New Delhi, March 28: The Aam Aadmi Party crisis has triggered a debate in the Congress about leadership skills and political maturity, with subtle references to the inflexible attitude of Rahul Gandhi who is poised to take over the party's reins from mother Sonia.
Recalling Rahul's remark that the Congress had a lot to learn from the AAP, some seniors wondered whether he would realise that the answers to most of his questions could be found in the Congress's long history rather than in the capers of newbies.
"What should we learn from this party? We can learn from Nehru," a Congress veteran told The Telegraph, referring to how India's first Prime Minister had handled his differences with Vallabhbhai Patel and even Gandhi.
Some others like Jairam Ramesh too had thought that the AAP had new lessons in politics for the Congress.
While one Congress lobby ascribed the victories of Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal to their ability to sell dreams to a population disenchanted with the Congress, many others thought politics had changed forever.
The Congress's own history has, of course, been ridden with infighting and splits since Independence, with the ranks of those walking away including the socialists and stalwarts like Acharya Kripalani and C. Rajagopalachari.
Later, Indira Gandhi became the cause of a break-up in 1969. In recent decades, V.P. Singh quit the Congress after differences with Rajiv Gandhi, and Sharad Pawar was thrown out with his friends when he broached Sonia's foreign origin.
Mamata Banerjee left because of Bengal's political dynamics. Even Pranab Mukherjee and P. Chidambaram broke away for some time.
But some of these splits happened when the party system was still developing in India, some because dynastic control had put abnormal strain on the organisation, and others because of differing political outlooks or clashing ambitions.
The AAP split, within weeks of coming to power with a huge mandate, appears to owe mainly to personal distrust and ambition.
Kejriwal in Delhi on Saturday (Prem Singh); File picture of Rahul Gandhi
Congress members who believe their party has nothing to learn from the AAP are now citing the latter's "lack of a defined ideology or economic policy", tendency to "promise the moon" and "introduction of the sting culture, encouraging everyone to spy and report".
A few Congress seniors are privately arguing that if Rahul has to learn anything from the AAP, it's the importance of team spirit and a sense of accommodation.
"The speculation about a generation war in our party is unfortunate and could trigger a split," a former MP said.
"Rahul should address this concern and send out the message that everybody is valuable. The Sonia model of politics alone can sustain this party, the Indira model cannot."
Sonia has tolerated factionalism and dissent. She did sack the veteran K. Karunakaran but only after all attempts at reconciliation failed.
Pawar, Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar were forced out because the dominant faction believed the party needed the Nehru-Gandhis and must therefore squash the murmurs about Sonia's foreign origin.
Rahul loyalists, though, dismiss the doubts over his statement, saying it came in a particular context.
"In the 2013 Delhi elections, the AAP surprised everybody and Rahulji had praised only its mobilisation strategy," said Ajay Maken, the Delhi politician who has to directly combat Arvind Kejriwal.
"Kejriwal was at the time talking of internal democracy, about people (having) a say in decision-making, and about transparency in governance. Nobody knew that this was all a farce."
Maken added: "Who knew that the AAP would abandon all its lofty promises so soon? They sold tickets in the election, planned horse-trading, and used sting (operations), calumny and violence against their founder members."
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