Before beginning with the listicle, let me make it clear that here I am referring to the Congress party and not the past Congress government(s).
As it is already known and has been already advertised by the BJP government, Congress has been at the center of India’s governance for over 60 years. Sixty years is an insanely long period. Enough to make helluva of mistakes and learn from them.
While several other parties came into existence and died, merged or got ruptured due to internal party politics, the Congress party still exists and did not let other parties destroy it.
Here are lessons every party should learn from Congress:
6Congress Allows Different Ideologies And Opinions Within The Party
Right from when the pre-Independence Congress became a political party in the post-independence period, Congress has seemed to be very tolerable in respecting different ideologies existing within the umbrella of the party.
Jawaharlal Nehru himself believed vividly in FOE and made sure that ideology affiliations do not weaken the party. It had members leaning towards right such as Sardar Patel, Purushottam Das Tandon, etc. Communism, Socialism, Conservative, any ideology you name it, has had space within the Congress.
5Leaders Of The Congress Party Are Well-Educated And Have Valid Degrees
Let’s start from the past. Jawaharlal Nehru was Cambridge-schooled, a lawyer, a practicing Advocate. Rajiv Gandhi, A pilot.
The present generation leaders are no behind. Jyotiraditya Scindia is a Harvard graduate has done MBA from Stanford School of Business. Sachin Pilot is an MBA graduate and commissioned as an officer in the Territorial Army. Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition, is Bachelor of Arts and Law.
Shashi Tharoor is a graduate of St. Stephen’s College, did masters from Tufts University and was in the race to UN Secretary General. Kapil Sibbal: Law graduate from Faculty of Law, Delhi University and a senior supreme court advocate.
Dr. Manmohan Singh: Seriously, do I need to even talk about it.
There’s no fake degree claims against them. On the other hand, Prime Minister Modi’s educational qualification is, eh well, you know, controversial.
4Congress Is Secular, Not Pseudo-Secular, But Actual Secular
Secularism has been one of the basic principles of Congress since its birth. This is the one thing which has kept the party on a unique and lifted pedestal from other parties.
The Jana Sangh and the Janta Party had their try on appeasing the Hindus and vilifying the Muslims and they failed, miserably.
Although the party has been accused of minority appeasement, everyone knows who really promotes communal politics. It feels really good to know that Congress doesn’t do temple or cow politics.
Also read: How India Treats Religious Minorities V/S How Minorities Treat India
There’s no hero worship in Congress, no one’s a bhakt
The present President of the party is Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi is the Vice President. The members of the Congress are never seen blindly following the dictate of them. There’s internal democracy in the party.
There is high respect for the leaders but there’s no culture of hero worship. No one is a die hard worshipper. They don’t 24×7 sing high praises for their leaders.
The bhakt or the hero-worship culture is quite rampant in AAP and the BJP.
3Congress Never Defends Emergency Or 1984 But BJP Defends Babri And 2002
Emergency of 1975 was a dark time period. Everybody acknowledges it. Even the party president of Congress has stated the same. Similarly, 1984 riots are condemned. Even by the Congress members.
But, sections of BJP still defend illegal demolition of Babri masjid. No two words are addressed by the BJP or the RSS to the hundreds killed in the 2002 riots.
2There’s Democracy Within The Party
While the entire Congress is silent on homosexuality, Shashi Tharoor has been making efforts to legalize it. He runs different from the party. But that’s what democracy is. Freedom to disagree.
1They Apologise
One of the biggest qualities of a leader or a human being is to accept their mistakes and flaws. Apologising for something doesn’t make you an evil.
Rahul Gandhi has, on various occasions, ridiculed the party members who say things they weren’t supposed to. He has even apologised for it.
While other party members keep defending or turn a silent nod, Congress doesn’t.
There is acceptance when an election is lost, and no EVMs are blamed.
KEEP CALM & LEARN FROM CONGRESS.
Image Credits: Google Images
More on ED Times:
http://edtimes.in/2017/06/bhim-army-making-right-noises/
