Former President Pranab Mukherjee is justified in claiming that the Congress has the ability to adapt, adjust and rejuvenate (‘The Wednesday Interview’, October 18). But will the Congress politically put to use that ability? One has doubts. For a party which refuses to learn lessons from its miserable defeat in 2014 , rejuvenation is near impossible. The umbrella character of the Congress has considerably reduced and it is surviving in the shade of the dynasty. The party believes that secularism is just about minority appeasement and protection. Secularism is also about majority promotion and does not mean Hindutva. About the post of Prime Minister, perhaps Mr. Mukherjee realised that “a bad intellectual and a good politician have one feature in common: for both, everything is negotiable”. Manmohan Singh chose to walk up the political path, “swapping his philosopher’s gown for a kingly robe”. The interview shows that Mr. Mukherjee will also be remembered as a “citizen elite”.
C.V. Venugopalan,
Palakkad
