Congress: No party without Nehru-Gandhis

This is the biggest challenge and crisis the Nehru-Gandhi family is facing in their decades-long political life. However, the average Congress worker/leader is unwavering in his faith in the family. They have a profound sense of gratitude towards Sonia Gandhi for the party’s back-to-back electoral success of 2004 and 2009, and view Priyanka Gandhi as a harbinger of hope and success.

The leadership has been with the family since Independence. In the first general election in 1951-52, the slogan was, “A Vote for Nehru is a Vote for Congress” and not the other way round. Barring a brief period of P V Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri, the Nehru-Gandhis have always held the leadership. Some can even argue that during Rao and Kesri years, it was still Sonia Gandhi who had counter-balanced both.

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In every assembly or parliamentary poll, the Nehru-Gandhis are the most sought-after campaigners. In fact, any empirical study would show that after the Nehru-Gandhis, only the odd celebrity like Navjyot Singh Sidhu has any national presence. Most members of this group of 23 dissenters [including Shashi Tharoor, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tiwari, Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad are seldom sought outside their constituencies or state.

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There has been no precedence of a failure of a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Congressmen of all hues and shades look up to the family members as unquestionable leaders and, in return, expect electoral success, power etc. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira, Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi, none has failed or abruptly opted out of politics. As a result, Congress leaders blindly follow them and do not wish to look beyond them.

Rahul Gandhi is the first member of the Nehru-Gandhi family facing failure, and the party does not know how to deal with it. It is just that there has been no precedence of a failure of a member of the family. The post-1978 history of the Congress confirms it. Except for the six-year term of P V Narasimha Rao and barely a year and a half tenure of Sitaram Kesri, Indira, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have occupied the top party job for 35 out of the last 42 years.

(The writer is a long-time Congress observer and is with the ORF, New Delhi)