Congress: The Power Tool


Written by S.G. Jilanee • Region • May 2010

Founded in 1885, by Allan Octavian Hume together with Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjea, Monomohun Ghose, Mahadev Govind Ranade and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress (INC) celebrated the one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of its birth, recently.

But this time there was a glaring new dimension to the hoopla. For the first time in the history of the Congress a billboard was put up to focus viewer attention on five leaders, all of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty; - Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Though basically it had a political profile yet, the INC has been known throughout its history as a party of "reform" because it also pursued a social uplift agenda. It triggered mass awakening, relentlessly struggled for, and finally achieved, independence for the country.

The organization had many presidents, some quite charismatic. But it was Jawaharlal Nehru who held the office at the most critical juncture of India's history. He it was who steered the independence struggle to success and became the country's first prime minister and remained in that office for 17 years until he died in 1964.

Indira was his only child and well groomed into politics. But Nehru as a fierce opponent of "nepotism" did not offer her any office in his administration. It was in January 1966, two years after her father's demise, that the Congress party leaders chose her to be Prime Minister following the sudden death of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Indira Gandhi introduced dynastic politics. Thus, when she was prime minister, Sanjay, her younger son, became the eminence grise wielding all the power without holding any office. When Sanjay died in a plane crash, Indira coaxed his reluctant elder son, Rajiv, into politics in 1981.

She also founded the cult of power. Perhaps the victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan and the resultant adulation by her countrymen had got into her head. Departing from the democratic principles of her father, therefore, Indira, declared emergency in 1975 suspending fundamental rights.

In 1984, she launched the Operation Blue Star, a military attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar against a Sikh insurgent, Bhinderanwale. The latter was killed but the event sowed bitterness against Ms. Gandhi among the Sikh community. And before the year end, she was assassinated by one of her Sikh bodyguards.

Upon Ms Gandhi's demise, Rajiv succeeded her as prime minister. He is believed to have built further on the power (and dynasty) cult. It was during his watch that 3,000 Sikhs were massacred in Delhi in retaliation for his mother's assassination, with his suspected connivance.

After Rajiv was assassinated in 1991 by a Tamil Tiger activist, the shell-shocked party offered the mantle to his widow Sonia. But it was only in 1998 that she formally joined the Congress and was immediately elected its president. And since then she has never looked back.

Sonia has been the president of the Congress for more than 10 years at a stretch and still there is no let up to her support especially, because her candidature for the prime minister's slot was opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and other rightist groups. She therefore undertook the role of kingmaker, to nominate the prime minister.

It is also believed in some circles that the Gandhis, Indira, Rajiv and Sonia have used the Congress as an instrument of power and self-aggrandizement and not of reform like in the party's earlier days. In fact Jawaharlal Nehru's credo was to wield power benignly without ever abusing it.

Today the Congress has become almost a pocket organization of the Gandhi dynasty. Sonia and Rajiv's son, Rahul, who is a member of the Lok Sabha, is being groomed to take the place of his father and grandmother in due course of time. He is being placed besides his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru in hoardings and efforts are focused on projecting the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

On a purely personal level Sonia occasionally displays a noble streak. For example, when her husband's assassin, Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, of the LTTE, now serving life sentence in India, appealed to Sonia so her daughter may be allowed to be united with her, Sonia responded with compassion. She interceded with the government and had Rajaratnam's wish granted. The daughter has been allowed to come from Sri Lanka to stay with her mother.

But, Sonia's grip on party affairs and discipline does not appear to be very strong. The dynasty syndrome itself is a sign of a culture of courtiers and sycophants. As a result, it is a common allegation that public servants have been shaped into instruments for the party to exercise its power. They are attuned to serve the party's interests rather than the people.

As a corollary to such policies, corruption has burgeoned. Congress has traveled a fairly long distance from the "pristine" days when service was its motto. It sought no reward, even though cynics may argue that this was due to the fact that it was in no position to give any. Yet, even during the early years after independence as long as Pundit Nehru remained at the helm for long 17 years, corruption was least heard of.

Pundit Nehru led a team of such stalwarts as Vallabbhai Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr. Ambedkar, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Sardar Baldev Singh, et al; each squeaky clean with a record of selfless service to the multitude. Their character and their probity were unimpeachable and therefore, guaranteed a clean administration.

The situation drifted after Nehru's death. It may be said to date actually since Indira Gandhi became prime minister in 1966 after a two-year interregnum under Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964-66). Though it may be admitted that the BJP is as unclean, yet, Congress is the older party with a glorious history and therefore corruption in its rank and file irks as a contradiction of its founding principles.

As president of the ruling party, Sonia Gandhi has many volatile issues to grapple with. At home there is the agitation about separation of Telengana from Andhra Pradesh and formation of new Telengana state. The movement, started in 1969, has now reached the boiling point which calls for urgent solution, without further dithering.

Then there is the Maoist insurrection. In a daredevil attack on 6 April guerrillas killed 76 security personnel in India's tribal heartland Chhatisgarh. The attack has been described as the "deadliest in nearly five decades of communist insurgency," marking a rise in both "the frequency and intensification of the offensives."

Another headache is the discordant call of Mumbai for Marathis by the Shiv Sena that has triggered bitterness on ethic lines. When Pundit Nehru decided on creating states on linguistic basis, he had hoped that it would help local talent to develop and flourish. Instead it seems to have spawned ethnic jingoism.

On the international plane Sonia faces the problem of polarization in the lok sabha on the issue of talks with Pakistan. Hawks insist that until Pakistan punishes the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, there can be no talks. But, the consequent impasse does not bode well for regional peace.

No doubt these are colossal problems but with "inner cleanliness" the Congress can, yet, deliver.