There are no Congressmen left in the Congress Party, only traitors and
turncoats?
By Nisser Dias
nisserdias at gmail.com
SMS to 9422437029
“I am a congressman”, “I have always been a congressman at heart”, “I
have been brought up in the congress culture”, “my soul have always been
with the Congress”, these are just some of the favourite lines some of
our MLAs wanting to join the oldest political party of Indian history
chant before their entry. Reciting these lines in public is like an
admission ticket for the traitors who had deserted the party for their
share of loaves and fish from other parties in power.
Unfortunately, none of the so called Congressman in the Congress party
specially in Goa display qualities of the true Congressmen or abide by
the values of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru,
Lokmanya Tilak, Motilal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Gopal Krishna
Gokale, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and so many others.
Today those who call themselves Congressmen do not even come up to the
level of the heels of these great leaders, but whom we have to make do
with are traitors and turncoats always on the lookout for opportunity to
better their lot instead of working for the masses or downtrodden.
History informs us that the Congress was created as a platform for civic
and political dialogue of educated Indians with the British rulers.
Although an organization before, Congress transformed itself into a
political party at the time of independence and became a national
vehicle for social reform and human upliftment.
During Mahatma Gandhi’s tenure as the president of the Indian National
Congress in 1916 to 1920, eligibility for leadership was determined by
how much social work and service a member had done, not by his wealth or
social standing or if one can win elections. Gandhiji strived hard and
allowed ordinary members to voice their dissent, but today we experience
just the opposite, leadership is decided by money and muscle power of
the individuals and a voice of dissent by an ordinary member are looked
upon as indiscipline and are stifled with threats of expulsions and
humiliation.
Mahatma Gandhi gave up wearing western clothes and resorted to wearing
khadi clothes, so also advocated against buying foreign goods, which was
followed by other leaders too, but today we see all the so called
congress leaders in designer wear and their passion for everything
foreign, be it socks to cars is well known and are also flaunted for all
to see.
Moreover, Gandhiji observed abstinence from meat, alcohol, and
promiscuity. But now almost all the congressmen indulge in lavish foods
including meats, alcohol and this can be established on the bills that
the exchequer has to pay and women for them are to be misused and discarded.
Gandhiji also undertook fasting for self-purification and social
protest, but the present bunch of Congressmen must have never heard of
self purification even during lent season but what is sure is that they
indulge in spas in western countries for relaxation and resort to
toppling bids, attack on police stations to mark their protest, whether
it is illegal of illegal is secondary.
The erstwhile congressmen strived to eradicate illiteracy, but you see
that more then half the ministers in Goa government led by the Congress
are illiterates and to top it all the Education minister, who has
recently rejoined the Congress has not even completed his matriculation.
Following Gandhi's footsteps, Jawaharlal Nehru and his family abandoned
their Western-style clothes, possessions and wealthy lifestyle. His
passion for social justice and equality attracted India's Muslims, women
and other minorities.
His policies were to challenge the landed class, the business class. But
today we notice that the Congress leaders in Goa specially giving undue
importance to the business class. Draconian regional plan 2011 was
drafted and TCP Ordinance was sought to be introduced to benefit
builders and estate developers, so was the case with SEZs and even now
the ministers are solidly behind the builders lobby, so much so PWD
minister Churchill Alemao has compared Goans to ‘squealing pigs’ for
objecting to a mega housing project in his constituency.
The degeneration of the Congress started with late Indira Gandhi, she
grew more and more authoritarian, following allegation of rigging of
general election, a court overturned Indira Gandhi’s victory in the
Parliamentary constituency. To counter growing opposition she ordered a
state of National Emergency in 1975, curtailed the powers of the courts
to become a supreme leader.
The current so called Congressmen are trying to follow her footsteps, by
being complete authoritarian or exercising absolute power and this is
what makes them heady to the voices raised by the masses. This is what
true Congressmen like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and others
refrained from doing, they went to the masses and gave them an
opportunity to air their grievances and act on them.
But the current breed of Congressmen want the masses to follow them like
mules but when the people challenge their style of functioning, the so
called leaders cannot simply digest it. And when activists organize a
mass movement, the government unleashes terror to curb the movement – a
typical Indira Gandhi style. In the current scenario in Goa, the craving
for absolute power is so great that legislators have even started to
attack police stations, knowing very well the moment they show inkling
of joining the Congress their acts will be forgiven.
As I said in my earlier column, there is no true Congressman in
assembly, only traitors and turncoats. Each and every congress MLA has
at one point of time or other have defected and some even more then
once. But even then, the Congress party embraces traitors, collaborators
and turncoats to remain in power not with intention of upliftment of
downtrodden or social reform, but to feel its coffers and those of it
members.
It is like committing a mortal sin, by comparing great leaders like
Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lokmanya Tilak, Motilal Nehru, Subhash
Chandra Bose, Gopal Krishna Gokale, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel to the likes of the Congressman in Goa.
It is time that the Congress High Command adopts some criteria to accept
members in the party and more stringent norms should be fulfilled before
party tickets are allotted for candidates to contest. But sadly the
Congress has adopted
conditions like money bags and win-ability as the criteria for its
members. Thus when a politician says he is a Congressman, one has to
take this with a pinch of salt as what the person is trying to say is
that I no longer uphold the morals and values of true Congressman like
Mahatma Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehru. (ENDS)
=====================================================
First published in Gomantak Times, Goa - July 1, 2010
