NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi is "our leader" and should return as the president of the Congress, senior party leader Salman Khurshid has said, days after he remarked that the party was not able to introspect its Lok Sabha poll debacle as "its leader had walked away" after the election.
The Congress had seemingly disapproved Khurshid's "walked away" remarks with party spokesperson Pawan Khera saying people should avoid making side comments and work towards exposing the BJP government's follies instead.
In a long Facebook post on Friday, Khurshid referred to the uproar over his remarks, saying, "I am amazed at being lectured by people who know little about personal faithfulness or political strategy. So once for all I hereby let them know that I believe faith and allegiance is about trust and personal choice. Yet for grown ups it has no place for unqualified awe and deference, real or contrived."
"I support the Gandhi family because of personal gratitude and understanding of history and Indian democracy," he said.
Strategic silence is sensible in critical moments but equally speaking up is an imperative for collective future, Khurshid said in what he termed as his letter to his colleagues in the Congress and "people who are listening".
Asserting that only dead fish flow with the water, Khurshid said the Congress is not like the BJP and must never be.
"When our spokesperson points to our duty to counter the BJP he must remember it is possible only if we can manifest our different world view and expression of a mind without fear. The battle we join is not mere screaming ossified phrases against the RSS but in how we react to specific situations, including of conflict," the former Union minister said.
The Congress must prepare for a "grand war" to save the legacy of the Mahatma and not petty skirmishes of transitory populism.
"Finally, our opponents and media can eat their hearts out but I do believe that Rahul Gandhi is our leader, he should return as president of our grand party that Soniaji will continue to inspire," the 66-year-old leader said.
"We have taken a blow but we will rise again to rule over the hearts and minds of our beloved people. Congress can give India the life of freedom and fulfilment where the head is held high by one and all without fear and favour," he said.
Khurshid said liberal parties have become self conscious about the methods used by the BJP to win the landslide mandate.
This is sadly feeding the "monster of misrepresentation and deceit" because there is no alternative narrative, he said.
"Caution is understandable but psychological retreat will be disastrous. Gnawing fear of further defeats will almost certainly deliver us to defeat. Thus conquering fear is our real salvation," he said.
"As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Mahatma, our tribute must be to become fearless. But that does not come without sacrifice. Time to depart from symbolism and embrace substance of 'satyagraha'," he said.
He also slammed a section of the media for creating controversy over his remarks, saying it is easy to turn "walk away to run away" but these petty betrayals of the truth that the media is custodian of, is complicity in the beginning of dismantling of democracy.
The former External Affairs Minister, in his post, also talked about the Read More – Source
