Once the country’s pre-eminent political force, the stock of Indian National Congress is running quite low these days. So, the news of senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia’s resignation from the party on Tuesday was received by many with a mix of casualness and apathy.
Having been a primary member of the Congress for the last 18 years, Scindia, like many young leaders in the party, seems to have fallen between cracks of a political culture that owes its allegiance to just one dynasty: The Nehru-Gandhi family.
The family is the glue that holds the 135-year old party together. It is also its biggest weakness.
Last year Congress received a huge drubbing at the general elections, winning a mere 52 out of the 542 parliamentary seats, prompting some pundits to consider writing the political obituary of a party that once enjoyed a formidable pole position in India.
The Congress, despite a surfeit of talented regional leadership and young blood, needs the Gandhi surname to hold it together.
So what happened?
This is a party that ruled India for more than half a century, shaping the country’s post-independence political, social and intellectual culture. Since the country’s independence from the British rule, Congress won an outright majority in general elections on more than seven occasions and led the ruling coalition three more times.
India’s Grand Old Party headed the central government in New Delhi for more than 55 years.
So, what led to the party’s contraction? How did the party that once won 371 seats under Jawahar Lal Nehru, 352 seats under Indira Gandhi and 415 seats under Rajiv Gandhi, end up in double digits?
From Nehru (1947—1964) to Manmohan Singh (2004—2014), the Congress party gave India all of six prime ministers. Now the party doesn’t have a decent leader of the opposition? What happened?
Understanding the genesis
Founded in 1885, the Congress party has a history that the likes of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can only envy. It was the first modern nationalist movement of the 19th century to emerge in the British Empire.
Under its first president, the Calcutta-born, British-educated Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, the party started its journey of opposing the British rule in India.
Later under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi (1920s), Congress not only successfully heralded India’s freedom struggle, but also influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements elsewhere in the British Empire.
All along people like Dadabhai Naoroji, Romesh Chunder Dutt, Abul Kalam Azad, Sarojini Naidu helmed the party.
It was Nehru, India’s first prime minister, and the great-grandfather of Rahul Gandhi, who in many ways laid the foundation of modern India. Most of India’s big projects — be it dams or canals were built during this time.
The country’s institutes of eminence — the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) were set up.
Playing a key role in determining territorial integrity, working out an egalitarian Constitution, Nehru, for all his foibles and faults (and he had many), made sure that Indians cultivated a scientific temper.
Gandhi family imprint
As Congress president, his daughter Indira Gandhi had a mixed legacy. She brought about a radical reform in the country’s economic, political and national policies after becoming the prime minister.
Hailed as Durga by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and The Empress of India by the foreign press, she went ahead and nationalised India’s banks and pushed ahead with the country’s nuclear and space programmes.
Her authoritarian personality led to the declaration of Emergency across the country (for a brief while) under which political opponents were imprisoned, the press was gagged and civil liberties were curbed.
After Indira, her son Rajiv came to power and it was on his watch that India ushered in the IT revolution.
A political rookie, who was well-meaning but perhaps not completely cut out for the grime and dust of India’s myriad and complex problems, he fumbled along the way.
Rajiv alienated himself from Congress veterans with mass following and tried to appease religious fundamentalists.
Post Rajiv-Congress
Under non-Gandhi presidents (like PV Narasimha Rao, Sita Ram Kesari), the Congress started to come undone. The party structure weakened. Soon it fell to Sonia Gandhi — Rajiv’s widow — to dive in and save the party from disintegration.
Her entry into politics in 1998, when the Congress was in tatters was an epochal movement. India’s GOP was once again in hands of the First Family. Sonia agreed to pick up the party reins reluctantly after she was persuaded to do so in the wake of senior leaders quitting the party to set up regional outfits.
The party bounced back from 140 odds seats to 206 parliamentary seats in the 2009 elections, paving way for Congress rule again. It was on her instance that India launched MGNREGA (guaranteeing the right to work), right to Information Act and the right to education.
The indolent prince
Following his mother’s ill health, Rahul’s entry into politics was another example of a scion being bequeathed something that he clearly didn’t want. As the great-grandson, grandson, and son of Indian prime ministers, Rahul has a political pedigree like no one else, but he is someone who treats politics as a vocation.
Up against political masters like Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, Gandhi is no match. The ruling party frequently ridicules him in the press and on social media, portraying him as inept. While there is a degree of truth in Rahul’s inability to connect with voters, to his credit his political messaging has remained positive.
Like his late father, he comes across as suave, well-bred, decent but sadly, someone whose heart is not truly in politics. Sadly, for the Congress, despite a surfeit of talented regional leadership and young blood, it needs the Gandhi surname to hold it together.
The party has failed to nurture strong leadership in the states. This is the bane of Congress. This is why Mamata Banerjee left in 1997 and Sharad Pawar left in 1999. That is why Jyotiraditya Scindia left yesterday.
Be it Indira’s arrogance, Rajiv’s disconnect, Sonia’s detachment or Rahul’s nonchalance, the once-dominant political party of India just cannot get over their acquiescence of the high command.
_resources1_16a30b3523c_small.jpg)
