National

Mark Antony’s Word

The introspection in the Antony Committee Report is complete, but will the party follow up on it?

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Mark Antony’s Word
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Set up in the wake of the Congress’ worst-ever electoral performance, the panel’s brief was to pinpoint the causes for its decisive defeat. Its reported findings: in the perception of the party’s defeated candidates, office-bearers and workers, the Congress leadership had failed to deliver. It had misread public sentiment, entered into questionable political alliances and mismanaged elections. And, although only a handful said so, Sonia’s foreign origin was an issue.

Predictably, despite the fact that the report was drafted by 10, Janpath ultra-loyalist and party MP, Mani Shankar Aiyer, it’s been kept under wraps. The report was written by Aiyer within the fortress-like confines of 10, Janpath, and a single copy printed for her eyes only. Even the Congress Working Committee will be permitted access to the report only at her discretion.

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The secrecy, obviously prompted by the uncomfortable nature of its contents, hasn’t gone down well with CWC members. They had taken offence at Aiyer’s reported statement that they would be asked to depose before the committee. "The panel has been appointed by the CWC. It reports to the CWC, not the other way around," fumed one member. Things settled down only after Aiyer addressed a polite letter to CWC members, clarifying that they were welcome to present their views if they chose to do so.

Sources who served on the "introspection" committee, as the panel was dubbed, said that of those interviewed-some 1,200 written responses were received-a majority felt the Congress had erred in its stances on Kargil, Bihar and Haryana and most of all, in destabilising the previous regime. The party had gone back on the policies adopted at Pachmarhi and paid the price. These follies, however, were laid at the door of the "coterie" which had "misguided" Sonia.

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Given the fact that respondents were personally interviewed and their names and designations put on the proformas which they filled out, the promise of confidentiality didn’t carry much conviction. "You have to evaluate the responses in that light," said a committee member. That even seven per cent of those interviewed went out on a limb to say Sonia’s foreign origin was an issue is being seen as significant. Most of these were reportedly from Rajasthan and Maharashtra, where it is believed to have had a significant impact. Some members of the panel feel this finding should be viewed in perspective: "The NCP was born out of the foreign origin issue and it cost the Congress heavily in Maharashtra. In that sense, it was a major issue there."

Infighting, poor media management, ideological confusion and misappropriation of poll funds were among the other issues raised. In one state, committee sources say, workers accused the PCC president of permitting his paramour to become de facto chief of the state unit.

To the committee’s credit, it has made a set of 20 recommendations, calling for sweeping changes relating to inner-party democracy and poll management. It has yet again skirted the issue of leadership but suggested a drastic overhaul of the party organisation-the CWC and the PCCS. "The Congress president is sacrosanct. All changes start at the second rung," commented a Congress leader.

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Perhaps the most significant recommendation, sources say, is that distribution of tickets be decentralised. Contrary to the current practice of the central leadership allocating tickets in consultation with the PCC chiefs, the panel has said that 75 per cent of tickets be distributed on the recommendations of the district Congress committee. The PCCS should have a say in the remaining 20 per cent, the CWC in five per cent. An autonomous body along the lines of the Congress Election Authority to oversee the process has reportedly been mooted.

The practice of passing one-line resolutions authorising the Congress president to decide the question of CLP or PCC leadership is a cop-out, the report says. Unable to resolve internal differences or unwilling to take the responsibility of deciding on a leader, state units tend to pass the buck to the high command. A point which has been raised in the past, to little effect.

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The report also calls for ideological clarity particularly on economic issues and moots a brain-storming session along the lines of the one held in Pachmarhi last year. "We have to differentiate ourselves from the BJP," observed a committee member.

"This was an excellent exercise. We covered the entire country, state by state and obtained grassroots feedback," observed another committee member, expressing the hope that it wouldn’t stop there. When the Antony committee submitted its report to the Congress president last week, they pointed out that similar efforts in the past had come to naught. "I am going to take action," Sonia promised them.

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The fact remains that this is the second time within a year that the Congress has undertaken such an exercise. A task force was set up under the chairmanship of Purno Sangma, since expelled from the party, and came up with a detailed blueprint for reviving the Congress. The CWC adopted the report but it was never implemented.

Likewise, the Pachmarhi document was accepted by the party as a policy framework for the coming years. It called for elected PCC presidents; within a fortnight, three were imposed by the high command. It mooted compact PCCS; jumbo committees were appointed. It said the Congress ought not to seem power-hungry; it toppled the Vajpayee government. It eschewed opportunistic alliances; the party negotiated "adjustments" with the AIADMK and the RJD.

Sonia, a CWC member admitted, was quick to appoint committees which came up with good reports, but hasn’t been able to implement a single one. Most of them wind up in a dingy room in the karamchari block at the AICC headquarters-the Antony report, too, could well be consigned there.

Senior party leaders say Sonia is in no position to make drastic changes. Nor will the coterie allow her to. "Those who regard 10, Janpath as their constituency are not going to permit decentralisation of power. Distribution of party tickets and unearned appointments to party positions is where their importance lies," says a senior MP.

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Besides, the poor election results have weakened Sonia’s authority to the extent that she hasn’t been able to contain dissidence in any of the Congress-ruled states, or even in the PCCS.

Certainly, Aiyer’s response to persistent media questions on the report doesn’t augur well for its future: "All those who are in the Congress understand that Sonia Gandhi is our trumpcard and just because you in the media say so, we are not going to discard our trumpcard." Like the party he represents and the leader whose best interests he claims to serve, Aiyer is in urgent need of a reality check.

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