Alternative to Congress?

ON its 125th birth anniversary, the Congress put up a hoarding to focus attention on five leaders: Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Party president Sonia Gandhi's love for her dynasty is understandable. But the limelight on them distorts history.
No doubt, Nehru was from the dynasty. But he loved all and did so much for the country that his imprint is still fresh on the institutions he built. A democratic, pluralistic constitution was his gift to the nation. He wielded all the power but never misused it.
The three others, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, have used the Congress as an instrument not of betterment and reform, but of power which has degenerated into the techniques of deceit and smear. All the three do not merit the distinction that Nehru commands.
Indira Gandhi has to her credit the suspension of fundamental rights and the detention of more than one hundred thousand people in jail without trial. During Rajiv Gandhi's regime, the authorities and many Congress leaders connived at the killing of 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi. Sonia Gandhi presided over the meeting of top party leaders who exposed the country to the balkanization with the decision to create a new state of Telangana.
True, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia's son, is making waves. But putting him along with Nehru gives us peep into the thinking of the powers that be. It is unfair to him as much as to the party. He would like to earn his position and be judged by his performance, not because of his dynasty ties. The projection of Rahul Gandhi forecloses other options in the Congress. By showing Rahul at the head of five leaders in the hoarding presupposes his qualities of leadership which he has yet to prove.
Indeed, the Congress has come a long way from the days when it was founded by a Britisher, A.H. Hume, in 1884 to the present when Sonia Gandhi, an Indian of Italy origin, presides over it. Yet the person who converted the Congress into a people's party was Mahatma Gandhi. The organizers could not help him giving prominence. But he was not in the hoarding which showed only the dynasty. Even otherwise, the Mahatma would have been out of place except with Nehru.
Nowhere on the Congress radar Maulana Abul Kalam Azad figures. A tall leader in the national struggle who sacrificed all has been practically forgotten by the party. His photo is seldom displayed at Congress sessions. He was called "a show boy of Hindus." Still this did not bother him because he felt that the division would affect Muslims in the long run.
Over the years, the values of the Congress have changed. It was austere in its approach. Today the five-star culture has taken over the party. On corruption especially, there was a zero tolerance. Nehru shunted out K.D. Malviya from the cabinet because he took money in the name of the party and did not inform about it.
Lal Bahadur Shastri, mentioned the least in the present Congress set-up, made Punjab chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon resign because the Justice Das Commission held him guilty on a trivial charge. But neither Rajiv Gandhi nor Sonia Gandhi found anyone guilty for the Bofors gun scandal. The case against middleman Ottavio Qattarachi, an Italian and the family friend, is sought to be closed. Jharkhand's Madhu Koda, who has made more than Rs 4,000 crore, in less than two years, was the Congress nominee to head the government.
The Congress has also converted public functionaries into instruments to carry out the party's orders. And they, bureaucrats, have played havoc with the country. But other political parties that have ruled at the Centre and in the States are no better. They, too, have erased the thin line between right and the wrong, moral and immoral. The BJP is most to blame. Its Hindu Rashtra policy, dictated by the RSS, has tried to sink the minority communities in the sea of communalism in a country which is pluralistic.
The good news is that the BJP is going down the hill rapidly. Its strength came down from 138 to 116 in the Lok Sabha election held last May. In contrast, the Congress won 206 seats in the 543-member house. The BJP and its allies lost in eight states, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, Orissa, Rajasthan and Sikkim which went to the polls last year. The defeat is reportedly the reason why the RSS has taken direct charge of the party. Its leaders do not, however, want to face the fact that fundamentalism does not sell any more. One fears lest the party should try what it did in Gujarat, the state-sponsored killings, in Mahdya Pradesh and Chattisgarh where it rules.
The Left is still licking its wounds. Their tally of 64 in the Lok Sabha has come down to mere 16. There is a strong emergence of opposition in West Bengal and Kerala where they rule. The anti-incumbency factor may play a part in the defeat of leftist governments in both the states. Even otherwise, the youth which once provided cadre to the communists is more attracted by the corporate sector than Karl Marx. In fact, the Maoists have come to be considered leftists. The communists are seen at best as the radical Congressmen.
Regional outfits like Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party and Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, are in a shambles. The only regional party that has won the state election is the Biju Janata Dal in Orissa. The DMK in Tamil Nadu and Janata Dal (United) in Bihar are yet to pass the muster. Mayawati, the dalit leader who is UP chief minister, is losing her ground. The result of the by-elections in the state indicates this.
Therefore, there is no opposition party which can provide an alternative to the Congress. Its arrogance and that of its governments at the Centre and in the states has violated the rule of law irreparably. The party has done very little to check the food prices, rising by 20 per cent in the last six months. The lower half is suffering the most. Power has corrupted the Congress. Absolute power may corrupt the party absolutely.
There has to be an alternative party committed to secularism and public welfare. A viable opposition is necessary in a democratic state so as to keep the government on its pins. India's graph of clean administration and basic human rights is dipping. The more the Congress occupies the space the lesser would be the attention paid to the values. The dynastic politics which is embracing the states as well is ominous.
Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.