The Congress President should visit the State Congress Headquarters whenever she visits Tamil Nadu.
We wrote to Mrs.Sonia Gandhi a few days ago a letter in this regard. We are glad she has obviously seen to have responded. She visited Satyamurthy Bhavan on 13 March 2008. First time a Congress President has done this!
Bangalore
Date : 27.02.2010
Mrs.Sonia Gandhi,
President,
Indian National Congress,
All India Congress Committee,
24, Akbar Road New Delhi-11o 011
Dear Mrs.Gandhi,
There are news reports that the Tamil Nadu’s deputy Chief Minister Mr.M.K.Stalin has visited New Delhi to invite the Prime Minister and your good self for inaugurating the new Assembly building in March.
The Prime Minister might decide his own programme.
As far as the Congress President is concerned, I like to bring to your kind attention the sentiments of the Congressmen and the general public is that the Tamil Nadu Congress Party is deeply aggrieved by the fact that the DMK as an alliance partner in the Congress-DMK alliance hasn’t respected the sentiments and the verdict of the last elections and given any representation in the coalition government.
Rahul Gandhi came to Tamil Nadu and gave a big boost to the Congress cadre when he urged the state Congress to go it alone in the forthcoming elections.
He also did well and inspired not just the party cadre but the general Tamil public as well by his bold decision not to call on Mr.Karunanidhi at his residence, as done by all the top Congress leaders, from Delhi as well from here.
In fact, the Congress party in the state is non-functional; there is not much work nor any programme.
The Congress headquarters bears a deserted look all the time.
There must be lots of activity, meetings, discussion groups, a library and a reading room, many think-tanks and a research wing so that there are visitors to the once-such a vibrant centre of politics.
I had talked with all senior leaders in the state, others also, including old guard Congress leaders from the districts. There is much anguish and disappointment over the state of the party which had lost power for the last 43 long years.
So, what is the future of the Congress party in Tamil Nadu?
The Indian National Congress is 125 year old party and the party had its origins in Tamil Nadu, as you might like to know and find out.
So, there is a deep feeling of nostalgia and a new spirit of fighting for a clean Tamil Nadu political culture.
All this requires your serious attention. The Congress party can’t be revived, not only in Tamil Nadu but also in other states unless it becomes a vibrant ideologically driven political force. We have to create a liberal democracy, a very liberal society and all this calls for genuine political education and cadre training.
As it is, I am sorry to say, the party is run very much a bureaucracy-driven party machine, and this was what prevailed in authoritarian parties. The Communist parties only had such s0-called discipline-driven party machine.
Now, the Congress office bearers sometimes drive fear in the name of party discipline.
Then what we see? The TNCC is simple non-functional, in fact, it had become a subservient unit under the DMK thumb!
This is unfortunate and unpardonable. The Congress MLAs are all under the control of the DMK which, as we have seen in its last general council meeting, talks openly against the Central government decisions like fertiliser subsidy, higher education and has said many things that sounds almost against the unity of India.
In such a scenario, we urge upon you not to visit Chennai and also not to give Mr.Karunanidhi the opportunity to exploit your presence and drive more confusion in the Congress cadre. The CM is a master in media manipulation and you can be sure the very next day all the media would hail a new unity between the DMK and the Congress!
The state is in a turmoil and the DMK may be pushing things too far and might even won’t hesitate to align with the BJP, in the event.
All this is to keep you posted with the mental agony of the average Congress cadre is going through.
There is almost a total exclusion of the Congress party in the running of the state government. The DMK party and the government is a highly corrupt machinery. Besides the ruling party is behaving as a majority party and the Congress nowhere is consulted.
Time and tide wait for nobody. So too in politics. Even now, the DMK must concede and take Congressmen into the coalition government.
Why not, even one more Deputy Chief Minister be given to the Congress party?
So, the Congress workers (I had toured the state and addressed the district level Congress workers meetings in my individual capacity) and there is a widespread demand that the Party must severe its ties with the DMK and must explore the options to form its own alliance with friendly parties. I had also met some of the Opposition party leaders and they are all willing to join the Congress alliance if the party severed its ties with the DMK.
Knowing will your own constraints, all I want to say here, as a long time Congressman(I joined the party way back in the year 1962,soon after my return from Oxford)that you must respect the sentiments of the Congress workers and must pay a visit to the Congress headquarters, Satyamurthy Bhavan, if you decide to visit Chennai in March and give us an opportunity to interact with you and give us your points of view as far as the future of the party’s likely shape of things in the coming next elections.
With warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
V.Isvarmurti