Dear Mr Kharge, Mrs Gandhi and Mr. Rahul Gandhi

As a new entrant to the Congress family who moved to enable activism to be used for political and social reform, I can relate to the pain a true Congress person would feel today. And the win of Priyanka Gandhi and her making a much awaited debut in Parliament as well as a great win in Jharkhand of the INDIA alliance may be shadowed under the Maha-debacle of a state where Congress had outshined less than 6 months back.

But yes, as Priyanka is also ccd on this mail, I take this opportunity to Congratulate her on a great win and we all see a leader of stature of her illustrious grandmother in her and INDIA, our great nation looks forward to her as a visionary leader of the future. Congratulations.

You, brave warriors of Congress who have fought very many battles for decades, who have faced abuse and ridicule from many for just “being there” and not walking away and leaving the battle as Modi and his minion troll army always wished, know for sure that this will also pass.

Pardon me if it feels like truth but perhaps the writing was on the wall many months back at the time of start of Haryana elections by your actions or inactions. And that I think you did not under pressure BUT because you truly believed in trusting your state leadership. You allowed them to have their way in Haryana elections in seat selection, ignored their infighting and brickbats and also allowed them to break the coalition Dharma and go alone despite knowing that ignoring coalition politics will be a red herring to many of the parties and people who had extensively supported Congress in the federal elections. And that may lead to mistrust amongst in the hearts of their leadership too. Unfortunately your Maharashtra leaders did not try to learn from the defeat that followed but instead copied the ways of their Haryana colleagues.

Or perhaps the writing appeared on the day when in the Jammu region in the efforts to gain vote share amongst the Hindu population of the region, while ignoring the true Hinduism of millions of us, you pandered to the Hindutava ideology blooming in India and gave a ticket to a bigot like Lal Singh. Hindutava today is the USP of Modi/BJP/RSS and anyone even attempting soft versions of it will fail. That will only end up alienating the true Hindus who believe in the ideology of inclusiveness and who are in despair seeing how their values are being mocked and the words of Vedas and Geeta are being misrepresented, history of our great nation itself being rewritten and filled with hate to suit the hateful Hindutava narrative.

What is shocking is NOT the loss of Maharashtra. I think it was already accepted as a forgone conclusion by Congress leadership and even that of its allies internally and the campaign schedule of central leaders including Rahul Gandhi himself is a clear proof of the same. The presence of central leaders in Wayanad and extensive campaign there at the same time left nothing for imagination for ordinary workers. 

Like Haryana, Congress central leadership decided to rely on regional leaders, many amongst them who get bloated from the sycophancy of their few supporters and coterie during election times and forget their dwarfish identities and try and threaten their ways. The “war of words” or “forced silence and absence from action” as played by your Haryana and Maharashtra top leaders clearly conveyed their desire- ” To SNATCH defeat from the hands of victory”. And Lo they succeeded and how! 

Alas dear leaders, you allowed them to succeed on your watch!

I understand that Rahul Gandhi is the Congress USP and an “Indian brand” now. To be used skillfully and strategically would have been the advice from the advisors and your own coterie. But alas, the time of Congress has run out and so is the patience of ordinary Congress supporters. MORE IMPORTANTLY our nation now lies in so much depths of hate and vitriol that every battle, EVERY SINGLE one of them, needs to be fought with all the might that we can gather.

Modi/Yogi/Shah/BJP/RSS/Hindutava brigade AND the rising of the beast inside millions and millions of Indians and Indian origin people who live all over the world by constant and strategic misinformation and hateful rhetoric has brought so much darkness in the lives of people that they have lost their vision to see the truth. Only the high powered lens of Hindutava hate, of fear and divide, brings ” vision” to their hateful eyes. The words, they fall on mostly deaf ears and while a Federal win may have created euphoria and joy for a short duration, the reality of our gloom and the urgency of action, should not be forgotten.

I will not go into in depth analysis of the reasons of the loss as it does not matter.

As an activist, I believe in action and seek and start taking the steps to enable remedy. 

But first the BIGGEST TRUTH which should not be forgotten in the midst of media blitz and camouflaging that will happen in the next few days-

BOTH MAHARASHTRA and HARYANA were NOT a WIN for MODI. In fact the Modi brand is fading everyday and Brand Rahul Gandhi is the one rising in public eye. Rahul is now an inspirational leader and this strategy and approach should not be changed or ignored. What has worked for BJP/RSS this time is the aggressive Hindutava, a cadre based approach of their party, incentives to people and also as importantly huge mistakes made by the Congress team and should NOT be accepted as a win for Modi, howsoever much he will try.

As a well wisher and a person who will battle all my life for the cause of inclusiveness and will also not leave the path of Congress DESPITE facing stupid, authoritative and myopic leaders in a short duration, I would mention the following remedies briefly and can elaborate further if desired-

1. Take EVERY election seriously like Modi and the Sangh/BJP network does. No use to protect leaders and let their brand diminish or die on itself due to stinging regular defeats. Play on FRONTFOOT.

2. The only way to success in the next decade- COALITION. COALITION. COALITION. Everywhere and in all elections. Ignore all words of local leaders who may advice against the same to showcase their own “hold” or power. Wherever possible even if many concessions or leadership is to be given, TRY TO MERGE SMALLER parties INTO CONGRESS to enable cadre to unite and work together. A classic example is Maharashtra itself where NCP Sharad Pawar group is ideologically aligned with Congress and Supriya Sule will be a great leader to build Congress of future.

