Congress needs Indira Gandhi now more than ever
Congressmen were out in strength to pay homage to Indira Gandhi at the iconic Swaraj Bhawan, the house where she was born a century ago, in Allahabad.
Sonia Gandhi inaugurated a photo exhibition of the former Prime Minister with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in close attendance. Members of Feroze Gandhi's family put in a rare public appearance too.
Sheila Dikshit, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and almost the entire legislative wing of the party in UP were present. As were friends and old associates of the former PM, residing in UP.
The exhibition has some rare photographs of Indira and has been put together with great care by the Indira Gandhi Foundation, supervised by both Sonia and Priyanka.
These are difficult times for the Congress, and even the Gandhi family. They are fighting a BJP that threatens to not just put India's Grand Old Party out of business politically, but in PM Narendra Modi many believe they are faced with a leader who is cast in Indira's mould - bold, dynamic and ruthless.
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| Sonia Gandhi inaugurated a photo exhibition of former PM Indira Gandhi with Rahul and Priyanka in close attendance. |
It is in these trying times that the party and the family desperately need an Indira Gandhi than ever before. A leader at the helm who can rally a demoralised party and lead the fight back like Indira did after being ousted from power in the late 1970s.
What the Congress needs is not just someone with her charisma and touch of steel, but also her connect with the masses, her political understanding and above all her leadership qualities.
Sonia sought to assure her demoralised partymen, by asserting that "the spirit of Indira Gandhi still lives on in the family and the party". For a demoralised and dispirited Congress, if there ever was a time for that spirit to come to the fore, it is now.