Author: Coomi Kapoor
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: March 16, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/284881.html
If any Congress member had charged that there
was no internal democracy in the party, he would have been unceremoniously
evicted for heresy. It would have been construed as a direct attack on the
Congress first family. But when Rahul Gandhi himself made the accusation,
it was a different matter. Many young MPs appended their signatures to a petition
echoing Gandhi's sentiments. Three days later, Gandhi back-tracked slightly
by talking only of the need for internal democracy in the party's youth wings,
the Youth Congress and the NSUI, rather than the party as a whole. Gandhi
said he had spoken on the need for internal democracy in all parties because
wherever he went, young people kept asking him the same question, "We
don't know how to join a party."
Many feel that the underlying text of Rahul's
statement is that the old guard should make way for the new. Rahul is not
happy with several of his mother's advisers. While the queens courtiers at
10 Janpath are old school politicians, the crown prince's chosen people at
Tuglaq Lane appear more professional yuppie types. In the grooming process
for her son, Sonia Gandhi has ensured that trusted old-timers are included
in key committees with which Rahul is associated. For instance, Veerappa Moily
and Digvijay Singh are in the Committee for Future Challenges, along with
young blood.