Opportunism or restlessness? Why is Congress' GenNext abandoning ship?

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (File image)

Hours before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on January 25, senior Congress leader RPN Singh changed his Twitter bio to: ‘My motto India, First, Always.’ This change prompts the question: Wasn’t this his motto while he was in the Congress, or when he was a Union minister?

After joining the BJP, Singh mentioned that the Congress had ceased to be a party that it was before. Though he didn’t elaborate, Singh is right in one aspect — that the Congress is no longer a ruling party, and its chances of regaining power at the Centre as of now appear very dim.

Singh along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot, and Milind Deora were ministers in the second term of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from 2009 to 2014, and an integral part of the much-vaunted Team Rahul Gandhi. It was Gandhi who had pushed hard for their inclusion in the Council of Ministers led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. These scions of prominent political families were much-feted as the Congress’ ‘GenNext’.

So, what made the young brigade jump ship? Were they sidelined in the grand old party after the BJP came to power and Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014? Scindia was appointed general secretary, a key post in the Congress, and given the charge of Uttar Pradesh along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Similarly, Singh looked after Jharkhand and Prasada handled party affairs in West Bengal. The three were also inducted into the all-powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC).

It is well-known that Scindia wanted to be the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh after the Congress came to power in 2018, but the post went to Kamal Nath. Scindia was, however, assured by Gandhi that his patience would be rewarded in the future. Scindia ran out of patience and joined the BJP in March 2020.

Similarly in Rajasthan, Pilot was keen to become the Chief Minister, and again Gandhi played the peacemaker. Ashok Gehlot was anointed Chief Minister, and Pilot his deputy.

Scindia succeeded in bringing down Nath’s government in Madhya Pradesh, while Pilot gave the party leadership a real scare in July 2020.

Months later, Scindia was rewarded with a Cabinet berth in the Modi government. Pilot, however, had to relinquish both his deputy chief ministership as well as the state president’s post.

Soon after, Prasada followed Scindia to the BJP, and was inducted as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.

Both Prasada and Singh felt that that they were being deliberately kept out of the party affairs in their home state. The two had conveyed their resentment over the appointment of Ajay Kumar Lallu as the UP Congress chief in October 2019.

The restlessness of the Congress’ GenNext had visibly increased after the BJP retained power in 2019, when the Congress barely managed to cross the 50 seat mark in the Lok Sabha. They saw no future for themselves or of the party, and thus began exploring options. Perhaps party positions were no longer lucrative.

The breakdown of communication channels in the Congress, coupled with confusion over the leadership issue, seems to have hastened their exit.

That said, these young leaders will certainly be accused of exhibiting double standards, and opportunism as they had always considered the BJP ideologically untouchable, and a political pariah. But now they have no qualms in joining its ranks.

Aurangzeb Naqshbandi is a senior journalist who has been covering the Congress for 15 years, and is currently associated with Pixstory.

Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.