As the Congress comes to terms with the fact that it has been reduced to just 44 MPs in the Lok Sabha, leaders and workers are publicly expressing their frustration, leaving it to party spokespersons and tweeple to paper over the cracks.
On Monday, party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed found himself fielding questions on why former Defence Minister A.K. Antony said the party had lost ground because of its perceived pro-minority image and had to explain party general secretary Digvijaya Singh’s controversial comment that Rahul Gandhi “lacked the temperament of a leader.”
This was even as senior party leader Anil Shastri sent out a series of soothing tweets on these controversies, while former Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told a TV channel that in a democracy, everybody has a point of view “but that does not necessarily mean that that point of view is finger-pointing at somebody.”
Over the last fortnight, at State post-poll chintan shivirs, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh found himself at the receiving end of party colleagues in Jharkhand, while party general secretary and U.P. in-charge Madhusudan Mistry was not allowed to speak at a party meeting in Gujarat on Saturday. Effigies of Mr. Ramesh were burnt in Ranchi while Mr. Mistry was heckled over the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
On Monday, Mr. Ahmed said Mr. Gandhi has all the “attributes” of a genuine leader. “Mr Singh has clarified his remarks. All he meant was that Rahul Gandhi was not hankering for power. We do not think it is a disqualification. In fact, we respect those who make sacrifices. He has all the attributes of a genuine leader.”
To a question on Mr. Antony’s remarks that the Congress’s brand of secularism was slanted in favour of minorities, Mr. Ahmed said that it was made in the context of Kerala where the former minister was speaking and it did not have a national dimension. He stressed that the Kerala unit of the party has already clarified that Mr. Antony’s statement was Kerala-specific.
