Claiming Congress leaders were “staring” at defeat in the elections due to their party’s dynastic character, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday asked if the party workers were getting frustrated due to their chief Rahul Gandhi’s perceived shortcomings.
He also asked if the “Dunning-Kruger effect” — a type of illusory superiority or tendency for incompetent people to self-assess their competence too highly — was the reason for Gandhi “to cross the line of decency and dignity” while referring to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Dynastic parties have one major drawback. If the current generation of the party is competent, charismatic and enjoys popular confidence, the dynast can pull-off major victories. There is an incentive in the party to rally behind him.
“However, if the current generation dynast is lacking in charisma, understanding and popular confidence, the crowd around the family gets increasingly frustrated. Is the Congress Party witnessing that?” the senior BJP leader asked in a Facebook post.
Citing some generic statements such as “What can I do? He just doesn’t listen” or “I feel like quitting” of Congress leaders, which, he claimed, are frequently heard, Jaitley said that these reflect “what one generation of dynasty can do to a dynastic party”.
Terming the Congress the original creator of dynastic politics, Jaitley held that dynasties “demolish organisational structures”, “are unable to attract leaders of talent or mass following” and with diminishing democratic structure “become a crowd around a family”.
He said dynasties impose leaders, who do not become great but greatness is thrust on them, and some of them suffer from the “Dunning-Kruger effect” and not in a position to recognise their shortcomings, are consequently insecure and biased against the more competent ones.
“Is this the reason for the current mood within the Congress Party? Or is it also the reason which persuades the Congress President to cross the line of decency and dignity when he refers to the Prime Minister.”
