JOIN USCongress: Signs of welcome change
Punjab has been a fiasco for the Congress. But it comes alongside one of the better things that has happened in recent years – the induction of Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani into the party, and the subsequent discomfort voiced by some of its senior leaders. This is just the kind of disturbance and change the party needs as it is pushed to the wall, desperate in its attempt to prepare to stand up to the BJP and have a fighting chance in the elections, be they the coming Assembly polls or the later national round. When the chips are down, disturbance is better than peace; any change is better than no change.
In the Congress, the standard operating system for hopefuls to rise has been pretended reverence and visible obeisance to the first family of the party. What kept the arrangement going was reward power and coercive power, marking the capacity of the Gandhi family to reward, punish and keep delinquents in check. It worked as long as there was a capacity to give something or take it away. Now, when the ‘high command’ is no longer in a position to do either, the framework has collapsed. The ‘high command’ legitimacy and competence is in question.
While the family is the butt of criticism for getting it all wrong in Punjab, the curious case of the Congress is that the rest of its leadership is also a set of mini durbars. These second-line durbars represent a set of entrenched interests, privileged connections and power games, without in any way delivering on the political arena. Some of them are highly educated, suave and savvy, but they do not speak the language of the people, they cannot hold political meetings, they are more comfortable in clubs and TV studios, not in the hurly burly of the grassroots where the issues are decided. The fact is, the Congress has been brought down as much by this list of mini leaders as by the fabled command and control of the Gandhis.
None of these Delhi-centric operators capture the imagination of the people; they cannot turn the burning issues before the nation, the crisis that threatens the very fabric of India, into crowds and votes. In fact, the party has not even been able to fire the imagination of the so-called intelligentsia. Who really in the Congress stands up as a credible voice on finance, external affairs, security, health, education today? Look for the names and all that emerges is the second round of durbaris who have long sat in power, have lost credibility, and are often, if not always, tainted in some way.
If the “hiring” of Kumar and Mevani indicates that the second-level durbars of the Congress are being displaced, it is a good sign. But that is only a beginning. Alongside comes the question on whether the two inductions are to be seen as an acquisition by the Congress or an assimilation, and if this is to be read as a signal of bigger change within the Congress fold. The acquisition format would mean that Kumar and Mevani, both ambitious young leaders, will become one more durbar within the Congress with their own set of power claims as long as they begin to deliver what the Congress desperately wants – crowds and votes. That would be a national replay of the regional drama seen in the ugly antics of Navjot Singh Sidhu – give me this or I quit.
The other way would be for the Congress to allow them to grow, build their base and, in due course, challenge the entrenched interests within the party. This would demand a fundamental change in the way the party operates – from a hold-and-control operation it can turn into a vibrant, if sometimes chaotic, life force. But this kind of perestroika will carry the risk of destroying the very structure of command-and-control that has worked in the party for long years. It is never easy to change the operating system, even if the eventual benefits are many.
Yet, the party has little choice.
The change also signals that the Congress will have to move sharply to the Left and open new routes to catching the imagination of the people by focusing on the issues of the poor, the marginalised and the weaker sections. Under the BJP, the national frame has moved too far Right for the comfort of many key constituencies in India. The aggressive and naked push toward neo-liberal policies under Narendra Modi, the over-corporatisation of power structures, the new ways and means to push public assets into private hands (as seen, for example, in the National Monetisation Pipeline), the obstinacy on the farm laws in the face of an agitation that has stood remarkably strong and peaceful one year down the line, are all polices and indications that add to the strife and discomfort index of India. But a change cannot be forced by pussyfooting on these issues.
The ambivalence of some in the Congress on issues like Article 370, the illegitimate fear that Kumar will be seen as part of the “tukde-tukde” team which will open Congress to questions on nationalism, and indeed the thinking that seems to buy into the present-day economic policies and environmental plunder will not help the party. Indeed, the Congress has been as much guilty on these counts in the past, and it can be argued that the BJP has just upped the ante. That past has to be discarded and erased for a new journey forward.
At the same time, the Congress must manage and build strategic partnerships, like the alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. This taps into the dissatisfaction of the eco-system with the BJP’s ‘ogre-ish’ style of gobbling up everything for itself. It opens new routes to alliances that can help reform the toxic political climate. This is a complex balancing act.
Therefore, the Kumar-Mevani entry into the Congress may indicate the coming of some big change. It is about time for the Congress to herald that change. There is a long road ahead. It is the Congress that gave us the Soviet-style five-year plans, the “commanding heights of the economy” in the public sector and the approach of ‘garibi hatao’. It is the Congress that put us on the path to neo-liberal policies as the treasury stood empty in 1991. It may well be the Congress that pushes back the agenda to the needs and aspirations of the marginalised sections. That would be a good route to a happy revival.
(The writer is a journalist and a faculty member at SPJIMR. Views are personal)
(Syndicate: The Billion Press)