Congress needs merciless surgery to save itself: M Veerappa Moily

Interview with Outgoing Union minister and Congress leader

Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, one of the few Union ministers to be re-elected, tells Kavita Chowdhury & Shine Jacob he wants Rahul Gandhi to be Leader of the Opposition but raps the latter’s idea of primaries or constituency-level intra-party polls to select candidates for ticket distribution. Elections within the party and massive restructuring within a month are required to revive the Congress, he says. Edited excerpts:

Several Congress insiders have attributed the party’s rout in the elections to several reasons but cited the United Progressive Alliance’s inability to control price rise and corruption as important factors.

The Congress defeat and the BJP’s victory can be explained by large-scale polarisation of votes. The Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar Pradesh were the beginning and then Amit Shah was made in charge (of the party in the state); secular parties, including the Congress, failed to respond. They (BJP) succeeded in polarisation and it had a wave-like effect on the electorate of UP.

And, of course, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) cadre worked 24 hours through the country. Another major factor was the influence of social media on urban voters. While the middle class and urban voters were with us in 2009, they turned against us this time. The BJP ensured practically no Parliament session was held in the past five years. Social media panned us for policy paralysis, etc. Of course, we had problems like Telangana but we should have managed Parliament better.

Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting that price rise and corruption had a role in the defeat.

Corruption, price rise were all marginal issues. It was mainly polarisation. If corruption had been an issue in the elections, (former Karnataka chief minister B S) Yeddyurappa wouldn’t have won. Also, I don’t agree anti-incumbency was a factor.

The BJP far outstripped the Congress on the social media front. While Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal were on Twitter, Rahul Gandhi was not.

Yes, he should have been on it. We should have ensured that. The information technology revolution was ushered in by the Congress but we have become a victim of it. The Congress was late in taking to social media.

Do you believe new strategies, like the US-style primaries, were an ill-timed idea?

Any reform has to be holistic. Structural reforms have been long overdue within an old party like the Congress. Imposing of primaries doesn’t click because there were no party elections. Only nominated party leaders elect the party candidate. In Mangalore, Janardhan Poojary, who has been defeated four times, was chosen and Harsha (Moily’s own son), who is a social worker and runs a school for orphans, was not found eligible.

I don’t blame Rahul Gandhi because he wanted to do good things but the system did not absorb these. More, you’re asking Rahul Gandhi to drive a car with outdated machinery and old technology. As chairman of the Challenges and Opportunities Before the Congress committee in 2008 — Rahul Gandhi was also a member of that committee — I had given a list of suggestions but these were not implemented.

What were some of these?

I’d, among others, suggested party restructuring, internal party elections, including to the CWC, elections to committees. What we need is a major merciless surgery within the organisation.

What about the coterie that surrounds the Congress vice-president, the non-political appointees who take decisions within the party?

They should only be the aides; main players should be political faces. We should think and act politically.

As the next step forward, will we see another committee, like the (outgoing defence minister A K) Antony committee, to probe the election defeat?

No, committees are not the answer. People should be held accountable. Those who have failed should be kept out. See, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are a unifying factor for the Congress. Rahul should take up the responsibility of the Opposition leader and Sonia Gandhi should be leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. These are necessary to keep the party united. Otherwise, the process of disintegration will follow.

The Congress in the Lok Sabha is now at its weakest, with 44 members. There is also a question mark over the status of Leader of Opposition (LOP).

We don’t lack the potential; we will be the strongest, vocal, articulate and a constructive Opposition. As for the LOP, the 1977 Act provides for recognition of a political party in the Opposition and the Congress is the rightful claimant, as ours is the largest political party in Opposition. The Speaker has to go by the statute book.

In your own state, Karnataka, where the Congress is in power, the party was banking on getting at least 20 seats but faced a setback.

There was a tsunami, so Congress government and all that didn’t matter. However, one needs to point out that the BJP still got only 31 per cent of the vote nationally. It still puts its legitimacy and credibility in question. BJP getting its arithmetic right is not sufficient; the chemistry of the idea of India also has to be right.

There are upcoming Assembly elections to Haryana and Maharashtra.

Yes, that is why the process of restructuring has to start immediately, within 15-20 days, so that the party is ready for elections in these states. It is not the time for a witch-hunt but a major surgery, and we have to be merciless.