New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi said a dissenting group like the ‘G-23‘, comprising senior leaders, cannot exist in any other party but only in his party, and described it as the “nature” of the Congress party.
Interacting with students and faculty of the Brown University in the US through a virtual conference on Tuesday, he pointedly asked if such a group can exist in the BJP or the BSP or the Trinamool Congress. This is the second time that Gandhi had spoken on the ginger group of his party in two weeks.
Describing Congress as a party that stands for inclusivity, he asked, “For example, there are 20 people, a group of 20 people, who have a different view on the Congress. Do you think they could exist in the BJP, BSP, Trinamool Congress?”
He asserted that there can be no other party where such a difference of option is allowed, and said it is within the Congress’s way of doing things to not stop negotiating but to continue discussions with the dissenters.
The G-23 dissenters’ group, which comprises Gulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, among other senior leaders, had met in Jammu on February 27 to demonstrate its strength. Although Congress’ leadership did not publicly make any comment on the event and the group, it has expressed its displeasure by not inducting any of the members from the group in the ‘star campaigners’ list to campaign in upcoming elections in five states this year.
On being asked if the Gandhi family should step aside to allow new leadership to take root in the party, the former Congress president pointed out that no one from his family has become prime minister since 1989. He reiterated his pitch for taking the election route to elect Congress’ next president.
“I have a role to play in the Congress party. I defend a particular ideological current in the Congress party and I believe strongly in that. I am certainly not going to say, ‘Ok thank you very much! I will now not defend this ideological position in the Congress just because somebody says I happen to be so and so’s son,” he was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
In the interaction that lasted over an hour, Gandhi spoke about the change in the political discourse in India since 2014, the loss of democratic institutions and the BJP’s control over the political narrative by controlling social media giants, like Facebook and WhatsApp. Launching a tirade against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he compared the organisation with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
On March 2, indirectly referring to G-23 dissenters, Gandhi had said he was criticised by his own party after he pushed for elections in the Youth Congress and National Students Union of India.
“I am the person who pushed elections in youth organisation and student organisation and got a serious beating in the press for that. I was literally crucified for doing elections. I was attacked by my own party people. I am the first person that says democratic election within the party is absolutely critical but it is interesting to me that this question is not asked about any other political party,” he had said.
The leadership debate in the Congress has virtually split the party down the middle. A large number of senior leaders, in a letter to Sonia Gandhi in August, expressed their grievances with the interim nature of the party leadership.