What I appreciate about @BJP4India versus @INCIndia is that the BJP truly is a party with a difference. Its ideology is very clear, easy to understand, & straightforward. It’s obvious what the BJP stands for. There’s no confusion about its goal. None of that is true of INC.
Other than perpetuating its own existence, the INC appears to have no primary goal.
Nor is it apparently willing to take a stand on any of the controversial wedge issues which would not only demarcate it as a party with a difference but also distinguish it as a party committed to something truly different.
The INC makes no platform planks about the need for & importance of friendship with Pakistan, self-determination (or even demilitarization) in Kashmir, repeal of archaic & colonial-era laws designed for suppression, or the country’s general human rights situation sans RSS.
Like an ancient grandparent blissfully unaware of the altered age we live in, the INC refuses to grapple with the tarnished & often disturbing history of its premier party leaders. Indira Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi, for instance, remain its heroes despite their atrocities.
And so it remains ensnared not only in the grip of dynastic politics, but also in its refusal to acknowledge & apologize for its wrongs of the past.
Even as major members of the INC defect to BJP & the BJP makes move to cement its status as the sole Indian party, practically criminalizing opposition, the INC appears completely unwilling to rock the boat. It takes no uncompromising stands.
If it did, the INC would likely lose not only some elections but also some membership. It might shrink. But the only way it can grow is by embracing electrifying positions that set it apart as different. Distinct. Distinguished.
Only by distinguishing itself can the INC avoid being relegated to the dustbin of history.
As the BJP pushes a totalitarianism premised on the cult of leadership & elevation of tyrannical power - policies which the INC has all too readily embraced in the past - a future involving the INC requires it emerge as the polar opposite. It has utterly failed to do so.
Leaning on the past as a crutch, the INC continually celebrates its role in swaraj (independence) while, even as liberty in post-democratic India becomes a nearly forgotten dream, it declines to accept & applaud azadi (freedom) as the only differentiated future.
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