The Congress Thread: Tracking India's Grand Old Party

[Ghost Buster]

The last name is the appeal ... there is no shortage of absolutely gullible people in India who believe that this family is the one that got India independence ' date=' stood up to evil Pakis and Cheeni's and what have you. Some even connect this family to MK Gandhi. Such is the brainwashing and it showed when they won soon after 26/11. Never write this scumbag party out ... they are masters of politics.[/quote'] Yeah.. and this is taught us through our curriculum that congress got us independence and won us wars against pakis while the people worked for independence were the common men. We lost to chinese becoz of the foolish nehru and he also played a part in dividing india which is the truth. Congress has never united but divided our country.

[Sachin=GOD]

So pappu is the official PM candidate ? The thing that bothers me about Congress rule is that how even upright people like Manmohan Singh are reduced to doing Ji-Huzoor .

Not a chance. I am certain that by now even Pappu and Sonia Gandhi (along with the common Cong workers and the 2nd rung leaders) have realized that he is simply not good enough to be even the PM candidate, let alone PM. If they name him the PM candidate then I won't be surprised in a HUGE win for BJP because even a lot of people who oppose Modi strongly will vote for BJP to prevent Rahul from ever becoming PM.

[gs]

Not a chance. I am certain that by now even Pappu and Sonia Gandhi (along with the common Cong workers and the 2nd rung leaders) have realized that he is simply not good enough to be even the PM candidate' date=' let alone PM. If they name him the PM candidate then I won't be surprised in a HUGE win for BJP because even a lot of people who oppose Modi strongly will vote for BJP to prevent Rahul from ever becoming PM.[/quote'] Pappu is the Sarah Palin of India!! :giggle:

[diga]

Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday said the party's decision to make Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister after 2009 elections was a mistake and said he looked forward to the party losing in the 2014 general elections. In an interview to a news channel, Aiyar said he had opposed the idea to make Manmohan Singh the prime minister but Congress leaders did not listen to him Earlier in an op-ed piece in The Indian Express, he said "as a Congressman, I greatly welcome Sunday's electoral reverses". "I also look forward to our probably occupying the opposition benches after the mid-2014 Lok Sabha elections," he said "The reason for this paradox, he said, "is that for at least the last quarter of a century, my party has been in desperate need of a root and branch restructuring." He said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi wanted to transform the party and "the distraction of running a government will impede the long-term restoration of the party". He said a break from governance would be "a welcome break that could be used to refit Congress as the nation's natural party of governance in the 21st century". "The current and prospective electoral reverses for the Congress are thus Rahul's golden opportunity," he said. Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mani-shankar-aiyar-2014-polls-congress-in-opposition/1/328708.html

[cowboysfan]

Not a chance. I am certain that by now even Pappu and Sonia Gandhi (along with the common Cong workers and the 2nd rung leaders) have realized that he is simply not good enough to be even the PM candidate' date=' let alone PM. If they name him the PM candidate then I won't be surprised in a HUGE win for BJP because even a lot of people who oppose Modi strongly will vote for BJP to prevent Rahul from ever becoming PM.[/quote'] is there really that kind of animosity towards Rahul? is it because he has no charishma or looks like he really doesnt want to be in politics?

[ravishingravi]

http://youtu.be/quHS5h2sFww

[Sachin=GOD]

Pappu is the Sarah Palin of India!! :giggle:

at least she had some administrative experience. People want Pappu's first job in Politics to be the PM :wall:

is there really that kind of animosity towards Rahul? is it because he has no charishma or looks like he really doesnt want to be in politics?

its not really animosity. Its just that a lot of people in India have now realized that he is simply not intelligent enough to lead either the Cong or India.

