Few people seem to realise that the face of Indian politics in now undergoing a change that can have far-reacing consequences in the months to come. In the first place it is generally conceded that the Congress (I) is increasingly becoming marginalised and impotent. As one national daily described it, the Congress is 'comatose', dysfunctional, unable to give the country any kind of leadership. Increasingly it is being noticed that Sonia Gandhi's leadership was failed and that, too, miserably. As one commentator put it, the dysfunctionality has become "so pervasive" that no amount of disarray amongst the non-Congress (I) forces can possibly become a source of comfort to the Congress (I). There is just no leader in the party who has mass appeal.

And increasing recognition is given to what is conceded as a fact that only negative arguments are being advanced for keeping Sonia Gandhi as the party head, Sickeningly, the party is reportedly being run by Sonia Gandhi's private secretary! As the knowledgeable columnist of The Hindu, Shri Harish Khare, puts it, "because they have to Kowtow to a Private Secretary, the Congress (I) Chief Ministers find themselves robbed of their self-confidence and elan as administrators." Asked Shri Khare: "How can S.M. Krishna stand up to a Veerappan when, as Chief Minister, he chooses to report every night to a particular clerk at 10, Janpath?." It is a good question. The Congress (I) has had all its ideological supports knocked down from under it. Nehru's much-vaunted "socialistic pattern of society" has lost all meaning. Indira Gandhi's garibi hatao has turned into an ugly joke.

What is worse, Public Sector units have been steadily losing and are now slowly coming under the auctioneer's gavel. There is just no Nehru-Gandhi legacy left to be defended or consolidated. And rightly or wrongly, Sonia Gandhi has no appeal whether to the intelligentsia or to the masses. She should not have been elected party president in the first place. It was a pathetically poor choice, even granted that it was made under difficult circumstances. And if the new Foreigner's Bill is passed, Sonia Gandhi would never have a chance of making it to the Prime Ministership, even presuming that the Congress will do well in future general elections. The time has come to jettison her in the party's own interests as in the larger interests of the nation.

As Shri Khare rightly and wisely put it: "Unless senior leaders— S/Shri A.K. Antony, Ahmed Patel, Jitendra Prasad, Madhavrao Scindia, Digvijay Singh, Pranab Mukherjee—summon the courage to take a stand that Smt Sonia Gandhi has turned out to be 'no good', the Congress (I) would be pushed irrevocably into the political marginalisation with unforeseen consequences for the Indian polity." That is the bare truth and the facts could not have been put more succinctly. For months, the only ideology that the Congress could push was "secularism" but even that has proved to be hollow. Even the minorities have seen through Congress pretension and the party stands exposed to its enemies. The Muslims who form a significant segment of the voters' list have been deserting the party. In Uttar Pradesh they have been turning to Mulayam Singh Yadav in large numbers. Elsewhere they seem lost like sheep without a shepherd.

At least in Kerala they have a Muslim League to look up to. But what about states such as Gujarat and even Maharashtra? The moral is that if the Congress (I) wants to be a power again, it must reinvent itself which, on present showing, it seems incapable of doing. It is plainly not enough for Sonia Gandhi to visit some disaster area to prove her existence. These efforts merely are meant for providing opportunities to photographers to take a few pictures which quickly get assigned to newspaper libraries. For a party to be be effective, it must have a distinct ideology that is saleable and which distinguishes it from other parties. The Congress (I) has nothing to offer except a mukhota—a mask— in the person of its president. That just won't do. Presently the party does not seem to have any firm view on anything whether on international or national issues, not on CTBT, not on Kashmir, not on how to deal with Gen. Musharraf, not on liberalisation of the economy and it has dithered too long on the question of formation of a separate Vidarbha state.

Indecision it might well be said, is now the name of Congress (I). That the only 'big' news from the Congress camp is the birth of a male child to Priyanka Gandhi accompanied by street dancing by hired crowds is indicative of the degeneration that has set in the party. Is there any way to resuscitate the Congress (I)? Yes, there is. It can make a good beginning by retiring Sonia Gandhi and bid her goodbye once and for all. She plainly does not represent the soul of India. For all her faults Indira Gandhi was a Bharatiya nari. Whether her devotion to Hindu gods was genuine or not—she once went on record as saying that she visited temples to admire their architecture—at least she must have felt at peace in front of temple deities. That cannot be said of Sonia Gandhi no matter how hard she tries. Hasn't the time come for the Congress (I) to drop its pretensions? In today's context secularism does not sit well on any party, let alone the Congress (I). For months together the Congress (I) leaders jeered at the alleged communalism of the BJP.

That was a self-defeating course to take. Vittal Gadgil was right when he asked the Congress (I) to reconsider its definition of secularism. That word has come to be seen by most Hindus as an offensive one. Increasingly Hindus are trying to make the point that Hinduism in its very nature is secular in character and that, indeed, the two are synonymous, unlike Christianity, Hinduism does not claim, that it is the only true religion. It accepts all faiths as ultimately leading to God. Congress will do well to accept that approach if it wants to make peace with the majority community. There is no such thing as 'majoritarianism'. In any event there is no gainsaying the fact that Hindus are the majority in the country and they have no intentions of any sort to suppress other religions; they never had, they have none now and they can never have in the future. Hinduism is not exclusivist.

When Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee wound up his address to the U.N. Millennium Summit with the vedic prayers: Sarve bhavantu sukhinah sarve santu niramayah sarve bhadrani pashyantu ma kaschit dukhabhag bhavet (May all live happily, may all enjoy good health, may all see auspiciousness and may none experience distress and may peace prevail everywhere) he was making a point which Congress (I) may do well to accept. A hundred and twenty-five years after its birth, Congress (I) is at the crossroads. Robert Frost, the American poet said it all when he wrote: "Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference". Congress (I) should now take the other road. It will then note the difference.