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Congress' crisis of credibility

Harihar Swarup

``IT IS a victory for Mrs Sonia Gandhi but a massive defeat for the Congress party.'' The self-explanatory sentence, coined by a senior party leader, is indeed an apt description of what the coterie has been trying to make out as her ``landslide'' triump h in the organisational elections. Her re-election as the Congress (I) president was never in doubt, Jitendra Prasada or no Jitendra Prasada.

What then was the tearing need for the blatant manipulation of the voters list and making the whole election look like a sham? A fair election might have enabled Mr Prasada get a few hundred more votes, accorded more credibility to the poll process, rais ed the stature of Mrs Sonia Gandhi herself and energised the organisation.

On the face of it, her victory looks spectacular, but in reality the PCCs forming the electoral college have been filled with those swearing loyalty to her; the doubtfuls, and the names of those suspected to tilt towards Mr Prasada were deleted ruthlessl y. Mrs Sonia Gandhi has, to quote the ebullient Mr Mani Shankar Aiyer, `crushed' her rival, but also vanquished the hopes and aspirations of Congressmen across the board.

It was expected that a new Congress would emerge after the organisational poll, but these hopes were belied and the 116-year-old party is onto the path of further decay. Had the party poll been fair, fresh and the right type of blood, would have been inf used into the organisation. One wonders if normal party processes will ever be restored in the Congress (I).

Delinking the Congress president's election from other elective positions such as the Pradesh Congress Presidents, PCC executives and about 1,100 AICC delegates appear to be an irregular act. Even if it was imperative to delink the election for the top s lot, coaxing the PCCs to authorise Mrs Sonia Gandhi to nominate the new State unit president defies all logic. Where was the need to hold the election if she had to decide the new incumbents? They would, obviously, be men of her choice and not genuine le aders, commanding the confidence of the rank and file.

The trend so far is that she is re-nominating the present PCC chiefs, possibly as a reward for their loyalty. This will further stifle the natural growth of leadership in the country's oldest political party.

The Uttar Pradesh and Haryana units have been resisting the imposition and so far frustrated the move to authorise her to nominate the State presidents. Efforts are on to persuade Mr Sujan Singh Bundela, one of the four MPs who sided with Mr Prasada, to opt out of the race, but the Prasada camp appears to be determined to take on the present PCC chief, Mr S. P. Jaiswal, a Sonia Gandhi-nominee. In the event of a contest, it may be a showing of strength and have bearing on the election of 1,100 AICC deleg ates, 165 of them from Uttar Pradesh. They, in turn, elect 12 of the 24-member Working Committee.

It is a matter of record, and history bears testimony, that the nomination culture has harmed the Congress and stifled the emergence of a natural leadership. The process began in the late Indira Gandhi's tenure, when groupism and infighting in the State units peaked and there was no chance of reconciliation between the warring factions. Therefore, the nomination of the PCC presidents was left to her.

With the passage of time, this became a practice and Congress leaders, in their bid to please her, left the choice of office-bearers even in the States, where such a step was not needed, to her. It suited Indira Gandhi to have a hold over the organisatio n and she, in a way, encouraged it. But she was too shrewd to initially reject such proposition, saying she did not want to intervene. When a request was made for the second time and a third, she would, as if reluctantly, agree and take an undertaking fr om State leaders that they would accept her choice -- be it a Chief Minister or a PCC chief.

Now, the general secretary in charge of a State goes to the capital and virtually coaxes the PCC to adopt a one-line resolution. Those who do not toe line are marked men. Obviously, Indira Gandhi's finesse is lacking, and subtlety in politics is of vital importance. The culture of nomination does not suit the present day Congress because the party has to evolve a new and youthful leadership and be rid of what Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 called ``power brokers''.

Stifling the growth of young and natural leadership for fear that, he or she may pose a threat to leadership, has been a reason for the Congress' decline. Many such leaders, who were `born' in the Congress, steeped in its ethos and culture, have gone to other parties and thrived there. The time has come to spot talent, encourage them and give them their due. This requires the collective endeavour and a fair-and-free party poll. This is the best way to find such talent, but, alas, the Congress has ignore d it.

Mr Jitendra Prasada is, no doubt, a light-weight and would have been wiped out even in a fair poll. However, he has raised big issues which, if taken in the right spirit and sorted out in earnest, might re-energise the party. There is need for a collecti ve leadership as never before. It was needed during Indira Gandhi's time too, but she managed it by the sheer weight of her personality and vote-catching acumen. Partymen vied with one another to demonstrate their loyalty to her and it became the Congres s culture. Her critics say she encouraged sycophancy. In the process, the growth of natural leadership became stifled and the flunkies edged out the genuine workers.

Times have vastly changed since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. They were charismatic personalities, mass leaders, and at their call people would vote for the Congress. Rajiv Gandhi too had a magnetic personality. The party, therefore, re volved round them. The harsh reality, however bitter, has to be accepted in the changed situation. The Congress has no mass leader now. The results of the 1999 election were a loud declaration of this truth. The Congress' strength fell from 144 to 112. T he party has to shift its orientation from the leader to the worker. Thus, the need for a collective leadership is a necessity because no one leader is tall enough to lead the way.

Where does the Congress go under Mrs Sonia Gandhi's leadership? She had shown faint signs of assertiveness and independent thinking (silencing the sycophants by declaring that Mr Jitendra Prasada had done nothing wrong in contesting the election against her and emphasised good governance in the Congress-ruled states). Incidentally, Congress Chief Ministers have been, by and large, doing better than their BJP counterparts. Mrs Sonia Gandhi can become strong only if the Congress-ruled States live up to th e people's expectations. While focussing on schemes for backward classes and minorities, the Congress has to distance itself from the disastrous Mandal politics.

(The author, a former PTI bureau chief, is a New Delhi-based columnist.)