To revive Congress, Rahul Gandhi must first correct the wrongs of his family
There is palpable relief in the Congress today. Rahul Gandhi is soon to take over as party president from his mother Sonia Gandhi, who held the post for 18 long years. One senior leader justified the elevation of Rahul Gandhi by saying that without the Gandhis, the party would split into small factions as the family was the cementing force that kept the Congress together.
This is a tragic state of affairs for a national party that traces its roots to the last part of the 19th century and its proud role in the Independence movement. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru towered over the Congress party for close to two decades. But his death in 1964 did not throw the Congress party into any turmoil. There were dozens of tall leaders at both the Centre and in states who could take over from him without any threat to the party.
A group of party leaders who called themselves the syndicate got together and took the opinion of state Congress leaders and the leaders at the Centre, and got Lal Bahadur Shastri elected as the prime minister. The other contender Morarji Desai stepped aside. The death of Shastri in 1966 brought the syndicate together again. This time, they plumped for Indira Gandhi. Morarji Desai threw his hat in the ring. There was an election that Indira Gandhi won easily. Thus began the Indira era.
India’s first woman PM did not believe in sharing power with other leaders of the Congress and disliked dissent. By 1969, she split the party and became the unquestioned boss of the Congress. The decline of the Congress as a democratic political front had started. The Congress became a family enterprise and dynastic rule had begun. This continued with Rajiv Gandhi after Indira’s demise. The death of Rajiv brought some democracy, though Sonia continued to exert her influence on the party.
The defeat of PV Narasimha Rao and the decline of the Congress alarmed its senior leaders. They had no answer for the problems the party was facing, except bringing Sonia Gandhi in as party president. Sonia was able to build a coalition led by the Congress to power in 2004 and continued to rule till 2014. The crushing defeat that the Congress faced in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls made the Congress turn to Rahul Gandhi, who — after a hesitant start — is set to take over as president in December 2017.
The question that arises is why is the party so dependent on one family? There are a number of talented and competent leaders in its fold — the names of Pranab Mukherjee, Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad immediately come to mind. However, the party is unable to accept any one but the Gandhi family as leaders. The political record of Rahul is limited as compared to many Congress leaders. Yet, this kind of dependence on one family is baffling.
The only conclusion one can draw is that the dominance of one family has made the entire party spineless and docile. They fear that without a member of the family as the leader, the party will fall apart. There is no glue of ideology or principles to hold them together. Power is the cementing factor and the members see only the Gandhi family as the ones who can bring them back to power.
This is troubling for a party that has governed India for close to 60 years. Rajiv Gandhi had once said that power brokers are destroying the Congress. It has been three decades since he made that remark. The party has withered in these three decades and is a shadow of its former self. His son is taking over at a time when the Congress is facing the crisis of existence.
Rahul has his task cut out. He has to revitalise the party by bringing merit in appointment. Dissent has to be encouraged and he must gradually step aside and make the Congress the vibrant force it was between 1947 and 1966. He must concentrate and build his party at the grass roots level. The party must also come with a definite ideology and thinking, and not make compromise a routine habit. Compromise is a part and parcel of politics and governance but one’s identity cannot be lost in striking it.
Rahul is young and energetic. The party he is leading is old and tired by many years in power. It has lost its vitality and strength owing to the mistakes made by his grandmother. It is high time he realised this and took urgent corrective steps. Otherwise, he may end up presiding over the demise of the Congress — a modern-day Bahadur Shah Zafar!