BY K P PASWAN.
Indian National Congress Party
also known as GOP in India is battling for survival, while American GOP facing
crisis, is set to flourish once again.GOP
in India was founded during the colonial
era, after mass uprising in 1857 for expressing grievances. It turned itself into a major political platform, which, in the course of
time, fought for independence of India
under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi, The country became independence in
1947. The Congress won parliamentary election several times and the country ‘tryst of destiny,
words coined by Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, vanished with his death.
It is not so that people in general loath this political party, in fact Congress party still commands much respect, if percentage of voters considered. Decline of the Congress party may be attributed to emergence of regional political outfits in every state, devoid of any political philosophy/ideology. Their ranks are filled with people, who care only for castes and creed and falsely claim themselves as secular and are staunch anti Dalit.
DYNASTIC RULE. The word being spread by the opposition namely Dynastic rule, is misnomer. And Italian Connection is more treacherous. President Bush in the USA saw his son, another Bush, as the president of the USA and in the cabinet of Boris Johnson of UK, several persons of Indian origin are occupying important portfolio. In the USA, president Biden has appointed more than four dozen American Indians at key position and some of them had been confirmed by the Senate. Surgeon General of US is an Indian American Surgeon, named Vivek Murty. In India, Nehru Gandhi dynasty ruled the country for a longer period, only because people voted to Congress party.
Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were towering personalities, who cared for cared for every section of society, and influenced contemporary international politics. These great political figures imposed strict discipline among the ranks and file of the party. Oppositions lacked leadership, Rahul Gandhi and his mother enjoy widespread support, but unfortunately, they cannot compete with caste oriented society, encouraged by corrupt politicians belonging to opposition parties. In the name of political dissent, some of the old stalwarts of Indian GOP left the party, as their purposes were not served by the so called Dynasty.
Stunning rise of BJP has nothing to do with growing concern for the majority Hindus, who survived assaults of different natures in different times without the patronage of any political party and will continue to survive till eternity. NDA is flourishing on false promises. Every welfare scheme being talked loudly by NDA has been hijacked from the GOP. The present PM is famous for rare honesty, but he is yet to contribute anything worthwhile to a depressed economy. Corruption has been institutionalized under NDA. India is dangerously and highly polarized society, and it is difficult for a single political party to win the election on its own. It is not so that every cabinet minister in the Modi’s cabinet is corrupt, some of them are highly experienced and certainly not corrupt but they are leaders, who openly preach discrimination against the Dalit and other weaker sections. With spread of education and modern technology like internet, Face Book, and,Twitter, political consciousness is seen even among illiterate Indians .
Political history of India since 1950 when the country was declared republic till 1984 may be divided into three parts, if an honest and logical conclusion is to be arrived for the decline of the Congress. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi guided the nation when it was underdeveloped, less populated and with less education. Caste ridden society was the biggest challenge to honest politicians in power.
Nehru was an astute politician and a statesman of international fame. Cold war was at its zenith in a bipolar international politics. It is therefore pleasant surprise to see that Pt Nehru laid the foundation of modern democratic India against all odds. His contemporary S Truman, the American president was skeptics of communist ideology and Pt Nehru championed mixed economy with a dose of socialism and this bore testimony to his pragmatic approach. During period under study, Communist party was the main opposition and they were demanding nationalization of big industries which were few and far between. But the outstanding Pt Nehru, new that nationalization of Tata and Birla was not going to stimulate economic growth. He introduced Five Year Plans to boost economic development keeping in mind the general welfare of the people, The international politics was changing its color. Capitalism was championed by the USA while Communism was headed by the USSR and the colonial powers like Great Britain and France were breathing heavily, Faster Dulles, the US Secretary of State was threatening the opponents of the US, and credit goes to Pt Nehru to adopt non alignment movement as its goal of foreign policy.
The period witnessed some of the brilliant politician occupying the post of Secretary of State like Dean Rusk and Ellsworth Bunker in US. President Eisenhower and J Kennedy respected Pt Nehru and such respect would always elude the current group of leaders.
In absence of vibrant economy and dynamic stock market, no mortals on the earth were going to start large scale manufacturing units in India. Pt Nehru befriended the USSR to neutralize American politicians who were threatening newly independent nations to toe America or perish. Starting of five years plan heralded a new epoch in emerging economy. GOP was at its zenith as the opposition parties had no alternative economic theory, beneficial to the nation as a whole.
