There may be doubts about Rahul Gandhi’s leadership qualities, but India’s Congress Party should not keep all its eggs in the Sonia basket.
Here is why.
It will be foolish for those seeking status quo to visualise short-term gains, like adding a dozen or so seats to its current Lok Sabha tally, in 2019. The party should focus on 2024 by when the Narendra Modi government is expected to face voter fatigue.
Motilal Vora, born in 1928, is the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC’s) affable treasurer, and the oldest functioning Congressman. Veteran leader and former union minister Karan Singh is 84, former prime minister Manmohan Singh is 83, so is Mohsina Kidwai, a Rajya Sabha member of parliament (MP). Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh is 81, and former union minister and governor Shivraj Patil is 80.
HR Bhardwaj, former law minister and governor, is 78—so is Rajya Sabha MP Vayalar Ravi. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit is just behind at 77. Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh is 73. The latter two have recently jointed a pro-Sonia chorus, heralding for the first time, a proxy factional war in the Gandhi family, pitting the mother against the son.
Half a dozen party veterans are octogenarians, a dozen are septuagenarians and about two dozen sexagenarians. The remaining fall into the category of old-aged, that is between the age of 50 and 60.
To cut a long story short, by 2024, when the Congress hopes to make a comeback, the 130-year-old party will literally become a geriatric ward in a country predominantly populated by the 18- to 35-year-olds.
Sonia Gandhi, the party’s supreme leader, now 69, will be 78 by the time Lok Sabha polls are held in 2024. Other worthies like Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath, Prithviraj Chavan, Ajit Yogi, KV Thomas, PC Chacko, all pushing 70 now, will be nearing 80 in 2024. Seniors such as Janardan Dwivedi, Vayalar Ravi, Oscar Fernandes, Veerappa Moily, Madhusudan Mistry, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Amarinder Singh will cross the age of 80 by then.