3. Dump all leaders who have failed and still cannot see that they are the ones who are the cause themselves. Forget any lifelong bonds with them. If you love their company still, take their photographs and hang them INSIDE the Congress walls but let them go. Remember AAP was a nobody and made a party out of the educated unknowns and Congress can also build a party out of absolute unknowns as long as their ideological base is strong and closely aligned with the ideas of Congress. You very well know who are the leaders to be dumped and it has NOTHING to do with their age. Many elderly are PURE GOLD in Congress and Mr. Kharge himself has become one of the greatest positive forces of Congress. But many amongst the rest are pure poison to Congress now and are causing slow death to the party.

4. Bring in ABSOLUTE new faces of ideologists and also promote and upgrade and give power to a brand of firebrand leaders. You will have to do a headhunt from amongst the unknown warriors. Educated ideological and progressive voices and activists will work well and revive Congress. ONLY RAHUL GANDHI will  not DO and we need many clones to emerge who can wage battles themselves. Prof Yogendra Yadav, Daroob Farooqui, Prof Apoorvanand are great examples.

5. Amongst the existing leaders, bring the ones to the front to whom the public can relate to and see a charisma. To name a few, the ones we as ordinary workers would LOVE TO see as the top leadership include- PRIYANAKA GANDHI, SACHIN PILOT, SUPRIYA SHIRANTE, PAWAN KHERA, Dr. SHASHI THAROOR, D.K. SHIVAKUMAR, PRIYANK KHARGE, GAURAV GAGOI, NAVJOT SIDDHU, KANHAIYA KUMAR, SRINIVAS BV, DEEPENDER S HOODA, SUKHU, CHANRANJIT S CHANNI, JITU PATWARI, PARGAT SINGH, PRANITI SHINDE,Y.S. SHARMILA, AJAY RAI, GENIBEN THAKOR, ALOK SHARMA, SANDEEP DIXIT, GAURAV PANDHI , to name a few.

6. Congress CANNOT WIN India without regaining Hindu voters and relying only on minority support or from Southern India. But any attempts to win Hindus with Hindutava will backfire as BJP is not just the master of strategy but the sole proprietor of hate. It may be difficult to believe in today’s time but I strongly feel that MAJORITY of Hindu voters are still inclusive and can be won back. But with ideology and not with Hindutava pandering. This must be debated and discussed in detail and can become the real UNITY mission.

7. FEDERAL elections and state elections have different issues and strategies. Similar messages will not work for all. A classic example is Maharashtra itself where you won Nanded MP seat while lost all six assembly seats in the same area. Caste census, saving the constitution are strategies when used loosely at all places will not work and will be ignored, rather became stale over period. Also Congress needs to realize that BJP/.RSS/MODI were stung by this strategy in last election and have already worked out a strong counter to this that seems to have worked with the masses.

8. Caste is a touchy issue in India. REMEMBER all progressives Indians and minorities will support a CASTELESS SOCIETY and equality of all. Making caste census as your main message may ultimately backfire and the messaging is important and is now being actively misrepresented by BJP. It is important to provide and continue with caste based affirmative action like reservations but NEVER TO out do it. If you continue to harp on saying that the power and reservation status needs to be based on the caste status of a region, then the general public and even the progressives will stop supporting you. A maximum threshold of 50% for caste based reservations was thought about and performance should have the opportunity to speak for itself. These words come to you from an IITian himself and a strong believer in caste based affirmative action in India. Please rethink your strategy here. The “Batonge toh katoghe” message even though intended for other ideas, also has been used for this and may not allow the educated and the youth who were tending to support Congress during federal elections.

9. Own up to your past and show that YOU CARE and do not agree with some actions of the past and are a different Congress and a more progressive and inclusive party today. Remember Democrats were the original racists and supporters of slavery in USA and how they changed and changed the face of USA is history now. For starters, Rahul Gandhi himself can set the BIGGEST EXAMPLE HIMSELF of humility and acceptance as his sister Priyanaka did years back during the mercy petition of Nalini. A regret from Rahul Gandhi for the wrong words of Rajivji after the death of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, would enable a STRONG RECONCILIATION for all and would also show that this Congress is new and actually wanting to move away from some wrongful incidences of the past that still lead to mistrust. Rajivji is one of the best leaders our nation had and truly embarked on our nation to a technological revolution and his legacy can be set right by correct messages from his heirs themselves.

10. Last but not the least, BELIEVE in your grassroot workers and continue connecting with them. As Gandhiji himself said strategies and politics is discussed in offices while parties and revolutions are created on the streets. Their should be targets fixed on leaders and party workers to connect with grassroots, get involved in local issues, become activists and revolutionaries themselves and change will happen. Change is BROUGHT and not just SOUGHT. 

We are not defeated and are in fact ready to bounce back.

Over the last few months, I have come in contact with some very dedicated Congress workers and leaders. I have also seen how many are mistreated and how dirty power politics has a strong hold in the echelons of power. This will have to be set right.

I have had the pleasure and honor to connect also with your MPCC NRI cell in the recent elections and the efforts of the cell under the leadership of Ms Vidya Kadam will always remain a great example for many like us to follow in times to come. 

In the end I repeat the words that I wrote for Ms. Kadam and her team in their group today and hope we can BELIEVE in the message of these words-

“You fought hard and lost, 

Yet you shine bright as a star,

When many abandoned the  ship and left in distress,

You stayed till end with your very best,

And yet the “end” is not “THE END” but just a sunset,

Walk on through darkness till we meet the new Sun”.