Within hours of 14 Congress secretaries writing to party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, lamenting that party seniors were publicly airing their views on the organisation and thus harming it, the latter hit back on Thursday in a counter-gag order, advising the youthful functionaries “that in future they should also refrain from giving such advice publicly through media.”
Three months after the Congress plunged to a historic low in the general elections, the battle between those backing party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and those who anticipate they could soon lose their posts in case the much anticipated generational shift takes place has been joined. Even though it is being described as a face-off between the Young Turks and the Old Guard, it is, in fact, more complicated.
The secretaries, party sources said, would not have taken on their seniors without a signal from those more powerful in the AICC, hinting that it could be 69-year-old General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry, a Rahul Gandhi favourite. Mr. Mistry publicly took on Mr. Dwivedi and another general secretary Digvijaya Singh on August 28, asking why they had been critical of the party in public when they had access to the top leadership.
Thursday’s letter from the party secretaries to Mr. Dwivedi – with the request to send it on other party seniors – echoes Mr. Mistry’s sentiments.
A third section in the party unhappy with all the dirty linen being washed in public was scathing of the young secretaries, going so far as to describe them as “sycophants” without a base.
While most preferred to remain anonymous, Mohammad Shamim Akthar, an elected AICC member from Bihar said, “Neither the Old Guard nor the so-called youthful over enthusiastic secretaries of the AICC have exclusive right over the leadership of Rahulji — it’s the entire Congress of all age groups who he leads. Such people are neither helping the party nor strengthening Rahulji — they are helping the BJP that would like to present us as a divided house.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Dwivedi forwarded the young secretaries’ letter to all Congress Working Committee members with an advisory that their views should be taken “with due sensitivity”, adding that he was responding to them separately, “advising that in future they should also refrain from giving such advice publicly through media.”
Senior party spokesperson Salman Khurshid chose to gloss over the issue, saying no gag order was issued. Downplaying the face-off, he said, “I don’t think it [letter by the secretaries] was in the form or nature of a disagreement Since the media is not getting much news from the BJP, it is more interested in this letter. These are internal management issues.”
