In an effort to revive the party’s spirits after another demoralising electoral debacle, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said that “no failure is permanent”.
Addressing party workers at a function to mark the 25th death anniversary of her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, she said: “A success achieved by discarding basic principles does not stay for long. If one sticks to principles, no failure is permanent.”
Ms. Gandhi’s words of encouragement comes two days after the party lost its governments in Assam and Kerala and was part of the losing coalitions in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu: the only State which the party won was Puducherry in alliance with the DMK.
As on many occasions of similar crisis, the party looked to the past.
In an oblique reference to the growing intolerance in the country, Ms. Gandhi said: “We have to compensate for each drop of Rajiv’s blood on Indian soil by promoting and strengthening social harmony.”
Indeed, posters that came up overnight in Lutyens’ Delhi referred to Rajiv Gandhi’s sacrifice: “Sara lahoo badan ka zamin kp pila diya/ hampar vata ka karz tha, hamne chukka diya [My blood has watered the soil of this country/ and thus I paid all my debts to my country].”
Rahul absent
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who has been ill for some days, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Union Minister A.K. Antony were conspicuous by their absence at the event organised by the Youth Congress.
The event was attended by senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Digvijaya Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Ajit Jogi. Ms. Gandhi said: “We will have to follow his values of simplicity, modernity, harmony and sensitivity. That will be our true homage to him. Only then we will be able to say that Rajiv is in us.”
Earlier in the day, Rajiv Gandhi was remembered on his 25th death anniversary, with several leaders paying homage at his memorial here.
