels has not diminished since the ascent of the Narendra Modi government; that only the perception about it has changed.

The BJP now tells the people: yes, there may be corruption at lower levels; but that is because of the institutional legacy of the Congress over the six decades and a half, when the Congress was in the driver’s seat (they forget to mention that the BJP ruled for five years and was part of a Union government, in its earlier avatar, for another three years before Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister).

Since the higher echelons of the government under Modi are spanking clean, sooner than the latter, the entire system of governance would be corruption-free, say the proponents of the BJP. Give BJP and Modi another mandate in 2019 and corruption would disappear from day-to-day deals forever, assure these BJP leaders.

How will Rahul Gandhi tackle this dual challenge? There are two ways: first is to popularise policy measures to bring home to the people that the Congress, more than the BJP, is interested in taking pro-active measures to tackle the menace of corruption.

Take the case of the Whistleblower Protection Act (WBP Act). Corruption in the government can be effectively checked if the whistleblowers in all government agencies are given adequate protection against harassment at workplace and threat to their life and property. There is a federal law in the United States which extends protection to whistleblowers who work for the government and report corrupt action at different levels of the government.

The Congress needs to take the fight to the streets telling the people that the Manmohan Singh government had piloted an ideal WBP Act in the Lok Sabha in December 2011 which, in turn, was passed in the Rajya Sabha in February 2014.

But the BJP government, that came to power in May 2014, kept the Whistleblower Act in abeyance and introduced several amendments to it so that no government functionary could dare to be a whistleblower.

The British-era Official Secrets Act (OSA) looked at each whistleblower as a traitor and provided for 14 years of imprisonment. The law brought by the Congress government had provided the whistleblowers immunity from the OSA so that they could report wrong-doing freely. But the Modi government has sought to dispense with such immunity so that all whistleblowers can be tried under the Official Secrets Act.

Which government functionary would like to see the prospect of being in jail for 14 years as a price for exposing corruption in the state machinery?

The BJP government’s move has been clearly aimed to protect the government agencies and personnel from charges of corruption at any cost. But unfortunately the Congress machinery has not succeeded in painting the town the red to tell the people that BJP that prides itself as a crusader against corruption is actually working all-out to protect the corrupt!

The Congress must spell out what time-bound measures it would take to make every government official – as a matter of fact, every citizen of the country who can seek information from the government agencies under the RTI Act which was itself ushered in by the Congress government – a potential whistle-blower!

If it succeeds in this campaign, that would to a large extent smudge the teflon image that Narendra Modi has created for himself and that would also help Congress recover some of the lost ground in the perception war on corruption.

The second major effort Rahul Gandhi has to undertake is to create a robust propaganda machine to bring every bit of information about corruption to the public domain. One must accept the fact that the mainstream mass media today has been rendered toothless under the Modi dispensation. There are many media houses, which for business and strategic reasons, are right of the centre and support BJP and the policies of its government at all cost.

However, some media-houses which were hitherto considered left of the centre and promised to undertake fearless journalism appear to be under humongous strain to maintain their independence. Many of their recent actions show us that they have chosen to fall in line and support the government as the only way out to escape harassment and the consequent financial loss.

In the given circumstances, the Congress cannot expect any media organisation – print or television – to take the risk to speak truth to power. It has to take upon its own machinery to carry the message to the remotest part of the country.

But its message would be reassuring only if the Congress makes a strong case that it would not, like the BJP, shoot the messenger if and when it comes to power at the Centre.