The Indian National Congress party has been thrown into a state of shocked anxiety by the sudden and grave decline in the health of the party president Mallikarjun Kharge. The long-time leader was taken to a leading health care center in Bengaluru towards the end of the evening after reporting abnormally high breathlessness and a dangerously irregular heart rate. The health bulletins issued at the very beginning of the morning prove the terrible diagnosis: Kharge has to be immediately, unexpectedly implanted with a pacemaker, surgery which means that the electrical system of the heart is on the verge of a severe breakdown. The news has caused shockwave on both ends of the political line as this comes when the Congress party is preparing to take part in a very crucial series of regional elections.
The people in the cardiac unit of the hospital described the scenario as a life-or-death medical crisis where the condition of the 83-year-old was in much more danger than previously revealed. The move to install the pacemaker was said to have been made very fast and avoided days of scheduled consultation as there was urgency to normalize the heart rhythm of the party chief. Although the surgical team can be considered one of the best in the country, the old age and continuous political stress put on the body of Kharge have only made matters worse. The vigilant family has requested privacy and a steady stream of party officialdom and anxious political opponents invaded the hospital.
The political outcomes of this abrupt medical condition are far reaching and instant. Incorporating the opposition was a part of Kharge, as he had been the key to the recent strategic resurgence of the party due to his aggressive leadership, even though he is very old. The fact that even the short-term absence of his body causes a vacuum at the top is a major concern because it may freeze the most important decision-making processes in the party and open it to an exposure. Senior Congress leaders who have sought to be seen to be calm have been having impromptu meetings outside the hospital to control the unfolding crisis where speculation is already rife on the interim succession plan in case Kharge needs an extended period of convalescence.
Prayers and messages of concern have come flooding in across the nation as well as a strikingly cordial message by the Prime Minister, a moment where bipartisanship, a rarely seen aspect of life, reigned. Nevertheless, the fundamental reality is clear, the health of such an important personality has suddenly become a significant component of the unstable national political arena. The future of his operation and the rate at which he will bounce back will now determine the Congress party momentum in the crucial months to come with every minute that will be spent in the operating theatre keeping the breath of India as an organisation.
