When nothing else is working, the Congress has come up with a fresh idea to instil some blood into his party's anaemic health and it is about the All India Professionals Congress or AIPC. Congress MP and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor has been appointed as its first national chairman.
The goal of the body is to provide a platform to people from various walks of life and utilise their potentials to make a difference to the country's politics and policy-making. It is not unexpected from a man of Tharoor's stature to come up with such an innovative initiative.
The Congress today, completely outsmarted by a much more energetic BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, needs to draw inspiration from the apolitical to regain its lost socio-political ground. The Congress is basically trying to build a public platform and opinion, as it had done during the British reign, to evolve as a truly commoners' party to erect an alternative to Modified India.
So good so far. The idea that this platform will not entertain divisive factors like caste and religion is particularly a welcome one. India needs to keep its pluralistic democracy alive by discovering a new space for the liberals.
Will AIPC be another Aam Aadmi Party?
But there are two questions and they make us think about the AIPC's future.
First is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The AAP's birth and the movement against corruption preceding it just a few years ago were also seen with equal interest.
The outfit led by Arvind Kejriwal, currently the chief minister of Delhi, was also seen as a platform for the apolitical to revolutionise India and achieve a new country where the evil shadow of the political would no longer loom. The AAP made its electoral debut in the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections and made history.
However, it began to lose momentum soon after making history and today, less than four hours since its memorable debut, the AAP is just another political party, displaying the same ailments of corruption charges and internal feuds.
Although it is in power in Delhi, thanks to its win in the 2015 Assembly elections, but the humiliation in the civic elections in Delhi earlier this year and the rebellion following it have put a big question over its future. The dream called AAP has been shattered and the political has devoured the apolitical in no time.
Should Rahul Gandhi stay away from AIPC?
The second concern is the presence of Rahul Gandhi. Even if an erudite leader like Tharoor has been chosen as the first chief of the AIPC, one suspects how many of the country's professionals will be inspired by the Congress vice-president to join the body. Rahul has so far failed to establish himself as any sort of role model for the young professionals of the country who have found PM Modi a better bet and it is difficult to assume that the AIPC would be able to make any difference.
Tharoor himself is no mass leader either and the controversy over the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar is a determinant factor for many Indians when it comes to supporting him. One can expect support for the AIPC from academics, students and scholars because of Tharoor but will many of those, who still believe Modi is the best choice India has this moment, care to give the AIPC much of a chance? Does the Congress even have any effective leadership to help this platform grow in weight?
New experiments are always welcome in a democracy. It is the quest for new ideas that keeps democracies running and the AIPC's birth is also significant. But that could be all about its story.
