From Himanta Biswa Sharma to Ghulam Nabi Azad, senior leaders of the Congress party are resigning after the former president of the party, Rahul Gandhi, made a series of allegations. Before the resignations of these leaders in the endless series, what did they expect from Rahul Gandhi? What were the allegations they publicly made against Rahul while resigning? Information including that can be found in detail in this collection.
Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi have led the party for almost a quarter of a century. It is noteworthy that Rahul has been the Congress president for only two years from 2017 to 2019. In this case, it cannot be denied that the name of Rahul Gandhi has become a name that appears in the resignation letters of the leaders leaving the party. Immature, childish, arrogant, eccentric, unpredictable, unserious, self-serving, insecure, insulting were all the harshest words of criticism that flowed towards Rahul from those resignation letters.
Over three generations of Congressmen have used these words with the same swagger. If Himanta Biswa Sharma left the party in 2015, now Ghulam Nabi Azad has done so. In between, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kapil Sibal, Ashwani Kumar, RBN Singh, Jitin Prasad, Sushmita Dev, Sunil Jagger, Hardik Patel, N Brain Singh, Prema Kandu, PC Shacko, Jayveer Shergill and many others have run away from the Congress camp.
It is time to set aside the saying “bygones be bygones” and examine why so many leaders pointed their fingers at one person and left! We invite you to join us in that research because by doing so we can also learn what is going on behind the scenes.
Dictatorship without accountability:
Ghulam Nabi Azad has written a five-page resignation letter to Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi, ending his half-century association with the Congress party. Several leaders from the Jammu and Kashmir wing of the Congress are also set to resign with him and join Azad in forming his own party. Now let’s see what he said in his resignation letter. “After Rahul Gandhi entered politics, especially after being made the party’s vice-president by Sonia Gandhi, he subverted the entire consultative mechanism of the Congress.” Ghulam Nabi Azad wrote that.
In a resignation letter written by Himanta Biswa Sharma in 2015, he said, “Rahul Gandhi wants to take away my and Tarun Gokoi’s post. Arrogantly, he said it was his personal right to replace the Assam chief minister. He believed that he was stronger than the people of Assam who elected the MLAs. My wife and I were humiliated. The party promotes authoritarian family politics. It betrayed the people of Assam.” mentioned that. At that time, the most important point in Assam politics was his 23-year tenure as Congress. He broke party ties and joined the BJP with some MLAs.
Sharma, who received special attention from Prime Minister Modi, later started working on his own to establish BJP rule in all the North-Eastern states. As a result he is currently ruling as the Chief Minister of Assam. Sharma has now said that the contents of Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation letter are the same as his resignation letter.
“I said there would come a time when only the Gandhis would remain in the Congress and all the loyalists would leave. That is what is happening now. The problem with Congress is that everyone knows that Rahul Gandhi is immature, eccentric and unpredictable, but the Congress leader does not care about the party. He is trying to promote Rahul Gandhi who is a blessing for BJP,” Himanta Biswa Sharma said after Azad’s resignation.
Before Azad, Kapil Sibal and Ashwani Kumar also quit the Congress this year. Kapil Sibal, a key member of the G23 group of disgruntled Congress leaders, had accused Rahul Gandhi of taking all the decisions that led to the resignation of Sunil Jharkar, making Saranjit Singh Sunny the chief minister of Punjab, even though he was not the president. 30 years of Cong. Kapil Sibal, who ended the relationship, had also said that the Gandhis should make way for the new leadership of the party.
In Asad’s resignation letter, he pointed out an incident that happened during the previous regime. “Rahul Gandhi showed immaturity in 2013 by publicly tearing down an ordinance issued by the then central government by his own party. That is childish behavior. It was an act that completely overturned the dignity of the office of Prime Minister. It contributed greatly to the party’s defeat in the 2014 elections,” he said. However, it is noteworthy that Ghulam Nabi Azad continued as Union Health Minister for almost a year after the incident.
In fact, the Congress has not had a full-time president for the past three years. Elections for the party’s new president are scheduled to be held next month. But there are reports that Sonia Gandhi wants to take over the post of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Khelat. If this happens, the dissidents fear that Rahul Gandhi will continue to hold power without much responsibility as usual.
Are young leaders neglected?
Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress in 2020, ending his 18-year association. In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress belongs to Kamal Nath’s government. Some of the party MLAs followed Scindia who joined the BJP and joined the BJP. BJP came back to power in Madhya Pradesh. “I wanted to serve my state and countrymen. But I could not do this within this party. Although he stated that Kamal Nath’s inaction was the reason for his resignation, the main reason was that the party leadership did not want to give him the post of Rajya Sabha MP.
When Rahul Gandhi entered politics, he said he focused on reviving the Youth Congress. Soon, he acquired the image of a leader who inspires young faces. Many senior politicians were complained about being insulted in his attempt. Azad also said in his resignation letter that “Rahul Gandhi, who has no aptitude or interest in politics, resigned from the post of Congress president at once before humiliating the senior leaders of the party.”
But as in Assam and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan’s choice of Ashok Khelat was said to be unpopular with Rahul. Eventually it led to Sachin Pilot’s revolt. However, Sachin Pilot’s resignation did not cause much damage, as the Sharma and Scindia incident did. As Ashok Khelat thwarted Sachin Pilot’s attack with his wheel strategy, the captaincy is now said to be headed for his head.
Azad said that all the senior and experienced leaders were sidelined under Rahul Gandhi, a bunch of new inexperienced renegades started running the Congress and today even his security personnel are making party decisions. Another Congress leader Jayveer Shergill, who left the party days before Azad, said he had been unable to meet Rahul Gandhi despite trying for a year.
Confusion for Allies:
2024 is when opposition parties need maximum unity to contest against PM Modi. Leaders like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Nationalist Congress President Sarath Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar or Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray meet Sonia warmly. But Rahul is left out.
Is Rahul the only problem?
While Rahul Gandhi is being singled out for electoral defeats and the party’s operational woes, it should not be forgotten that he has been forced into a solo voice on many national and state issues. Also, it is a point to be noted that the state level leaders showed slowness in the election work after the announcement of the election due to factionalism. One of the basic features of Jananaism is constructive opposition. But if we think about whether any of the outgoing leaders have led such opposition activities during this period when Rahul is not the leader, we can understand that there is a stagnation.
What should Rahul Gandhi do?
Kong. Both party leaders, Sonia and Rahul, were recently brought before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning. The protests held by the Congress across the country will not be forgotten for some time to come. Such vigorous struggles they are. But whether the Congress has recently taken up such an aggressive campaign for people’s issues requires some thought. A shrinking party with centuries of tradition is not good for democracy. So for the next phase of the Tiger Leap, Rahul Gandhi must come to the helm to drive the entire party full speed towards the throne or give way to someone more suitable and move on completely.