The BJP is the new Congress. Without the baggage of history.

After the humiliation in the recent general elections in India where the Congress Party won just 51 seats, compared to 303 of the BJP, Prof A Kapadia wrote that Congress President Rahul Gandhi "should completely clean out the old guard and make the Congress a paragon of meritocracy and hard work by throwing it open to talent". 'Meritocracy' is not welcome in India where seats in higher education and government jobs are reserved for certain sections of society. The Supreme Court held that quotas for extremely deprived castes do not violate the principle of meritocracy but politicians extend reservation to other castes just to win votes. It was the Congress which wrote the Constitution so Gandhi cannot go against it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is accused of winning elections by highlighting how Hindus have been badly treated by the Congress and by claiming that other religions are given unfair advantages over Hindus. To counter the Hindu perception of Congress favoring Muslims, Gandhi has been visiting temples in various states, but the problem for Gandhi is that his own father gave in to Muslim pressure in the Shah Bano case, making them different to Hindus. Hindu temples are controlled by state governments who pocket all the offerings of devotees, while mosques, churches and gurdwaras are not. In a provocative move, a Muslim was appointed head of the board of a famous temple in Bengal. In five years Modi did not pass a law to make temples free of government interference but Gandhi has not brought it up. The 42nd amendment enacted by Gandhi's grandmother Indira Gandhi changed the description of India from a "sovereign democratic republic" to a "sovereign socialist secular democratic republic". Modi rolled out a plethora of welfare schemes that any socialist would be proud of. Modi promised Rs 6,000 to farmers with landholding less than 2 hectares. In return, Gandhi promised Rs 72,000 to 50 million poor rural families. But it did not work, maybe because people had already received a first instalment of Rs 2,000 from Modi and could not be sure if they would be included in the poorest category. Experts are not slow to twist the knife into Gandhi, saying that he should be junked. Unlike the BJP, which has a Hindu base supported by the RSS, the Congress is a conglomerate of different social groups and the Gandhi family is the glue that holds all the strands together. Rahul Gandhi's decision to resign his post of president has set off power struggles in various state units of the party. "The people of India deserve a national party that can generate a real revolution," wrote Kapadia. For the Congress it means disowning most of its history. Will it survive if it does?