Is it time for a divorce for ‘Mrs RJD’?

Is it time for a divorce for ‘Mrs RJD’?
Manoj Chaurasia

PATNA, June 21:

The Congress no longer wants to be known ~ as it is jokingly referred to in political circles in Bihar ~ as “Mrs RJD”. What a majority of Congressmen are now aggressively demanding in the state, and are building pressure on the party high command for, is an “instant divorce” from Mr Lalu Prasad’s party ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls to revive the party base. In fact, the Congress, which once ruled the state without any challenge from its adversaries, now faces its worst-ever identity crisis. As of now, the Congress has only eight members in the Bihar Assembly and three in the Lok Sabha. Though Bihar is one of the key states, after Uttar Pradesh, in deciding the fate of national politics, the Congress’ presence here has become negligible in the last two decades, which has seen the rise of regional parties like the RJD. Although the RJD is no longer in power, the RJD’s leadership, Congressmen allege, has been trying its best to pre-empt any revival of the Congress, which would marginalise regional political forces. During his recent trip to the state, the Congress high command’s emissary Mr Iqbal Singh was flooded with queries from dedicated party leaders and grass-root workers in districts like Patna, Muzaffarpur and Gaya on the matter. Mr Singh, who was here to feel the pulse of the common Congressmen and boost their drooping morale ahead of the next parliamentary elections, was stunned by the workers' rebellious mood. The workers were annoyed over the way the Congress repeatedly chose to ally with the RJD or dance to its tunes during the last 20 years, yet gained nothing. They rued that the party high command had simply ignored the desires of the common workers and went with the whims of senior leaders who themselves have never won the Lok Sabha polls. “The Congress joined hands with the RJD to keep the communal forces at bay but in the process the party had to pay a very heavy price. The Congress was reduced to a defunct state, it lost its identity and path, the mass base shrunk over the years and the common Congressmen lived in utter neglect and oblivion. The Congress high command should instantly break alliance with the RJD if it wants to improve the party tally in the forthcoming polls,” a senior party leader Mr Balram Sharma said. Mr Sharma, one of the vice-presidents of the Gaya District Congress Committee who has been associated with the party for over a decade, asked, “The high command’s emissary (Mr Singh) asked us to visit villages and inform the voters about the schemes being launched by the Congress government at the centre but the main question here is that why the common party men (should bother)? What benefits did we get from the party although the Congress has been in power at the Centre for the last four years and also it was part of the RJD-led coalition government that ruled Bihar for 15 years?” Although the Congress heads the UPA government at the centre, the major benefits have gone to coalition partners like the RJD and LJP whose leaders have taken personal credit for the turnaround of the Indian railways and steel ministry. In addition, the common man is not bothered who is in power. "They simply want good roads and launch of development schemes and both are taking shape," say party leaders.According to party leaders, the Congress will not survive if it doesn't break out of the RJD shadow. They point out that in the past 15 years of its rule, the RJD has often targeted the upper castes, and this has tainted the Congress as well in the eyes of the latter because of its alliance with the RJD. Bhumihars, for instance, have distanced themselves from the Congress and in due course became closer to the BJP. “The (Bhumihar) may change their loyalty only when the Congress bid good bye to the RJD”, said another senior The new generation has virtually forgotten the Congress in Bihar and it needs really hard work by the party leaders to revive the party in the state, is their verdict.