The Hindu : The Congress after Gujarat

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Wednesday, Jan 08, 2003

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The Congress after Gujarat

By Harish Khare

The need of the hour is to bring the Congress in sync with the new India, an India that refuses to be mesmerised by past heroes... as it finds itself having to cope with new threats and new opportunities.

BEGINNING WITH the Prime Minister's Goa "musings" down to his latest fulminations at Mumbai, the intentions are quite clear: redefine, or at least re-calibrate, the Nehruvian paradigm of Indian nationalism. No one should be surprised that Atal Behari Vajpayee wants to advance the Hindutva agenda, especially after the BJP's comprehensive electoral victory in Gujarat. Nor should anyone, for that matter, be similarly surprised that the so-called hardliners from within the Sangh Parivar corner are pretending to be miffed with Mr. Vajpayee or L. K. Advani. Matters are proceeding as per the post-Gujarat script.

What is surprising is the lack of hard-headed realism in the anti-Sangh Parivar camp. Especially, in the Congress. For instance, speaking to the Congress Parliamentary Party on November 20, the Congress president had asserted: "We are confident that the enterprising people of Gujarat will reject the forces that spread hate and preach bigotry. We are confident that Gujarat will reject the forces that have done so much to damage its fair name, its legacy of religious tolerance and understanding... I am positive that the people of Gujarat will see through these nefarious designs (of the BJP, VHP, etc.)."

All those who disagree with the Sangh Parivar and its message of cultural nationalism are obliged to ask why the people of Gujarat belied the Congress president's hope. The Congress Working Committee has finally met; it has passed a resolution, predictably abusing the Sangh Parivar for conducting a campaign that "has grave implications for the country as a whole". Every liberal Indian will say "amen" to the CWC's draft-men. But deep disappointment awaits any secular voice that wants to decipher the CWC resolution for an understanding of why the party could not get the better of the BJP in Gujarat. Yet, to the extent the Congress claims to be in the vanguard of the fight against "all forms of communalism and religious fundamentalism", it invites a scrutiny of its message (of "ideological struggle" against the BJP) and the messenger of that message.

A message and its messenger click only in a given context; changing belief, attitudes and reference points keep on redefining the context. The Congress' problem is that its leaders refuse to understand that the context has changed. India has changed drastically and dramatically since 1984, the last time the Congress won a national majority; unfortunately, the Congress keeps trying to recreate the triumphant-return-of-Indira Gandhi formula as the mantra that will enable it to work its way out of powerlessness. What worked in 1979-80 cannot work in 2002-2003; but the party chooses to remain oblivious to the massive, almost revolutionary, changes that have transformed the face of India and have unleashed political, social and economic forces which refuse to acknowledge the Congress' paternalism. It continues to tout itself, as did the CWC resolution, as "the only true, national party with local roots, that it is the only party that appeals to and derives its sustenance and support from each and every section of our diverse society and that it is the only party with the experience of and an agenda for good governance combining economic growth with social harmony".

Every party is entitled to a self-image and to a leadership paradigm that fits the self-image. But the art of politics, especially in a democratic polity, is to control and, if possible, redefine the context to one's advantage. And the given context is the BJP's effectiveness in grafting a veneer of nationalism on its divisive agenda, making a success of its failure to secure Mother India against its enemies. The CWC deplores "the calculated efforts of the BJP and its affiliates to use the confrontation with Pakistan to polarise our country along communal lines". Lament is fine; but lament is no substitute for a strategy. On the other hand, the BJP Government at the Centre has used its perch to manufacture a crisis of Indian nationalism; its leadership is convinced that it can define the rules of political engagement by converting every electoral contest, regional or national, into a test of the leaders' deshbhakti. Cynical? yes, indeed. Mischievous? of course. But it has yielded electoral dividends.

Perhaps the best thing going for the BJP is Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf. He talks cavalierly of a nuclear exchange with India; within days, the BJP regime comes out with a nuclear command-and-control arrangement, reinforcing its macho image. The BJP can be relied upon not to initiate any efforts to lower tensions with Pakistan. Nor to address the domestic sources of alienation, militancy and terrorism. Periodic outbreaks of terrorist activities suit the BJP agenda fine. This context of heightened anxieties and contrived siege is most propitious to the BJP and its message of deshbhakti and deshbhakts.

On its part, the anti-BJP Opposition, especially the Congress, is enjoined to produce a mix of appeals, tactics and organisational resourcefulness to defeat the BJP game. This is a national obligation. The Congress continues to function as if the party is a private arrangement between the Nehru-Gandhi family and a group of "leaders" (from Chief Ministers down to taluka activists) who feel they have some kind of political advantage in calling themselves "Congressmen". The nature and quantum of that political advantage keep changing, but not the structure of that relationship. At any given time, there is a gaggle of courtiers who are made to feel comfortable, wanted and even valued, never letting them question the structure of relationship. Others are made to engage one another in a pointless game of settling personal scores, in the process all of them inviting political and intellectual infirmities.

Consequently, the Congress' performance as a political party has come to hinge on the kind of leadership control mechanism it has opted for itself. Everyone pretends that a periodic game of musical chairs among the AICC general secretaries produces organisational energy and innovativeness, whereas all that is achieved is control and hierarchy. The organisation produces only the Haldemans, but does not encourage a Rafi Ahmed Kidwai or a D. P. Mishra. Once in a while the party stumbles onto a master-stroke, like allowing its arm to be twisted into letting Mufti Mohammed Sayeed become the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. But most of the time, the results are mixed at best. For instance, the Blue Book of control mechanism prescribes that state level leaders be "selected" by the "high command"; but when faced with a battle such as the one the Congress had on its hands in Gujarat, the ritual becomes counter-productive. Because the Congress would not project anyone as its chief ministerial contender, the Opposition managed to depict the contest as one between Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi. Nor did this penchant for playing god help produce the requisite factional synergy.

An ideal organisational structure — that elusive mix of control and initiative — should enable a group to revise and re-invent its vision, its collective mission, its message and its messengers. This is more so in case of a political party. The Congress, notwithstanding its recent run of electoral successes and despite its defeat in Gujarat and Goa, remains a prisoner of its past and its old liturgy. Whereas the need of the hour is to bring the Congress in sync with the new India, an India that refuses to be mesmerised by past heroes and their "balidan" as it finds itself having to cope with new threats and new opportunities. Arriving at a new definition of secularism is part of this new Indian restiveness. Unless the Congress is willing to devise a new grammar and a new grammarian, it will not be able to salvage Nehru's vision of India.

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