[Sachin=GOD]

Rahul Gandhi: The Insider as the Outsider Barkha Dutt October 26, 2013 At first, we barely knew what Rahul Gandhi thought. He hardly ever spoke, except during elections. His interventions in Parliament were erratic 'Kalavati' moments - headline grabbing narratives of sincere anguish that swiftly retreated into the mostly silent spaces from where they had suddenly emerged, just like the story of the Vidarbha widow who became a national name after he mentioned her, only to find that her life did not substantively change. This year we know the Congress vice-president a little better. He still doesn't speak from anywhere but the ramparts of an election stage. In his disdain for and suspicion of the media, he has something in common with his chief challenger, Narendra Modi. But, since taking charge of the party campaign, there is now a unifying pattern to his speeches. He is trying to position himself as the politician of the poor while nudging his rival into the camp of the corporates. As a political salesman, the product he is attempting to pitch is empathy; he invokes the tragedies of how his father and grandmother were assassinated to seemingly make the argument that he can feel the pain of all those who suffer. He has clearly shifted gears in the race against Modi. The earlier strategy to avoid framing the electoral argument in terms of a battle between secularism and communalism has been abandoned. Unlike in Gujarat, where the Congress wasn't even willing to put Sonia Gandhi and her son on poll posters, to perhaps save them from being the defeated parties in a foregone victory, the national battle has seen Rahul pretty willing to wrestle in the gladiatorial ring. This week, he has tripped and stumbled on his own rhetoric after an embarrassing controversy has erupted around his claim that Pakistani agencies were trying to woo young Muslim boys brutalised in the Muzaffarnagar riots. Even some Muslim clerics have criticised him for questioning the patriotism of the community. But on the chess board of political moves, the gambit has been played. Having charged the BJP with "starting fires in Muzaffarnagar, Gujarat and Kashmir" he has set the stage for an election year that will witness one of the most polarising and volatile political clashes in recent memory. In itself, Rahul Gandhi is entitled to his rhetoric, even to overstatement and oversimplification - both age-old weapons in all political armouries. The problem is less with the content (which the voter will be the ultimate judge of) and more with the persona that the party's future leader has adopted. If you study all his speeches since he took charge as vice-president, kicking off his new assignment with the personal yet platitudinous anecdote of how his mother told him that "power is poison" Rahul Gandhi has consistently sought to appropriate the role of the rebel for himself. In the demand that the ordinance to protect convicted politicians should be torn up and thrown away, Gandhi was clearly positioning himself as the disruptive force that would uproot the status-quoist culture of his own party. It's not that the Congress doesn't need this upheaval; it does. It's just that Rahul Gandhi, as the automatic, unquestioning inheritor of political power in his party is the ultimate Congress Insider. It's disingenuous for him to try and play the part of the Outsider. He simply cannot be both. He could argue of course that he is trying to change the system from within, promising as he does that power will no longer be controlled and distributed by an influential minority. But how can he miss the paradox of this formulation? He represents precisely that minuscule group that determines the fates and fortunes of others within the Congress without any robust interrogation of his own decisions from his peers. While he has openly trashed dynastic politics, as long as he remains its most famous contemporary symbol, that critique seems flimsy. If a political meritocracy is his utopian ideal then let him start by announcing that he is not interested in the country's top job. In any case, those who know him say that's possibly true. So, let him say that his energies will be devoted not to the pursuit of prime ministership, but to building intra-party freedom. In his speech in Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi indicated that he had been "asked" to put a "brake" on his plans to end the system of "political quotas" because of the impending elections. During the Uttar Pradesh elections, it is said that Rahul Gandhi was keen to run as a contender for chief minister to indicate the seriousness of his commitment to the state, but was "asked" to focus on the national stage instead. Notwithstanding the real pressure from his party base to run for PM, it's tough to believe that Rahul Gandhi can't get his way, if he is sure of what he wants. But the current ambivalence around his political ambitions makes the Insider-Outsider debate even more relevant. The attempted disassociation can in fact be damaging for its selectiveness. For instance, the emotional reference to how his grandmother was murdered by the same men who taught him how to play badminton as a child would have been much more effective and moving, had he also followed it up with remorse for the thousands of Sikhs who were killed in the aftermath of her assassination. To mention one, but remain silent about the other is to wear the scars of the tragedies of his political inheritance, without owning up to the accompanying mistakes. The experience of growing up as the grandson of Indira Gandhi and the son of Rajiv Gandhi consigns Rahul Gandhi to an inescapable position of access and privilege. An Amitabh Bachchan like angry-young-man rebellion against its restrictions may first need a more genuine distance from the Establishment. http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/barkhadutt/rahul-gandhi-the-insider-as-the-outsider/article1-1140554.aspx

[ganeshran]

