Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Congress routed but BJP’s future uncertain' that was published in Newsband

Congress routed but BJP’s future uncertain

Congress was routed at last. It was forced to embrace defeat on a scale too shocking to behold. It crashed to a historic low of Lok Sabha seats and votes. It could not even claim the position of Leader of the Opposition in the lower House.

It has become a habit with the party to attribute triumphs to the Nehru-Gandhi family while placing the blame for failures on a mythical “collective” leadership. Rahul Gandhi, during the election campaign, spoke about democratisation of the party’s moribund structures. What he failed to realize is how dynasty rule and democratisation process could go together. The family was the Congress’s life source, its oxygen. But the nation gave a verdict against the family rule.

Depending on the dynasty without bothering about the caliber is the bane of the Congress. They also harped too much on the past, sacrifices made by the dynasty without talking about the present and future plan of action. They also carried on with their appeasement of particular segments with the eyes on the vote bank which automatically led to the polarisation to the detriment of Congress.

Congress party is so full of sycophants. Even after this huge defeat, you hear only these sycophants from the party taking turns to pretend/protect the "Gandhi family."

It was not just an emphatic rejection of Congress, but also an 'emphatic acceptance' of Modi. The fallout of Congress is not only because of the so called dynastic politics but also because of the failure of producing good governance and the extent of the scams under its service. It is high time that Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi packed up and left the party alone as they have little to offer other than dynastic feudalism in the largest democracy in the world. Why they believe they should be at the top is beyond comprehension. They have done enough damage and it is time for them to make a graceful exit.

Who knows the party may survive by adopting internal democracy and finding a true leader somewhere among the 1.2 billion Indians who toil thru the land.

It is not that Bharatiya Janata Party’s future is secure. Their weak point is they have not come up with a second-rank leader. They have no answer to the question ‘Who after Modi?’