Congress has a reel issue

Our country, which takes immense pride in being the world’s most robust democracy, can never exorcise the demons of those 19 months when democracy was trampled upon and replaced by a draconian form of internal Emergency in 1975. I don’t need to delve into the excesses carried out by the state during that period, as I’m sure the movie Indu Sarkar depicts them adequately.

My point here is simple. Can the Indian National Congress disown what is an integral chapter of its existence, as much as its participation in India’s freedom struggle or for that matter its involvement in the 1984 riots? The answer is a plain and simple no.

The Emergency is the darkest chapter in India’s post-Independence polity. For the sheer magnitude of innocent people arrested, careers ruined and forced sterilisation, a stark cinematic depiction was long overdue. What makes the imposition of Emergency even more unpardonable is that it was born not out of a pressing rationale but sheer megalomania — induced paranoia. It is equally important to note that the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ were added to the preamble of our Constitution when the entire Opposition was in jail.

Hence, unlike the Gujarat riots, which the Congress believes were state-sponsored but the courts of law opine otherwise, every bit of the Emergency was State-orchestrated and officially so. If the BJP can face movies like Firaaq and Parzania gracefully, why does the Congress then have to be so intolerant towards Indu Sarkar?  Are they still steeped in the Emergency mindset, even as they battle a larger existential crisis?  

Moreover, as an author, who himself loves to experiment with real political backdrops, I know from experience that the distinction between reality and fiction can seem blurred at times. To give a personal example, three of my books walk the tightrope between reality and fiction. In one of my books, the real names of the Congress, BJP and CPI(M) are used throughout the book and their accountabilities are fixed for historical wrongdoings. In another, a docile, obsequious PM, Kartar Singh, presides over an indecisive government steeped in corruption and follows the instructions of his lady party president to the T. The latter was, in fact, read by a sitting Congress MP then, whose only reaction to the mockery of his government was a wry smile. When I think of it, I find that MP’s reaction so much more intelligent than how the Congress leaders and workers have reacted to the Indu Sarkar trailer.   

The point here is, can a movie or a book inspired by real events use fictitious characters in the depiction of real, unsavoury episodes? Yes, that’s possible, though at the risk of diluting the essence of the story. And hence, a vivid similarity to real life antagonists becomes virtually inevitable in such cases.

The director or the author is within his rights to replicate real incidents and characters into a ‘disclaimed’ fictitious story. If the end result is offensive, then the aggrieved party can take the legal route and seek compensation. However, the creative person here enjoys a distinct advantage. At least, I can’t think of any instance where a director or author has had to pay damages.

This is where one expects the Congress to show more maturity and understanding. The Emergency is more than four decades old, when most of today’s film-watching population wasn’t even born. By reacting in this violent manner, the Congress, in a strange way, has admitted both its guilt as well as its stubborn refusal to mend its ways.

For any political party that has lived the national discourse for over 100 years, it is only natural to have had weak or embarrassing phases. If the Congress had not been a family enterprise, it is quite possible that the party would have publically regretted the Emergency in hindsight. The problem with the Congress is that admission of any wrongdoing amounts to indicting the ‘family’, which the party can’t afford to do. And as one can see, nothing ever changes for the Congress. If there was a ruthless mother-son duo which presided over the Emergency then, now there’s a clueless, helpless mother-son duo that is presiding over Congress’ decline.

The biggest problem which the Congress has faced in the last three years is in its puerile reactions to important situations.

In a rather perverted response to the new rules for cattle sale, the youth wing of the party killed a calf in Kerala. Right in the midst of the India-China standoff, Rahul Gandhi secretly went over to the Chinese Embassy to ‘understand’ the situation, making it clear he trusted the Chinese more than the Indian government. Leaders like Mani Shankar Aiyar and Digvijay Singh have left no stone unturned in embarrassing the party on crucial issues. All these things have left the party in a reckless, suicidal mode.

The least that the Congress can do in the case of Indu Sarkar is look the other way and learn from how the BJP had reacted to Firaaq and Parzania. The Congress should consider itself lucky that no film has been made yet on its worst-kept secret: Punjab. If a film were to be made on how the Congress created Bhindranwale, staged Operation Blue Star and then designed the 1984 riots, the Congress would have no place to hide.

The writer is a well-known author and spokesperson for Mumbai BJP. Views expressed are personal.