If RG has any ability to govern, he has yet to show it. How anyone can be allowed to take the highest job in the country without proving their credentials is beyond me. His speeches sound like he is trying too hard to hide his own power in the party and criticizes it like he is some dissident neta being sidelined

[Sachin=GOD]

Pappu in Hotel: Main yaha nahi rahunga.....Mere paise wapas karo. Itna chotta room? na koi khidki na he koi balkoni aur na bathroom!!! Mujhe jaanwar samjha hai kya? Waiter: Mere Baap, Upar chal, yeh LIFT hai.... :rofl: Rahul gandhi Se Interview Me Pucha Gaya: Agar 2 Minute K Liye Aapko P.M Bana Diya Jaye To Aap Kya Karenge…..?? Rahul: Hum Maggi Noodles Banayenge.. Interviewer: Why….?? Rahul: 2 Minute Me To Sirf Maggi hi Ban Sakti Hai.. Interviewer: Agar 5 Saal K Liye Bana Diya Jaye….?? Rahul: Hum 5 Saal K Liye P.M Nahi Banege.. Interviewer: Why….?? Rahul: Itni Maggi Kaun Khayega…!!!!! :rofl:

[asterix]

^ :rofl:

[diga]

Sonia Gandhi is not just Rahul's mother, but our mother too. She is the entire country's mother: Union Minister Salman Khurshid.

:wall: Another a**e licker

[someone]

True. Actually I would call it superstition that in India' date=' there are many who still believe that Congress or just He/She Gandhi will come and solve all their problems. However, thanks to opposition, there are many who are realizing it and understanding Congress hypocrisy.[/quote'] Kiran Kumar S @KiranKS The biggest blind faith in India is voting for Congress, and hoping for poverty eradication. Maybe an anti-superstition bill tackles this :) --- Exactly

[Sachin=GOD]

The making of the AAP brand Rajdeep Sardesai, Hindustan Times New Delhi, December 12, 2013 Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi are both youthful public figures in their 40s. Sadly, that’s where the comparisons end. One is now a political rockstar, the other is in danger of leading his party into oblivion; one is the story of middle class aspiration, the other of elite entitlement; one comes from a professional family in Hisar, the other bears the most famous surname in Indian politics. Acknowledging the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) phenomenal performance in the Delhi elections, Gandhi said: “The Aam Aadmi Party involved a lot of non-traditional people and we will learn from that and will better it in a way you cannot imagine.” Since the way forward has been left to our imagination, let me script the lessons a dynast who is inheriting a 128-year-old party can learn from a commoner who launched a political party only a year ago. The first lesson lies in the willingness to take risks. From taking a break from the Indian Revenue Service to setting up an NGO, from being the architect of the Anna movement to entering politics and contesting against a three-time sitting chief minister, Kejriwal has never shied away from a fresh challenge. By contrast, Gandhi has studiously refrained from taking on a major responsibility. Yes, he is vice-president of the Congress and is in charge of its youth organisations. But what would have tested his mettle is if he had chosen to head a significant ministry in the Manmohan Singh government. If, for example, Gandhi had such strong views on the Bharat-India divide, why didn’t he take charge of the rural development ministry and prove his credentials? The second takeaway lies in the power of communication. If Gandhi has ‘Ma’ (mother) by his side, Kejriwal has the ‘media’. There is little doubt that the AAP has benefited from the relentless media exposure. It is to the credit of the ever-accessible Kejriwal and his team that they used every communication weapon — Facebook, Twitter, television — to create a larger-than-life image for the party. By contrast, Gandhi has remained imprisoned behind the forbidding gates of Lutyens’ Delhi, not giving a single proper interview, refusing to take hard questions, staying away from the social media. The third lesson for Rahul lies in recognising the need to harmonise idealism with a clear agenda for change. Kejriwal was once derisively referred to as a “jholawallah”; Gandhi too is accused of being a political NGO. Truth is that any political ideology — Left, right or centre — needs to blend with ground realities. The reality is that idealism in politics cannot operate in a vacuum, it needs to relate to the urgent concerns of the voter. Kejriwal’s thrust was on his anti-corruption Lokpal campaign and demand for ‘swaraj’ through mohalla sabhas. Neither idea is original, perhaps even unworkable, but they were instantly appealing to an electorate tired of the same slogans. Sadly, Gandhi’s agenda has remained trapped in fine words (remember his grandiose ‘power is poison’ remark?) not in a genuine manifesto for change. Fourth, Kejriwal realised the importance of creating a distinctive brand in a highly competitive marketplace. Take the astute use of the Gandhi topi as headgear and the jhadoo as an election symbol by the AAP. As political weapons, they achieved for Kejriwal a sharp identity as the challenger brand: his was seen as a voice that stood out in support of the common man against the VIP ‘lal batti’ culture. It’s the kind of anti-establishment image that appeals to a younger, restless India. By contrast, the closest Gandhi has come to striking out on his own was his brief, but dramatic intervention on the ordinance to protect criminal legislators. Fifth, Kejriwal has shown that politics is ultimately about mass contact programmes and cannot be fought through computers and excel sheets. Through the long, hot Delhi summer, when Gandhi and most government ministers set off for cooler climes, the AAP leadership was on the streets, staging dharnas, tearing up power bills, agitating for cheaper water. By consistently taking up people-centric issues, Kejriwal was able to project himself as a mass leader in the slums and colonies of Delhi. Gandhi made a singular attempt to do so when he took up the Bhatta Parsaul farmers agitation two years ago, but then backed off rather than taking the movement to its logical conclusion. Ditto the case with his raising the plight of Vidarbha’s farm widows in Parliament. As a result, he was typecast as an occasional politician rather than a much-needed 24x7 neta. Finally, Kejriwal has made a conscious attempt to open the doors of politics to new faces and fresh energies. Several of his newly elected MLAs are under 40, an age group that has felt alienated from the political process. Many of the volunteers who campaigned for AAP also belong to a younger India. Gandhi, by contrast, has spoken of shaking up the Congress hierarchy, but the fact is, he has met with limited success. Most of the young Congress MPs, for example, are the sons and daughters of Congress leaders, thereby perpetuating the dynastical traditions within the party. To be fair to Gandhi, it is easier to innovate and break with the status quo when you are a political start-up like AAP. A party that has been around for decades like the Congress will always be more resistant to change. Which is also perhaps why there are some, including the party’s permanent backbencher Mani Shankar Aiyar, who believe that only an electoral defeat in 2014 will force the Congress into even attempting to re-invent itself. Maybe Gandhi can afford to take the long view because he has a family legacy to cocoon him from political reverses. Kejriwal, by contrast, does not enjoy this luxury: anarchist or idealist, his time is now. http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/rajdeepsardesai/the-making-of-the-aap-brand/article1-1162050.aspx

