Desperation seeks dynasty

Sonia Gandhi's enrolment as a primary member of the Congress will be a new factor in any reassessment of the party's chances of a better pe...

Sonia Gandhi8217;s enrolment as a primary member of the Congress will be a new factor in any reassessment of the party8217;s chances of a better performance in the next general election whenever it is held. This is so because Sitaram Kesri and others in control of party headquarters are apparently convinced that promoting her is the best way of revitalising the party.

Whether in a surge of emotion or otherwise, Kesri seemed to have forgotten the palpable fact that it was during Rajiv Gandhi8217;s Prime Ministership, after the Congress had won an unprecedented popular mandate in 1984, that the party began its rapid slide downwards. Five years later, it failed to win a simple majority in the Lok Sabha. After the 1991 election, the Congress managed to put together a slim majority but the cumulative adverse impact of developments such as Bofors, Mandalisation and the more recent corruption scams, put a brake on anything like a revival of its earlier elan. The Congress debacle in 1996 was the culmination of the chain of setbacks which had began during Rajiv Gandhi8217;s unchallenged stewardship.

Those who are opposed to Kesri and his supporters continuing to be in control of the party are, for instance, apt to accuse them of trying to manoeuvre Sonia Gandhi into the leadership simply to keep their opponents who include formidable state bosses away from key positions in the party. This will imply misuse of the criterion of loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family for a factional purpose. A charitable interpretation of enthusiastic advocacy of dynastic succession to party leadership could be that the party is so hopelessly divided that there would be a reasonable chance of restoring unity by all groups rallying round Sonia Gandhi8217;s leadership.

Such a hope stems primarily from the belief that Indira Gandhi had accomplished a similar task of unifying the Congress behind her. What is forgotten here is that Indira Gandhi had ample and direct experience of managing party affairs either as a member of the Working Committee or as the party president well before she came to wrest its control. What is no less pertinent, she already had developed a distinct political outlook and had her own views about how the Congress could lead the nation towards the goal of prosperity. However questionable some of the means she employed to clip the wings of her opponents in the party, her forte was her own innate political acumen.

The non-emergence of a Congress leader who can mobilise the people all over the country at election time has, above all, been the party8217;s major handicap for more than a decade. None of the present senior leaders at the all-India level has acquired the status despite their vast experience in Congress affairs and Congress Governments. Nor have their high standing and influence over substantial segments of the electorate in their respective home states helped any one of them to climb to the top since the departure of Rajiv Gandhi from the scene. On the face of it, a situation of this kind should be conducive to grooming of a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to fill the perceived vacuum. But this may work in favour of Sonia Gandhi in a very limited sense. What is even more important for her will be to win wide recognition that she has a will of her own and this is matched by a capacity to lead election campaigns.

The problem of regaining its old elan has confronted the Congress at a particularly unfavourable time. Until a decade ago, radical rhetoric could serve as a passport to political eminence. It is no longer the case. This is an age of politics shorn of ideology. Mouthing slogans of socialism or socialistic pattern has ceased to be in vogue. The phenomenon of new economic pressure has put out of gear all the long established parties in all the democracies in the West. In India, it is naturally the Congress, the oldest organised mass party, which is most affected by this transformation. That is why many in the party have been reduced to praying that Sonia Gandhi8217;s leadership may serve as a miracle and save the Congress. But what is the guarantee that the anti-Congress parties will not turn this sense of desperation to their own advantage?