These Congress leaders left for greener pastures. And were following in the footsteps of among others Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, and RPN Singh. Under the circumstances, the party should be grateful to those who chose to remain despite the party’s ruined prospects. Chances are of more exits in the days to come.

This, despite the fact that the “high command” doesn’t seem to care who left, and who joined. Not that there is a clamour to join. The Udaipur Chintan Shivir promised to promote talent under age 50, and Hardik Patel is only 28. Scindia, Prasada, RPN and Sushmita Dev were all under 50 when they ditched Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

One thing common for these “young leaders’ was that they had little or nil prospects if they stayed on in the Congress. Their career growths were more or less on standstill, and the party high command (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi) were unavailable to them to take their several grievances to.

Also, the little said about Congress leaders close to Sonia and Rahul, the better. Randeep Singh Surjewala and KC Venugopal, to name a couple, their role is to keep the high command and the rest of the Congress party apart, and separate. If, and when the Congress history of these times is written, these powerful satraps wouldn’t fare well in the writing when read between the lines.

That said, did Hardik Patel leave under pressure from the BJP/Modi government? True, the grapevine says that as many as 32 cases are lodged against Hardik. The Congress believes Hardik had no option but to ditch the Congress. One report says that Hardik’s English is so damn illiterate that BJP IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya had to pen Patel’s letter to Sonia Gandhi!

Another version is that if Patel was being blackmailed and coerced, what was he waiting for, for so long? This counter argument, tendered by apologists of Hardik, relies solely on Hardik Patel’s political ambitions to explain his exit. There is also this yet another argument that Patel was disillusioned with the “lazy work culture” of the Congress leadership.

Top Congress leaders were most of the time too busy feeding gossip and “chicken sandwich” to the Congress “highest command.” And, don’t forget, the neta—irrespective of party—wants to be on a career growth escalator, just like anybody in the executive, and in the private sector.

That being said, Hardik Patel’s is a curious case. His grouse was that his designation “working president” didn’t work for him. Mostly because he was largely ignored by Rahul Gandhi. Of course, the party thought he was in too much of a hurry to climb the ladder. Hardik wanted a Rajya Sabha seat, but the party thought he hadn’t spent enough time in the Congress to deserve a Rajya Sabha ticket.

Besides, unlike Jignesh Mevani and Kanhaiya Kumar, who were valued for their ideological steadfastness, Hardik Patel was trusted like a fox. For the Congress, Hardik thought more like the rightwing. There was always the smell of the BJP on, and around him. His letter to the Congress President is a total giveaway to the hidden right-winger in him.

It reads like Hardik had little confidence in the Congress, and straight out of a BJP ‘Chintan Shivir’—“The Congress became an obstacle on several issues on which the country was demanding a solution. Whether it is the Shri Ram temple, Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens, Article 370 or GST the Congress was an obstacle… People in almost every state rejected the Congress because the party could not even present its roadmap for the people.”

What, according to Hardik Patel, should be the Congress party’s “roadmap” for the people? The question should not be dismissed outright, just like that. The shape it is in, the Congress cannot afford to stand on prestige. If anything, the Udaipur Chintan Shivir taught that it should consider every input, even if it makes certain votebanks unhappy, that comes the party’s way.

The Gujarat assembly elections are round the corner. For the BJP, with the Congress snapping at its heels and the AAP dogging it every step of the way, it is a make or break election. If BJP loses Gujarat in the next assembly poll, Narendra Modi’s image will get a big hit on thieve of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.. BJP is going the whole hog to retain Gujarat. Hardik Patel’s exit and continuous in fighting in Gujarat Congress shows that the GoP is ill prepared to meet BJP challenge. (IPA Service)