So Congress President Sonia Gandhi has taken her party’s performance to the worst ever in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. A measly 44 seats! Is the Congress finished? Is the dynasty over? We will know for sure in 2019.

If at all that happens, the full credit goes to Sonia. The writing was on the wall for ages, but now only has it all come crashing down.

A look at 10 of her worsts…

1. First “zero experience” President…

What was Sonia’s experience before she took over as party President? Was she a freedom fighter or leader of note? Was she a Chief Minister or Cabinet Minister? Was she a bureaucrat or a top professional in a particular field?
She wasn’t even an MP. The post of Congress President was one of the most illustrious in India and Sonia became the first person to occupy that post with absolutely no official experience or any kind of established leadership skills.

2. Indefinite rule as President…

Even stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi did not occupy the post of Congress President indefinitely. It was a rotational post occupied by many prominent leaders of the party. But Sonia has held it continuously from 1998 to now. That’s more than 16 years and counting and this despite her leading the party to a record low of 44 Lok Sabha seats.
That’s autocratic and resembles the dictators of the world: Ruler for life.

3. Destroyed the office of the Prime Minister…

Even short-term PMs like VP Singh and HD Deve Gowda at least tried to take their own decisions. After 10 years, Manmohan Singh was reduced to a mere caricature.
He was seen as a spineless leader who couldn’t take decisions on his own. Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray was berated for introducing the concept of “remote control” in Maharashtra, but Sonia took it to the national level.

4. Most subservient second rung…

Nehru had a galaxy of leaders many who were better than him. The same was said of Indira when she took over. Rajiv Gandhi had players like VP Singh who later rebelled against him and became Prime Minister.
One must say that this is the most subservient of the lot. Manmohan was voiceless. Pranab Mukherjee was mainly Sonia’s fixer of problems and retired to India Presidency. Nobody has the guts to stand up to her or even her son Rahul Gandhi.

5. UPA2 the most corrupt government in history…

There is now no doubt left that UPA2 was the most corrupt Government in the history of Independent India. If Bofors was the mascot of the Rajiv regime, we are totally spoiled for choice this time.
2G, CWG, Coalgate, cash for votes, Adarsh, Choppergate, Tatra…
Now if Sonia is the most powerful person in India for the last 10 years, how in heaven’s name can she escape blame of this whole fiasco? Why isn’t the chairperson of the UPA responsible for the debacle that is UPA2?

6. More lucky than smart…

Think of Sonia from 1998-2004. She didn’t do a single thing right. She humiliated Sitaram Kesri, she failed to form the government and miscalculated the formation of the government by one vote. In 1999, she led the party to the then worst ever tally of 114 seats.
After Godhra, she attempted a soft Hindutva of herself in Gujarat and fell flat on her face. By 2004 she was a totally bankrupt leader. In 2004, the Congress won just 145 seats, which was not enough to complete 5 years in power.
It was only the fear of the BJP that has kept the Congress in power. The Left, the Trinamool, the DMK, the SP all have their differences with the Congress but have kept quiet. If you go by what Mulayam Singh Yadav says, then there only three letters that matter: C-B-I.
The credit for 2009 goes to Manmohan and Sonia stood exposed in the 2014 polls.

7. Populism destroyed India…

NREGA and Food Security Bill may be great if the economy is in a good shape, but not otherwise. All of Sonia’s schemes or Sonianomics involve getting votes in the short run and destroying the Indian economy in the long run.
Even attempts like the highly divisive Communal Bill would have threatened the secular fabric of India.

8. Created a parallel cabinet…

What was the National Advisory Council? It looked like something that was totally against the spirit of the Constitution. It was a power structure that paralleled the Cabinet of India. Through it, by claiming the post of Chairperson, Sonia derived all her official power, position and perks.

9. Not at all open to scrutiny…

For some totally unfathomable reason, the entire mainstream media prostrated itself in front of Sonia from 2004-14. This is strange for Nehru, Indira and Rajiv all faced a barrage of critical attacks in their lives.
But that ended up making Sonia all the more complacent and mediocre. Just because they didn’t criticize her doesn’t mean that there was nothing wrong with Sonia’s regime. On the contrary while regular criticism keeps leaders on their toes, non-stop flattery lulls leaders and that is why UPA2 was the most arrogant and corrupt government in Independent India’s history.

10. Robert Vadra’s name at airports…

I don’t know about you, but I was amazed whenever I’d pass by airport security and see Robert Vadra’s name there. I really felt like I was living in a banana republic.
Vadra is not even among the top one lakh senior government officials of India.
A Congress President putting her absolutely non-entity of a son-in-law’s name in the airport security all-clear list has to be an abysmal low.

© Sunil Rajguru