Sonia must step in

Even opponents of Sonia Gandhi will hard put not to appreciate the humility in her address to the Congress parliamentary party on Saturday. Describing the mandate for the Congress and the Left as an 8220;immense responsibility8221;, the prime minister designate said, 8220;Let us acknowledge that the people of India have chosen us to represent their aspirations, not our own8221;. Signing off, she warned against complacency: 8220;There is now a momentum generated by our revival 8212; let us not squander it8221;. These were soothing sentiments to hear a day after the Congress8217;s would-be government partners said pretty much anything they pleased on economic policy, subsidies, privatisation, you name it. The flush of victory, the surge of rhetoric had to be brought under control. Sonia8217;s speech 8212; her stated commitment to both 8220;kisan and khet mazdoors8221; and 8220;growth and investment8221; 8212; should put an end to the silly season.

The Congress and the BJP are two very different parties. Yet the Congress needs to study the NDA coalitional model and adopt and adapt it to the alliance it will take into office. Unlike previous coalitions 8212; such as the United Front8217;s accidental governments in the mid-1990s 8212; the NDA was led from the front, by the principal constituent party. Despite early setbacks 8212; the AIADMK in 1998, the Telugu Desam in the second term 8212; it was not vulnerable to incessant blackmail by smaller partners and outside supporters. In the end, the coalition8217;s achievements were appropriated by the BJP, just as its defeat has left the BJP carrying the can. Sonia has no doubt realised the Congress is now similarly placed. People will judge her government by the acts and deeds of her party, by the thrust and identity she gives it, not by the recklessness of a Laloo Prasad Yadav.

It is a truism to suggest that May 13 saw a mandate for change. Every mandate is a mandate for change. Elections don8217;t take place in static societies. Having said that, there are enormous benefits of continuity. The Vajpayee government will be remembered for kickstarting the 8220;second generation8221; economic reforms, furthering the work of a previous Congress regime. Likewise, the groundwork for the new relationship with Israel and the United States 8212; which has served India so well in the post-9/11 period 8212; was done by P.V. Narasimha Rao. To junk this legacy is pointless. It is for Sonia to temper the extremes of market-bashing Marxists and of Congress geriatrics revelling in NAM nostalgia. It is for Sonia to ensure, for instance, that the HRD ministry is not reduced to an agency for rewriting already rewritten textbooks, for packing off mediocre rightwing academics from cosy sinceures, and bringing in medicocre leftwing academics. India looks to her for change with continuity.