Rahul Gandhi’s CWC Reshuffle Shows Both Bravado & Restraint

New CWC is a mix of old & young leaders. But it’s inexplicable as to why some senior leaders have been dropped.

Image of Rahul Gandhi used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Erum Gour / The Quint)

Flamboyance and risk-taking make sense, when the leader has a chance to get away with it. It is foolhardy to go in for it, antagonising many, when treading carefully can yield better results.

Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Working Committee (CWC), which he was authorised to constitute at the party’s plenary in March 2018 after having taken over as the party President, can be called “status quoist”.

A Fine Balance

In fact, Rahul’s CWC, with its 23 “members”—as opposed to the permanent invitees and special invitees — looks more like Sonia Gandhi’s CWC. It has, among others, Dr Manmohan Singh, AK Antony, Ambika Soni, Motilal Vora, Kumari Selja, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma, Tarun Gogoi, Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Of course, Rahul Gandhi has inducted some younger leaders—Jyotiraditya Scindia, RPN Singh, Jitin Prasada, Gaurav Gogoi,Sushmita Dev, and Deependra Hooda as permanent invitees or special invitees, to create a mix of youthfulness and experience.

If one word can describe the newly constituted Working Committee of India’s Grand Old Party, it is balance.

True to his word, Rahul Gandhi has tried to take young and old along, which he had promised to do after taking over as the party chief.

He is undoubtedly moving cautiously and that makes sense, because the party is in power in only three states today — Punjab, Karnataka, Mizoram – and was down to a miserable 44 Lok Sabha seats four years ago. Given that reality, bravado may look good, but in this situation, it may create more problems than it can resolve.

Limited Options for RaGa

At the end of the day, the party is still closely observing to see how Rahul Gandhi will fare, even though it is reconciled to his leadership now, with no other alternative in sight, and the country has yet to endorse his stewardship. From that point of view, perhaps Rahul Gandhi had limited options.

Although, even after considering his constraints, it is still inexplicable why he should leave out those who enjoy a mass following like Captain Amarinder Singh and Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

It is equally bewildering as to why PCC chiefs in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh – Sachin Pilot and Kamal Nath – who are called to lead from the front in a battle which will set the tone for the Big Fight in 2019 – should not have been included in one way or another. It is however good, that someone like Siddaramaiah, who as CM prevented a complete slump by the Congress, is a member.

It is the ‘coalition experiment’ in Karnataka, whose performance in the coming months is likely to create public confidence in opposition unity — as opposed to a khichdi (mess) that won’t last.

There was also little reason to exclude from the list the eastern states of Odisha, West Bengal, and Bihar, where the BJP is putting its best foot forward, so as to compensate the losses it may suffer in the Hindi heartland. Similarly, there seems to have been no reason to exclude Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which used to be bastions of the Congress party until they split into separate states – but with effort and the right leadership, the Congress can hold sway over these regions again.

Just as curious was the exclusion of the Congress’ high profile legal eagles, who have, in recent months, been at the forefront of the party, defending it legally and politically —Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari (barring P Chidambaram who has been made a permanent invitee).

The party CMs, PCC chiefs, heads of frontal organisations, as also the AICC general secretaries, are the ones who are called to lead from the front, and should naturally be members of the party’s apex decision-making body. Unfortunately, in recent years, the CWC itself has lost teeth and has been called infrequently to take a view of issues.

Revival of Decision-Making Process Within Cong

As much as it reflects Rahul Gandhi’s priorities, the new CWC also carries the low-profile stamp of Ashok Gehlot, former CM of Rajasthan, who is virtually playing the role of the Congress President’s Political Secretary without being designated as such. He had worked behind the scenes to craft the Congress’ poll strategy in Gujarat as also in Karnataka not long ago.

While victories and defeats are part of a democratic process, it is the decimation of the organisation which Rahul Gandhi has to worry about, and which he may have to create virtually from scratch.

Rahul Gandhi also needs to recreate a culture of hard work, and ensure that work takes place at the ground-level, something the party seems to have forgotten – all of which require the unleashing of new energies.

It is here that Rahul Gandhi will be observed to see how he revives the decision-making processes within the party, so that they become more inclusive. He could perhaps take a cue from his mother. There was a time early on in Sonia Gandhi’s presidency, when she would meet with a large enough group —sometimes 30-40 leaders – particularly when the Parliament was in session – to brainstorm on issues on which the party needed to take a view.

(Neerja Chowdhury is a senior journalist. She tweets @neerjachowdhury. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)