Dynastic hubris drives Congress to new low

The Congress party has been in decline since the late 1980s. The two consecutive terms in office of the UPA up to the present have indeed worsened the party’s position as it battles charges of mega corruption and non-governance. But the Congress’s dynastic First Family has lost none of its arrogance. In poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, for example, there is practically no Congress presence on the ground. But Rahul Gandhi believes in the superiority of his charm, “youth” and surname to produce a victory. In Punjab, the other key state headed for elections, Amarinder Singh had to nervously await disclosure from none other than Rahul Gandhi that he was the party’s chief ministerial candidate. In one stroke, political analysts said, the Nehru-Gandhi family established who was in charge. What’s behind this false conceit? And where is such excessive pride leading the party?

Down, certainly. In Punjab, the Congress could win the polls. But that is no thanks to any positive contribution from the party’s central dynastic leadership or the state apparatus, although personally, Amarinder Singh is a decent man. The Parkash Singh Badal family misrule has put the Akali Dal government in jeopardy, and as the only opposition in the state (which is a miracle in itself), the Congress will benefit. Uttar Pradesh is a complicated story. The Congress expects wonders from Rahul Gandhi. But if the party has a say in the formation of the next state government, whether led by Mayawati or Mulayam Singh Yadav, that would be an achievement.

Contrast that with how easily and routinely the Congress formed governments in Uttar Pradesh in the 1980s and earlier, and you realise how misplaced the Nehru-Gandhi family’s vanity is. Along with Uttar Pradesh, the party has lost its hold in the rest of the Hindi heartland, in West Bengal, in Karnataka, in Maharashtra (where it shares the cake with Sharad Pawar’s NCP), in Andhra Pradesh (Jagan Reddy is running a parallel dynastic soap there), and, of course, in Gujarat. In some of the residual states, it struggles at keeping power, with the party structure in a shambles, exactly as in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress First Family’s arrogance derives wholly from the power it holds at the Centre, and there is no realisation how tenuous that is.

The plain fact is that the Congress is floundering in an era of interminable coalition politics. Why single-party Congress rule gave way to a confused state of bipolar/coalition politics is a complicated issue, locating several factors, including communal politics, Mandal, Dalit rise, regionalism, proliferation of copycat dynasties, and so on. The foil to all this was/is not more but less dynastic politics, returning to the grassroots, increasing party politicisation, raising the number of stakeholders, and ushering genuine inner-party democracy in the Congress. It hasn’t been so. Internal democracy is an absolute no-no in the Congress, whose president will always be a Nehru-Gandhi. If that is bad, worse is the way a party government power structure is conceived and constructed, with those from the Rajya Sabha occupying the powerful ministries, whilst others with political backgrounds and experience are kept out to vegetate or indulge in wanton mischief.

Digvijay Singh may be all over the media with a quote a day, and he may have tutored Rahul Gandhi in politics at some time. But his friends say he is deeply unhappy at not finding accommodation in the Union cabinet. At the top level in government, it is only Pranab Mukherjee who understands politics and is, therefore, deployed in every crisis situation, which happens all too often, and during Parliament sessions, every day. This is no way to run public affairs. But who is to tell the Nehru-Gandhis, who believe in their omniscience and invincibility, and remain surrounded by insalubrious advisers who can’t lay claim to understanding even mofussil politics?

In the days of Indira Gandhi, the Congress was a still more closed shop. But the country was less politically conscious and consequently not so fragmented, coalition impulses were snuffed out as and when they appeared, and Mrs Gandhi, a fearsome prime minister, connected massively with the masses. At bottom, she knew the country and she understood politics. Although he claims her legacy, Rahul Gandhi cannot replicate her success — now or ever. Arrogance is what is left to display, and it jars.

— The author edits New Delhi-based www.newsinsight.net and writes on politics and strategic affairs. Email: envysub@gmail.com, linbox@dnaindia.net