The recent stern message to party workers by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh, for “letting down the party” in the State has raised eyebrows among political analysts, with one of them questioning the timing of her outburst.
“This shows immaturity on her part as a leader of her stature shouldn’t have such an outburst,” said Shri Prakash Singh, a Professor at the Department of Political Science, Delhi University. “If at all she wanted to send a message by acting against those who didn’t work for the party, she should have first set up a committee and asked them to investigate.”
The main risk from Ms. Vadra’s tough talking was its potential to hurt morale at a time when a clutch of byelections to the Assembly are due, Professor Singh said. “As many as 11 seats of the U.P. Assembly will go to the polls as their MLAs have now become MPs. So, just ahead of these byelections, such an outburst will further demotivate the workers,” he said.
“This was a time to energise and console your workers. She should begin by owning up the defeat and assure the workers of a better strategy,” he added.
Shaibal Gupta of the Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute said Ms. Vadra may have overestimated the strength of the Congress workers.
“Like socialists, even the Congress used to have a tradition of grooming workers,” Mr. Gupta said. “What happened to this tradition? Can the current leaders tell us?” he asked.
The Congress, however, defended Ms. Vadra and said her comments had to be viewed in light of the party’s poor showing in the election. “The people of Rae Bareli stood like a rock, but, certainly we have evidence that in other large parts of Uttar Pradesh, possibly, things were wanting and in the true spirit of investigation that is being reviewed,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, when asked about Ms. Vadra’s comments. “What is wrong in what she has said,” he asked.
Meanwhile, a Congress official said Ms. Vadra plans to start meeting party workers from eastern U.P. twice a week, without any formal appointment.
Feedback from workers
Though the details were still being worked out, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the move was part of a plan to revamp the party organisation in U.P. by listening to the views of ground-level workers.
In January, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi made a surprise announcement about the formal induction of his sister, Priyanka, into politics by appointing her as a general secretary and a member of the powerful Congress Working Committee. While he tasked Ms. Vadra with the responsibility of overseeing the party’s affairs in the eastern part of the crucial heartland State, Mr. Gandhi put former MP Jyotiraditya Scindia in charge of western U.P. Mr. Gandhi had made it clear that the decision to have two general secretaries in India’s most politically crucial State was to revive the party.
With the exception of 2009 when the Congress won 21 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, the party has been on a steady decline in the State over the past eight Lok Sabha elections. And 2019 has seen the worst performance with the party managing to win just Sonia Gandhi’s Lok Sabha seat of Rae Bareli.
“If Priyanka Gandhi had contested from Phulpur, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru’s seat, or from Allahabad, where the Nehru family has a family connection, Congress may have fared better in two, three seats,” asserted Prof. Singh.
Published - June 15, 2019 11:38 pm IST
