Sonia's committees not taking shape

NEW DELHI: The Congress is beginning to induce drowsiness in all those who have to think about it as part of their professional duties.

The last major policy pronouncement was the feeble suggestion, made in Parliament, that the government include Pakistan in its proposed discussions with the Hizbul. Apart from that nothing.

The party chief's bright idea, at one stage, was to set up committees on all sorts of subjects so that she could have a considered opinion on matters of concern to the party and to the nation and maybe also pitch opposite factions against each other so that all tricky questions get smothered for good.

For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, a coordinating committee was set up which included Jitendra Prasada, ND Tewari and Ram Naresh Yadav as well as the man they can't stand, Salman Khurshid, with the result that all matters are now regularly referred to the All India Congress Committee's general secretary in charge of the state, Mohsina Kidwai.

This is a pretty good way of ensuring that all crucial decisions are taken from 10 Janpath. As for the other big committee set up, the one on economic reforms headed by Pranab Mukherjee, it pits known liberalization haters such as Mani Shankar Aiyar, Vyalar Ravi and Priya Ranjan Das Munshi against those who see its benefits, like Digvijay Singh and SM Krishna. Mukherjee comes, delivers a lecture on the subject and goes away. Compare that with the uproar that a party like the Communist Party of India-Marxist is witnessing over its draft program.

People may not be taking the exercise seriously for two very good reasons. One, no one has heard anything about the reports submitted by the committees set up earlier on ethics, relief work and the implementation of the Panchmarhi resolutions. Two, trying to give a very deliberate pro-poor twist to an agenda that is dictated by economic common sense and, therefore, cannot be rejected in its entirety, is proving to be a task beyond the intellectual capacity of those chosen to do so. The one man who could have -- Manmohan Singh -- saw where the whole thing was headed and kept out of it. This is further proof of his intelligence and integrity.

The other big idea was to have organizational polls so that the real strength of party leaders could be objectively calculated. Only, the principle behind the whole exercise was defeated by the resignation of Ahmed Patel, who had won his seat on the Congress Working Committee in a straight fight and had the backing of his state unit, thanks to someone who, apparently, called the central leadership of the party "a bunch of jokers". Which is all right with us, but shouldn't be with the leadership in question.

The nominated posts to the CWC will apparently be used to satisfy a few disgruntled elements, like Prasada, and those like Arjun Singh, Oscar Fernandes and Natwar Singh, whose only political qualification seems to be that they put in regulation hours at 10 Janpath. Inner-party democracy has its limits.

-- The Statesman / Asia News Network