HVK Archives: Keep it up Mr Kesri
Keep it up Mr Kesri - The Times of India
Editorial
()
8 October 1996
Title : Keep in up, Mr Kesri
Author : Editorial
Publication : The Times of India
Date : October 8, 1996
The ji huzoor man, as Mr Sitaram Kesri was known until
recently, is displaying happy signs of coming into his
own. For some one in the business of collecting funds
for the party - apart, of course, from revelling in his
role as a loyalist -Mr Kesri has shown rare pluck in
deciding that the Congress needs overhauling and now. It
is a quality the Congress hasn't seen in a long, long
time. Whether in picking out and appointing Mr Manmohan
Singh to the Congress working committee or in warning the
United Front against raiding the Congress ranks, Mr Kesri
seems to be sending across just one message - that he
means business. Contrast this with the style of his
predecessor. The Congress that Mr Narasimha Rao inherit-
ed was better preserved and more alive than the one Mr
Kesri finds himself saddled with today. And yet, typi-
cally, Mr Rao chose to drift rather than innovate. The
one time he broke fresh ground was when he ordered elec-
tions to the AICC. But, predictably, that exercise came
to nought; those elected to the CWC and the various
pradesh Congress committees were summarily replaced with
handpicked nominees. From what we have seen of Mr Kesri
so far, he seems keen not to repeat past mistakes.
Certainly, he would not be speaking of a larger role in
the organisation for Mr Manmohan Singh had he, like Mr
Rao, allowed his personal insecurities to get the better
of his judgment. Indeed, if Mr Kesri has been tempted to
hold on to his current job even while aiming at the post
of parliamentary party leader - which assignment promises
Prime Ministership, no less - he has shown no evidence of
it.
We commend Mr Kesri on the felicitous choice he has made
in Mr Manmohan Singh. Mr Singh qualifies for the job -
for now a CWC member,later, perhaps CPP leader - obvious-
ly because there is not even a whiff of a scandal about
him. What the Congress needs today, after these past
months of corruption and more corruption, is the reassur-
ing face of a Manmohan Singh. It is only the incorrupt-
ibility of Mr Singh and Mr A.K. Antony, clubbed possibly
with the youth and effervescence of Mr Rajesh Pilot,
which can bring about this image correction and lift the
party out of the morass it has fallen into. What should
help additionally is the return of such of the Congress-
men as had walked out on Mr Rao. Even a cursory look at
the results of the Lok Sabha elections would establish
the potential of a united Congress to squarely outwit its
opponents. There is no reason, then, for partymen not to
grab the opportunity provided by Mr Kesri's stewardship
to set a more proactive agenda. Between them, Mr Kesri,
who has often enough expressed himself in favour of the
Dalits and the minorities, and Messrs Manmohan Singh,
A.K. Antony and Rajesh Pilot, all of whom are relatively
untainted, combine experience, talent and youth - a
vibrant combination, if any. Mr Manmohan Singh, for his
part, could try being a little more assertive than he has
shown himself to be so far. That he can put his mind to
the task is evident from the line he took in the last
meeting of the CPP where he spoke of men in high posi-
tions having to conduct themselves so as to be above
suspicion. But all this will remain a desk-top exercise
unless the Congress is democratised through an elected
AICC. A meeting of the AICC has then to be the top item
on the new Congress chief's agenda.
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