Vijay Hashia
The first 25 years after independence, there was no dynasty rule in India. Nehru though loomed large over the political scene; had some formidable opponents’ but they were comrades too in the struggle for independence. Rajaji, J B Kripalani, Ram Manohar Lohia and Shyamaprasad Mukherji died early. The vision of alternative paths for India was yet to be paved on ideologies in contrast to the Congress ideologies. The Praja Socialist Party was on the social democratic left, Swatantra on the non-religious right, Jan Sangh had its religious nationalist vision. The CPI on the advice of Stalin were told to stop deluding themselves as revolutionaries and support Nehru. So they did as they were told.
When Nehru died, his successor was chosen Lal Bhadur Shastri by the Congress Parliamentary Party in an open competition and he won. When he died in Tashkent, following ending of 17 days war between India and Pak and after signing an agreement on 22 Sep 1965, there was another election and Indira Gandhi was chosen as PM. Things began swiftly to drift away in 1969 when Indira split grand old congress. The Congress President S Nijalingappa expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for ” fostering a cult of personality.” The “Syndicate”, as the senior members were called, could not quite come to terms with the fact that the ” gungi gudiya” ( dumb doll)- their snide reference for Indira had a mind of her own. The break was complete when Indira after proposing N. Sanjeeva Reddy’s name for presidentship asked Congressmen to “Vote according to their conscience.” The important point here was that Morarji Desai as Dy PM became a thorn in Indira’s cabinet and the PM was irritated as the party stalwarts opposed schemes and ideas of Indira in Nationalization of Banks and Abolition of Privy Purse and support of V V Giri against the Official Congress Nominee Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy. The Congress split into Congress (O, the rival group and Congress (R), the sycophant group. She was so powerful that she wielded enormous powers like having PMO office and all her ministers addressed her as SIR. She also saw that no leader was allowed to become popular as CM. She selected CMs who were changed and only her whims were executed and kept all powers with herself and became the high command which has been still in vogue with Sonia and coterie.
Dynastic politics had begun with Sanjay Gandhi’s unofficial but powerful position during the Emergency that upon Indira’s return to power, she further personalized congress as her own dynasty and anointed Sanjay as her successor. There was no doubt as to who the next PM would be if she were to die in office. As it happened it was Rajiv and not Sanjay who succeeded to gain prominence. But even then, when Rajiv died, Sonia Gandhi gained prominence for PM and Congress leaders openly offered her the position which she declined for various personal reasons and not in the national interest. The congress leaders could have charted a new path but they wanted a head to dance to their tunes, as a result of which the senior most deserving incumbent Pranab Mukherjee who could have been more effective was left in lurch.
Alas, Congress failed, years of living by sycophancy had rendered congress worse than any Stalinist party. No leader could think for himself, having obeyed orders for a generation and more. There was no political ideology except staying in office. Narasimha Rao was solid but dull and after he lost in 1996, Sitaram Kesri drove the party into near oblivion. By that time Indian politics had gone through a revolution of caste as the central theme of radical change and not class. The result, VP Singh and Mandal, led to the revival of BJP, so the focus shifted to anti BJPism. Vote bank secularism ideology. These two ideologies further splintered politics of contemporary India.
The result? Most of the multiparties are either caste, regional or religious parties. This is because once you become anti-Brahmin or anti- Hindu, it cannot stop there. Each layer in the caste system oppresses those below, examples are Yadavs, Kurmis, Jats and so on. Each narrow jati has its leader so parties become family concerns of the leaders. Even ideological parties such as DMK, SP, RJD, JD(S), NC, PDP etc have become family fiefs. So Congress was reborn as a family firm after Rajiv’s death. Sonia Gandhi had to take up the ownership of the firm if it was not to go bust. She did and made a success of it way beyond anyone’s expectations. She even found a good CEO in Manmohan Singh lacking future vision of India and Rahul Gandhi was inducted to follow the suit. It is clear that the first priority of Congress was to secure the succession that Rahul Gandhi, a political delinquent, could not be replaced by anyone outside the dynast.
The Congress party therefore, cannot claim to be democratic in its internal leadership because it is not an argument they can win. In doing so, they come across as apologizing for being led by a political dynasty. It is strange that they should apologize for their only the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
The Loksabha 2019 elections are on cards, the nation is watching Congress and its allies. Chanderbabu Naidu has been making concerted efforts to stitch for innovation of looping opposition from top to bottom but it is hard to say, will they? He needs some political ideology to convince Indian voters. The multiple party fragmentation and absence of national ideology will definitely implode further in the ensuing 2019 campaign of parties.
The achievements of Modi as PM in his short stint of four years have been quite more than the failures plus his advantage is on being clean Government without a blot though Rafale has erupted to election rhetoric for opposition. Modi can have a comeback for another tenure and the nation cannot think of dreadful fragments of Mahagathbandan which is rudderless, leaderless and directionless. After all, how long can an Indian voter be fleeced by these political overtones of ostensible dynasty rules?
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