Congress Has Lost Its Moorings, No Debate About That: Jyotiraditya Scindia

The Congress party has lost its moorings because of leadership's disconnect with the public and the vision for India, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said, adding the opposition party is in a very steady state of decline.

Mr Scindia, who quit the Congress in 2020 to join the BJP, said his former party has lost its connection in terms of leadership.

"I think the Congress Party has lost its moorings. There's no debate about that, it has lost its moorings," he said in a text and video interview with PTI.

He was asked if the Congress party had lost the momentum after better-than-expected performance in the April-May general elections.

"To be very candid with you, I have no assessment of the Congress party. I believe that the Congress Party is in a very steady state of decline, and I think that's because of three things. I think the Congress Party has lost its connection in terms of leadership.

"It has lost its connection in terms of the public, and I believe that the Congress Party has also lost its connection to a vision of India. And when you lose all those three attributes, then you've lost the trust of the people of India, and that's the state of the Congress Party today," Mr Scindia said.

He however did not make a direct comment on Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, saying he cannot "sit in judgment over any single individual".

"I think each one of us has to carve our destiny and our niche, and I think it's important to be able to concentrate on the positivity of what you want to do in life, and I would like to do that in my life as well," said Scindia, who is the Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region in the Modi government.

He went on to add that human resource assessment is one of the most important decision-making factors that decides the success of any entity.

"It (Congress) has lost its ability to separate qualities of leadership from those that do not necessarily have it," he said. "Assessment of human resource is one of the most important decision-making factors in the success of any enterprise, be it a multinational corporation, be it a company in India, be it a political party. Because at the end of the day, it is not your bottom line or your net profit line that talks about what you're able to do."

When Mr Scindia quit the Congress in March 2020, it was said that he was pained by the party reneging on its promise to the people of Madhya Pradesh as per its manifesto, which made him face flak from youth and farmers. Also being snubbed for a leadership role in the state was cited as one of the reasons.

"It's about the quality of people that you have that are part of your enterprise, that result in that bottom line, eventually," he said in the interview.

He predicted a win for the BJP in Maharashtra assembly elections just like in the just concluded polls in Haryana.

"As far as Maharashtra is concerned, it is a state to which I'm extremely emotionally attached, because I originally come from that state, I've spent a lot of time in that state, and I'm very, very, very confident that the BJP, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, will certainly win its place among the hearts of the people once again, in this elections, the results of which both you and I will be sitting and discussing on the 23rd this month," he said.

Mr Scindia entered into politics after he lost his father and nine-term Lok Sabha MP Madhavrao J Scindia in an aeroplane crash in 2001.

When asked about his political ambition, particularly in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Scindia said that both his father and grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia, have taught him at a very early age that their goal should not be politics but it should be public service and politics should only be a medium to accomplish the goal.

"If you define it in that rubric, then it doesn't matter where you're sitting or where you're not. What matters is, are you serving people? Are you working for their good? And if that is your passion, then that comes in any form. I have my grandmother in her life, my father in his life, and I in my life have never hankered after any post," he said.

Before entry into politics, Mr Scindia, who is a Harvard Graduate and MBA alumnus of Stanford University, was working as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

Talking about his transition to politics, Mr Scindia said there is no comparison between his earlier life and public service.

"There is just no comparison. In the field of public service, if you can touch a single person's life, the satisfaction that you get inside your soul, you cannot compare with any tangible material thing," he said.

When asked if he would like his son Mahanaryaman Scindia to follow his legacy, Mr Scindia said that he does not believe he has the right to determine his child's destiny.

"I believe your destiny is what you make of it. I do not believe that, because you are a parent, you have a right to determine what your child's destiny is. Every human being has to do their karma (deeds) and has to have to define their path. We as parents can only do the things that we have been entrusted by God, which is to make sure that we instil good values in children. We make them compassionate, and empathetic. We educate them, and the rest is for them to define," Scindia said.

The minister also said that he has been influenced by both his grandmother and father in different ways.

"They both have in different ways and my grandmother for her fierce determination and fierce resolve and belief in what she believed in and for that going to any end. I took some degree of inspiration from that when I made a very big move because she was faced with that same, to a certain degree of humiliation in her life under the DP (Dwarka Prasad) Mishra government.

"My father for just the human being that he was and his capability to touch people's lives, and that's not something that you can inculcate or develop. It has to be ingrained in you," he said.

Mr Scindia said that politics has become much more comparative and demanding and "which he thinks is good, it's good".

"Having seen it from the 80s till today, for the last 23 years, to a certain degree the purpose that politics had, was not Rajneeti, but it was more Janseva. It's become more of Rajniti now. I think to that end, the Prime Minister is setting a completely new trend of a paradigm shift of what it means to be a Janasevak, Pradhan Sevak and Pradhan Rakshak. And I think those are the values that we need to take our country back to even in politics," he said.

The minister said politics mostly can be the art of the possible, but sometimes can also be the art of the impossible. 

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