The suave Congress elder, with years of Rajya Sabha in his resume, apparently has had enough of the high command’s acclaimed superior airs. According to Anand Sharma’s conscience, his “self-respect, which is non-negotiable” took a massive hit April 26 when the Himachal Pradesh Congress Steering Committee was formed, and it dawned on him that he hadn’t been consulted on important issues by the Congress leadership in a coon’s age. Perhaps, he took a cue from fellow stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad who, too, had felt ignored and had refused to be the Jammu & Kashmir Congress Campaign Committee Chairman.

That’s two down (gone?) from the ‘Group of 23’, or the G-23. More of the G-23 could be nudged to follow suit if that was indeed the high command’s intent. It is not that only Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad have a fatal attraction for ‘self-respect’. Other G-23 stars, like Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, and the Anandpur Sahib MP, Manish Tewari, might also take the self-respect route to oblivion.

That placed on record, let’s not escape the reality that the Anand Sharma display of spine tells the story of how far from the hump, the Congress has travelled over the past couple of years. Anand Sharma is a symptom of the grand old party’s slow demise. Actually, ‘slow’ is figurative, the reality is speed is picking up. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma were symbolic of the Congress party’s past longevity.

But it is the present that matters for the Congress. For it’s in the here and now that things are happening in the Congress, and with the Congress. eight years ago, who would have thought there would be a G-23 racking up trouble for the Gandhi family? Ten years of Manmohan Singh and eight of Narendra Modi have bled the Congress of half its life-breath. Some Congress leaders, the BJP lured to its fold. Like Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma whose visceral hatred for the Gandhi family led him to switch sides.

Now, there's the 2022 phenomenon of Congress leaders refusing to cooperate with the Congress high command. A sort of ‘boycott’, an example of the 'cancel culture'. Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma are the tip of the disgruntlement iceberg pulling down the Congress high command; the unabashed and unapologetic disgruntlement flagged by the symbolic exodus of the G-23.

Not surprisingly, the Group of 23 is not in the mood to reverse, even if poised at the brink. Long years of blind acquiescence to the high command’s wishes had built a wall of steel around them. These were people who had witnessed Congress steel itself against setbacks. Eight years ago, they were running the ship with sails billowing. But today, there is no leadership to hold the ship from capsizing in choppy seas. Ghiulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma are equipped with the antenna-equivalent to sixth sense the proximity of the Bermuda Triangle!

Sharma, in his missive to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, pointed out the number of times he was kept in the dark on key meetings to discuss election strategies. He topped off the letter with “my self-respect is non-negotiable.” That said, he rectified with the concession that he would campaign for party candidates. What if the party candidates, whoever they would be, may not want him to campaign for them? What if the high command takes umbrage?

Anand Sharma, as of Sunday, August 21, was more non-grata than persona in the Congress. The perennial elder since 1984 had never dared to fight a ground election. What will Sharma know about contesting and winning elections when he himself hadn’t ever contested a Lok Sabha or assembly election since 1982? Anand Sharma is the political equivalent of the keyboard warrior. It was his proximity to the Gandhi family that kept him in good spirits, and in good office.

But his fortune declined with the decline of the Congress, and he blames the leadership for the flagging fortunes of the Congress. Ghulam Nabi Azad was Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha with Anand Sharma as his trusted deputy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had eulogised Azad and had awarded him a Padma Bhushan. But there has been no such honour for Anand Sharma.

Both Azad and Sharma had shown their disrespect for the Congress high command by citing hits to their own self-respect. This, when the Congress is already in desperate straits in Himachal Pradesh, which goes to polls later this year. This, also when party organizational elections are round the corner, and the Gandhi family is in no position politically to make a difference. Reports say, the G-23 is regrouping ahead of the election for the Congress president’s post. What will Anand Sharma, and G-23 do?(IPA Service)