Chances of Congress winning are remote : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

 Chances of Congress winning are remote

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

The Pioneer (14-09-2022)

(Having lost the Lok Sabha elections twice and currently going through turbulent times, the party should support other Opposition parties in national interest-Editor)

With Rahul and Priyanka of the Nehru-Gandhi family shirking responsibility to head the All-India Congress Committee, the Congress Working Committee decided to hold elections on October 17. Last time, the elections were held in 2000.

If it was Alan Octavian Hume, a civil servant in British India, who is credited with the birth of Indian National Congress in 1885, then it is Sonia Gandhi, an Italy-born Indian politician, to be credited with, for not only reviving congress, but also for returning it back to power in 2004 in difficult times.

Incidentally, it’s again during her presidency that the Congress tasted successive defeats in two general elections. Several senior leaders deserted the party. Chances of the congress party returning to power at the Centre are almost nil. It is left with no option except to rejuvenate and join hands with secular parties in fighting harmful divisive politics in the country.

Tracing back its history, Womesh Chandra Banerjee was the first elected Congress president. Prominent freedom fighters like Madan Mohan Malviya, Motilal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Subhas Chandra Bose, and JB Kriplani were elected to this coveted office before Independence. After Independence, for over 40 years, the post has been held by the Nehru-Gandhi family, though prominent leaders like Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Dhebar, Purushottam Das Tandon, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Kamaraj Nadar, Nijalingappa, Jagjivan Ram, Shankar Dayal Sharma, PV Narasimha Rao, and Sitaram Kesari also held the position at one time or the other.

During Jawaharlal Nehru’s premiership, he held the presidency of INC thrice. After 1978 and after the split of Congress, under Indira Gandhi, organizational elections were seldom held. She institutionalized the practice of having the same person as the Congress president and the prime minister, which was continued by her successors Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao. The exception was in 2004, when the Congress was voted back to power, Manmohan Singh became prime minister, but Sonia Gandhi continued to be the president of the party.

PV Narasimha Rao succeeded Rajiv Gandhi as Congress president after his assassination. He was prime minister of the Congress-led minority government in 1991. Congress lost elections in 1996 and Rao, who was not in good looks of Sonia Gandhi resigned as party president and as parliamentary party leader in favor of astute Sitaram Kesari, who sidelined many Sonia loyalists.

When several senior party leaders, mostly supporters of Sonia Gandhi, were in open revolt against Kesari, Sonia Gandhi joined Congress as ‘Primary Member’ after a long wait and within two months ‘accepted when offered’ the post of the party president in 1998, seven years after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. She remained in office until 2017. It was under her leadership that

The Congress as the single largest party of the United Progressive Alliance formed the government at center for two terms headed by Manmohan Singh. Ironically, during Sonia stewardship congress was voted out of power.

After serving for 19 long years, her son Rahul Gandhi, succeeded Sonia as the president of INC in 2017, but held the post barely for a year and half. Sonia resumed the post again in 2019 and remained the unquestionable party leader for a record period of over 22 years. Sonia revived the Nehru-Gandhi control over congress and has become indispensable in the party. Unless she opts out, she will be the leader forever despite some dissent.

Motilal Nehru, who was the founder patriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family, after serving twice as president of INC, passed on the legacy to Jawaharlal Nehru. It was almost laying the foundation for the future Prime Ministerial berth. Mahatma Gandhi’s support always remained with the Nehru family and everyone who opposed Jawaharlal was reduced to a minority in the party! Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Tandon and Pattabhi Sitaramayya were among them.

After Independence, Nehru continued to exhibit his supremacy in the party. When Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister, she propelled her party to split twice, and, in the process, emerged triumphant, establishing her absolute supremacy over the party due to her incredible public image. This she did when the so-called syndicate leaders like Kamaraj Nadar, Nijalingappa, Morarji Desai, Sanjeev Reddy, SK Patil, Atulya Ghosh, etc., challenged her authority. Thus, INC (R) was formed first and later INC (I) which continues to be the present day Indian National Congress or critics call it the Indira Congress.

Indira Gandhi herself headed the party as president from 1978 for six years until her assassination. After Indira’s assassination, her elder son Rajiv Gandhi, a novice to Indian politics, succeeded her and managed to survive turbulent times supported by a strong coterie. When he was the AICC president, Congress won the largest Lok Sabha majority to date, 411 seats out of 542.

Rajiv Gandhi’s period, however, in office was mired in controversies. He remained Congress president until the Lok Sabha elections in 1991. While campaigning for the elections, he was assassinated. Sonia Gandhi refused to take over the mantle following Rajiv's death.

PV Narasimha Rao was the choice as AICC president when the elections were half-way-through. Congress won elections and PV who was known to have always stayed on the side of Indira Gandhi and also loyal and advisor to Rajiv Gandhi, as obvious choice, became Prime Minister. He was, however, not considered to be a trusted follower of Sonia Gandhi. PV had to silently challenge the supremacy of the Nehru-Gandhi family.  He was paid for his doubted loyalty to Sonia and had to resign the party chief’s post after Congress faced defeat in the 1996 elections.

Kesari who succeeded PV was unceremoniously ousted from his post and in 1998 Sonia sat on the Congress chair and since then she is heading the party. After 2004 elections, with congress emerging as the single largest party, Sonia named Manmohan Singh, a person who was brought into politics by PV Narasimha Rao, for the prime ministerial candidate.

Against this background, the Congress is going through turbulent times. It lost elections twice for Lok Sabha and is out of power in almost all states. Its chances of returning to power at the Centre or even retaining main Opposition status are remote. Its veteran leaders having enjoyed power and positions for decades in the party are deserting it in frustration. Sarcastically, strangers who were active in other parties and criticized vehemently the party are not only admitted but also are appointed in key party posts much to the embarrassment of seniors who continue in the party.

The national leadership should think in terms of supporting the alternate national agenda enunciated by Telangana Chief Minister KCR for a qualitative change in national politics so that the rise of right-wing extremism is checked.

(The author is a political analyst-Editor)