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Truly democratic process? How Congress leaders congratulated Rahul Gandhi for filing nomination papers

Is Rahul Gandhi's elevation democratic?

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Rahul Gandhi with senior Congress leaders
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On Monday, Congress leaders with the sole exception of Shehzad Poonawalla, were full of plaudits and praises for Rahul Gandhi.  Mani Shankar Aiyar even countered PM Modi’s Aurangzeb jibe by claiming that the Congress election was ‘totally democratic’.

The counter to PM Modi’s Aurangzeb jibe however barely holds water, considering the events of the past week. Since Shehzad Poonawalla raised allegations of the election being ‘rigged’, he was removed from all Whatsapp groups from the Congress and disowned as a member, his work airbrushed out of history like the Soviets would do to dissidents.

On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi who filed his nomination paper today for the post of party president was accompanied by the who’s who of the Congress party. Sonia Gandhi, his mother and Congress president for the last 19 years, was not present but she was the one who proposed his name. At the time of writing, he was the sole candidate, clearing the decks for a democratic process to make him the president.

Former PM Manmohan Singh sang paeans about his greatness at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) saying: “Rahul ji has been the darling of the Congress. Congress president Smt Sonia Gandhi has served the Congress party and, through the Congress party, the country for the last 19 years. This is yet another step forward in that direction. Rahul Gandhi will carry on the great traditions of the Congress party.”

Five sets of nomination forms were filed on his behalf by Congress leaders including Congress Working Committee members, party general secretaries, in-charge in various states and chief ministers of party-ruled states.

Among those who proposed Rahul Gandhi's name in the first set of nomination papers were Sonia Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Ahmed Patel, Mohsina Kidwai, Kamal Nath, Ashok Gehlot, Mukul Wasnik, Sheila Dikshit, Tarun Gogoi and Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy.Party leaders Manmohan Singh, Oscar Fernandes, P Chidambaram, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Anand Sharma, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his Meghalaya counterpart Mukul Sangma proposed his name in the second set of nomination papers.

No one else filed papers till Sunday, revealed Mullapally Ramachandran, the chairman of the party’ Central Election Authority.  The last date for withdrawal of the candidature is December 11. The poll, if necessary, will be held on December 16 and the counting will take place on December 19. Interestingly, just after he filed the nomination papers, congratulations poured in thick and fast, even though the so-called democratic process wasn’t over yet.

Senior Congress leaders also took to Twitter to express their happiness at Rahul Gandhi’s impending elevation, with the likes of P Chidamabram, Shashi Tharoor, Sharmistha Mukherjee, Randeep Surjewala, Ajay Maken, Sheila Dikshit, Sanjay and others using the hash tag #IndiaWithRahulGandhi. Perhaps, the grand old party, often in a state of denial have confused its own members’ feelings for the rest of the nation’s. Because if one thing is apparent from the recent electoral results across the country, India is not with Rahul Gandhi.

Here’s how Congress leaders ‘congratulated’ Gandhi for ‘filing his nomination papers’: 

As we can see from the over-the-top congratulations, the Congress elections seem less like a democratic process and more like a coronation with a long-drawn pageantry to elevate a leader waiting in the wings to become president since 2007. The outpouring of joy over the filing of nomination for a one-candidate in an election only confirms what we all knew and what Manish Tewari was caught saying on tape - the Congress like all private company's is a proprietorship. 

With inputs from PTI

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