Congress seniors on collision course with Rahul Gandhi, again

Criticise dharna by Youth Congress chief appointed by him

The Congress party officially lauded its youth wings’ recent dharna outside the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi. But the protest, led by Indian Youth Congress’ (IYC’s) newly appointed chief Amrinder Singh Raja Brar, does not seem to have gone down well with seniors in the Congress.

Notably, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, incharge of the Youth Congress, had appointed Brar IYC’s chief for his “agitation”-style politics. However, a section of Congress senior leaders disapprove of such “protests and agitation”. If the Congress’ front organisation adopts such tactics, there will be no difference between the brands of politics of BJP and the Congress, they say.

One such senior, Janardan Dwivedi, the organisational incharge of the All-India Congress Committee, even voiced his views at a gathering of general secretaries on Monday. He is believed to have berated the IYC members for their action and told the general secretaries such behaviour should not be repeated.

Dwivedi had criticised such tactics earlier as well — when the Mahila Congress had resorted to protests in front of the BJP headquarters.

Brar, who took charge on Monday and delivered a stirring speech at the IYC office, urging members to resort to agitation and protests against the anti-poor and anti-farmer policies of the BJP-led central government, followed it up by leading a protest march to the BJP headquarters. When the police swung into action, the IYC activists, along with Brar and former IYC chief Ashok Tanwar, courted arrest. The Congress officially hailed this incident — on its social media handles, as well as through spokespersons

“The Congress has a history, and an ideology. It cannot behave in a manner similar to that adopted by BJP and its chief Amit Shah... using the language and action of violence,” said a leader, swaying his head in disapproval.

Rahul Gandhi, despite becoming vice-chairman of the party, had retained the charge of IYC and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) with himself. He has always referred to IYC as his laboratory for political experiments. His methods of wooing young leaders and inducting new faces as office bearers, sidelining senior party members, has ruffled many a feather among party elders earlier as well.

While seniors do not want the Congress to be associated with “agitationist” style of politics, younger leaders disagree. Former Youth Congress chief and now Congress spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala, is clear the Youth Congress is mainly the “agitation plank” of the party and takes up people’s issues aggressively. “The Youth Congress has and will always use agitation as its action plan,” says Surjewala.

Since the days of Sanjay Gandhi, says Surjewala, IYC has provided new leadership to the main organisation. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari — all former Union ministers and now senior leaders — have emerged from the ranks of the Youth Congress.