[diga]

Delhi Congress has more leaders than followers, MLAs tell Rahul... Dilli may sab neta hain:--D

[someone]

ABP News ‏@abpnewstv 25m Rahul Gandhi's name as Congress PM candidate could be announced in AICC meeting which is to be held in Delhi on January 17, 2014: Sources --------------------------- No wonder the campaign has started on who "owns" or "brought" the Lokpal Bill?

[Ghost Buster]

ABP News ‏@abpnewstv 25m Rahul Gandhi's name as Congress PM candidate could be announced in AICC meeting which is to be held in Delhi on January 17, 2014: Sources --------------------------- No wonder the campaign has started on who "owns" or "brought" the Lokpal Bill?

Pappu ban gaya Prime minister :band:

[diga]

ABP News ‏@abpnewstv 25m Rahul Gandhi's name as Congress PM candidate could be announced in AICC meeting which is to be held in Delhi on January 17, 2014: Sources --------------------------- No wonder the campaign has started on who "owns" or "brought" the Lokpal Bill?

Wow.. Bypassed Jairam Ramesh/Antony/Khurshid et al. Thats some leap

[asterix]

ABP News ‏@abpnewstv 25m Rahul Gandhi's name as Congress PM candidate could be announced in AICC meeting which is to be held in Delhi on January 17, 2014: Sources --------------------------- No wonder the campaign has started on who "owns" or "brought" the Lokpal Bill?

Best News for BJP....

[Sachin=GOD]

ABP News ‏@abpnewstv 25m Rahul Gandhi's name as Congress PM candidate could be announced in AICC meeting which is to be held in Delhi on January 17, 2014: Sources --------------------------- No wonder the campaign has started on who "owns" or "brought" the Lokpal Bill?

if this is true then congrats in advance to the BJP for coming to power in 2014.