Will Mallikarjun Kharge make new roads in the Congress?

Would Mallikarjun Kharge make new roads in the Congress is the question rising with many different opinions clashing.

There was some disappointment even among Congress loyalists when senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge was elected as the Congress Party’s new president on Wednesday. Kharge won by defeating party leader Shashi Tharoor. More than 9,500 electoral members from the party voted in the presidential election on Monday.

Shashi Tharoor is erudite, bright, engaging, energetic, and younger,  with an international sophisticated standing as the Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, politician, writer, and public intellectual who has been serving as a Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He was formerly Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and ran for the post of Secretary-General in 2006.  It was with these weighty characteristics that many looked forward to Shashi Tharoor leading the Congress party.

Tharoor would have been an independent thinker and probably not leaned too much on the Gandhis for advice if situations came to that which would have thrown off the Gandhi image to the party.  Of course, right now, the Gandhis are not taking any major role in the party with Rahul Gandhi as MP and Sonia Gandhi completely stepping down from any role, and Priyanka Gandhi not aiming for any big positions.

While accusations are running loud that Mallikarjun Kharge is the Gandhis’ man, it has to be considered that the election was won with over 9000 votes out of which Kharge won getting a sweeping 7,900 votes and Shashi Tharoor gained 1,072 votes.  Obviously, voters in the Congress body were reflectively thinking of the pros and cons of Shashi Tharoor or Mallikarjun Kharge winning.

Here are the Disadvantages of Shashi Tharoor Winning

1. While Shashi Tharoor is a brilliant independent thinker who would have released Congress from the old ties of past politicians as people felt, a lot of Congress workers felt he “was backed by the RSS”.  Whether this is true or not, critics feel that the BJP-RSS had a hold over him.  His Achilles heel is Sunanda  Pushkar’s suicide case.  While he won the case and was freed from its stigma, the shadow of it will always be trailing him to control him and that will weaken Congress as opinions go.
2. Shashi Tharoor often infuriates Congress workers by praising BJP just when party workers are in the middle of a frenzied agitated election and his outreach to them at the moment does damage to him.  Congress workers have become hard and relentless about showing “no mercy to the enemy.”  While the ideology of Congress is liberal and open, the workers feel that their past kindness and ignoring the insults of the BJP to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have done intense damage to the Gandhis.  They are furious that no law suites were filed against BJP offenders when they defamed the Gandhis over the past decade.
3. Another thing Congress workers pointed out was Shashi Tharoor’s speeches were being promoted in London by the BJP IT cell and this did not fall in favor of Tharoor though it was of course not his fault.
4. Recently, in March 2022, Shashi Tharoor while interacting with the media at the Jaipur Literature Festival praised  Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling him ‘a man of tremendous vigour and dynamism’ and gave credit to him for the BJP’s victory in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a man of tremendous vigour and dynamism and has done some things which are very impressive, especially politically. We did not expect him to win with such great margins but he did.” His comments once against enraged Congress workers. What particularly infuriates them is whenever they are busy in the battles of fighting elections, Shashi Tharoor emerges to praise BJP politicians in some way.  While it is looked upon as cordiality, the timings are wrong, but as people say, when is it ever the right timing?
5. BJP workers and the IT cell have engaged in a virulent defamatory campaign against Rahul Gandhi so it does not come well to Congress workers when Shashi Tharoor praises the BJP.
6. Tharoor, being a part of the G-23 movement looking for change had a mark against him as either a person to overthrow the Gandhis or someone who would form his own part so distrust was built along the way.

Disadvantages of Mallikarjun Kharge as Congress President

1. Mallikarjun Kharge being 80 years is not a favorable factor for youth workers who were looking forward to Rahul Gandhi as their leader and others wanted Sachin Pilot.  The youth workers are energetic and need that same vigor on the fields and are used to Rahul Gandhi’s outreaching style of politics on the streets, sitting with them at teashops and listening to them and Kharge dashed their hopes in that respect.
2. Kharge being called Gandhi’s stooge falls negatively against him because once again, people will say Congress is being controlled by the Gandhis by remote. All this could damage the party’s strength.

  Advantages of Mallikarjun Kharge as Congress President

1. It has to be remembered that Kharge won by a massive majority of 7900 votes against Shashi Tharoor’s over 1000 votes. It has to be said it was a fair election because of whether or not Congress members wanted the Gandhis.  They reflectively and carefully considered the pros and cons of both candidates and one can give them that credit. Perhaps people would say they got Kharge in to secure their positions.  Well, if the Gandhis were not on the scene, what can they secure?  Would Tharoor have removed all the people who voted for him if he won? Certainly not.  There was nothing personal to be gained and not even monetary favors because as all know, Congress does not pay as it is not in their style, nor do they have those massive funds.
2. Eighty-year-old Mallikarjun Kharge became MLA for 9 consecutive terms, active in politics for more than 50 years. He recently resigned from the post of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
3.  Mallikarjun Kharge never lost an election even in the popular Modi wave and won 9 consecutive elections so it defines his popularity.
4. Kharge belongs to the Mahadalit community, the son of a laborer who graduated in law and stood for the cause of laborers in his area.  This holds him steadfast in a position of outreach to laborers and the larger masses.  He was a powerful labor union leader of the United Mazdoor Sangh and led several crusades fighting for workers’ rights. In 1969 he joined the Indian National Congress and became the President of the Gulbarga City Congress Committee.
5. Before joining the Congress, Kharge joined the Republican Party of India (RPI) motivated by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.  He started his political career as a student union leader. He was elected as the General Secretary of the Students’ Union at Government College Gulbarga. In 1969, he became the legal advisor of MSK Mills Employees Union.
6. Congress workers call him honest, committed, and a true Gandhian philosopher.  Basically, he is more trusted than Tharoor.
7. Critics say that the Congress election has already brought the party back into the spotlight as it is generating media attention, giving the party greater publicity. The party will now hold the plenary session, where it will elect the new Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body.
8. With the fresh organizational elections and Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress is undergoing a grand revival with new life in the party.

Congress jibes BJP that they are yet to hold internal elections which the BJP has never done.

Mallikarjun Kharge is definitely going to build new roads in Congress along with the massive overhaul.  Congress with their fresh upcoming Congress Working Committee elections and redo, with no compromises or detours will bring the Grand Old Party to the frontlines.  It is very unfair to call Mallikarjun Kharge a mere rubberstamp with his powerful track record of politics and extraordinary accomplishments stamping him richly with his own validation and credentials.