CONFLICT WITH CHINA. Much has been written and several theories advanced for bad performance of the Indian army and for ignominious defeat of India at the hands of China. We forget that the strong man of China, Mao Zedong was a nasty dictator, dreaming to spread his Cultural revolution to every part of the world. China’s aggression on India, proves that an overambitious politician has no end or limit to his ambitions. It is also said that Pt Nehru did not order air strike against China, it was certainly, an options available but at what cost? The safety of than Kolkata (Calcutta) was of paramount importance, and by restraining Air Strike, Kolkata was saved. The oppositions suffer from hallucinations by very mention the name of Indira Gandhi. She fought with Pakistan,divided it into two parts, mocked Richard Nixon and his Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and sacrificed herself for the sake of the country. Her outstanding achievements in every field created jealousy among her antagonists, who resorted to legal and illegal means to remove her from national politics. Nobody knows the meaning of Total revolution which paralyzed the nation, In post emergency(1975) India, we find rise of a series of fractious and corrupt coalitions which not only ruined the economy, but convulsed the entire nation
MORE HINDU THAN A HINDU. I have spent a few months in a famous Administrative Academy in India, which rightly boasts its library as one of the best in the world. While studying the life of Indira Gandhi, I read about Pt Nehru, in the words of Indira Gandhi ''He was more Hindu than a Hindu and more Indian than an Indian'. In the same breath, she declared""Just as majority community has no right to deprive minorities of rights as enshrined in the constitution, at the same time minority has no right to black mail the majority". By imposing emergency Indira Gandhi virtually saved the country from plunging into anarchy and turning India into another Middle East. She was right in imposing emergency There are allegations of violation of fundamental rights without elaborating, whose fundamental rights were violated ?. In 1975 ,more than 95% of Indians did not know anything about fundamental rights, and these people were happy in emergency. And those who were aware of fundamental rights were creating drama, attracting international attention. All the power hungry and disgruntled politicians with only one agenda ‘Remove her, were put behind bar. However they succeeded in removing her. What followed after her ouster is interesting.
RAJEEV GANDHI. He succeeded his mother who was assassinated. He was also known as Mr Clean owing to his honest image. He could not tolerate corrupt persons, but had to face the dilemma, he was surrounded by a coterie of corrupt friends, who were bent upon to serve their sinister design. His finance minister was an honest man, but without knowing, how to use his honesty for the welfare of the people. There was a Bofors scandal, we learn that the best fighting guns were purchased and huge commission was paid to middlemen and Rajeev’s name was dragged along with a famous character of Hindi Cinema, who used to earn more money than the amount of commission involved in the scam. Without knowing the labyrinth of complex arms sale, his opponents created a hilarious drama which is being played even today. Bofors Scam was invented by the sick mind of the people, who were not happy with limited political power. After his tragic assassination, India needed charismatic leaders, in absence of which opposition got much awaited opportunity to grab the power by invoking caste, creed and regional autonomy
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY One PM introduced Urine Therapy for treating serious disease, second one famous for anti-Dalit stand was PM for less than a month. He was followed by an honest PM, little knowing that he too was surrounded by a battery of corrupt politicians, when he was toppled than there was a period of political and social anarchy which continues even today. There was also a PM from the opposition side who was more of a poet than a politician and during his period maximum number of our Commissioned Officers were martyred, but he failed to get a Nobel peace prize. Than we had a coalition Govt, the PM of which, declared his own Doctrines which allowed Pakistan to flood Delhi with a large number of ISI agents. His Finance Minister presented Dream budget which fulfilled his dream of becoming a billionaire.
The GOP under Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi represent an institution and a political system which has given India an imminence in international politics There is no example in the history of any sovereign country where two PM belonging the same family sacrificed their lives for the sake of their country and not for their personal gains.
PESSIMISTIC VIEWS. India is a highly polarized country
of a different kind. Cast and creed are ingredients of DNA of every citizen.
After independence, there is marked spread of education and with the advent of
modern technology of communication, we also see the return of Caste system,
which once prevailed in ancient India, We do not find true nationalistic
characteristic of any political party. Every state has its own political party
based on the social structure of that state, so in future like-minded political
party may join together to form a Govt, but stability of such coalition will always
remain in danger, as the head of regional political party who may aspire to become PM of India may not be known outside his state.
. In recently held parliament session a member belonging to Congress party was not given ticket for the Rajya Sabha, due to his unfounded dissenting voice. At the time of his farewell in the Upper House he started weeping and surprisingly our PM was also seen wiping tears as if both of them had lost some near and dear in the pandemic. In fact, both of them created hilarious scene.
If in the next parliamentary election, Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi face each other as leader of the GOP and the NDA respectively, it will be a curious match, Rahul has accused the PM of being Corrupt, while the PM has maintained studied silence. Rahul Gandhi needs to follow up on his intention of making his party, once a club of near and dear looks as though it represents modern India, the foundation of which was laid down by his great grand father Pt Jawaharlal Nehru. That means pushing through organizational changes and tightening his grip on how the party chooses its parliamentary candidates. He will be a real and strongest contender at the next election. The best way to exercise influence for Rahul Gandhi in modern India is from within its biggest political groups rather than from fringes, who are neither enigmatic leftist nor hard core rights but hypocrite. Chances of revival of the Indian GOP is bright provided reality is not sacrificed at the altar of pragmatism.
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