WANTED: A president for the Indian National Congress. Excellent pay. Free housing for life. Corruption and Communism no bar. Experience as a doormat absolutely essential.'' No, I haven't (yet) seen such an advertisement in the employment pages. But everybody knows that there is a vacancy in Akbar Road.In his now famous remarks at the Press conference where he spoke of resigning the Congress presidency, Sitaram Kesri spoke of his office as an ``institution''. Well, so it was before Independence, when Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Subhas Chandra Bose held it. But, beginning with Nehru's unchallenged sway over the party after Sardar Patel's death, that seat has been little more than a footstool for the Nehru-Gandhis for many years now.
The prototype of the family's ideal Congressman became clear 60 years ago when the Congress announced its list of candidates for the U.P. Legislative Assembly. It included a certain Hari. Hari's sole contribution to the freedom struggle up to that point was to be appointedJawaharlal Nehru's valet! You can't say the Nehru-Gandhis didn't make their intentions crystal clear. Congressmen, even MPs and MLAs, are little more than domestic servants in their scheme of things. Some grumbling in the lower ranks can be ignored regally. But the slightest hint of independence is ruthlessly crushed if the sinner is a senior Congressman.
In 1950, Purushottam Das Tandon was elected to the party presidency in the teeth of Nehru's opposition; a year later he was out of office. Then Nehru's daughter manoeuvred Kamaraj out of his chair. A year ago, Narasimha Rao was squeezed out, with Kesri acting as 10, Janpath's lever. These were duly elected presidents, not Nehru-Gandhi nominees. But that probably increased the enormity of their crime in the Family's eyes. Only puppets like U.N. Dhebar or Sanjivayya could negotiate the shoals of presidency safely.
Why, then, is Kesri so surprised at his treatment? Why did he exclaim at a Press conference, ``You have seen what has been happening for thelast two months? How can anyone with self-respect bear all this?'' Quite frankly, self-respect isn't part of the deal when someone joins the Congress. No, I have no tears to spare for Kesri who is merely getting a taste of the medicine he prescribed for Rao just last year. But I am a little curious as to why Sonia Gandhi is suddenly becoming so brazen in her quest for power.
Partly, I believe, it is because of a well-founded suspicion that Sharad Pawar is growing too big for his boots. The Maharashtra strongman is making ill-disguised attempts to form a non-BJP government in which, of course, he himself shall feature prominently. Sonia Gandhi saw what happened when a relative nonentity like Rao was raised to Prime Ministership. Having someone like Pawar in that capacity would be ten times worse.
But the main reason for Sonia Gandhi's urgency goes back to something this column discussed four weeks ago the continuing saga of Bofors. I noted that the Jain Commission became an issue just two days afterLetters Rogatory were sent to the Channel Islands and other tax havens. Is it a coincidence that the Congress presidency became an issue just after 10, Janpath heard that a two-man CBI team was leaving for the Channel Islands? It indicates the Bofors investigation may have reached a crucial stage. The money paid by Bofors to Ottavio Quattrocchi was traced from his Swiss account to the Channel Islands. It is this track that the CBI team was pursuing. Inder Kumar Gujral claimed in his poll campaign that it was his ministry's decision to clear the CBI request for Letter Rogatory to various tax-havens that led to the Congress withdrawing support. Strictly speaking, it was the courts that gave the green signal. But the principle holds.
Of course, the results of the subsequent election hold little comfort for the Congress, in spite of an increasingly shrill campaign by Sonia Gandhi herself. Today, the lady is uncomfortably aware that a BJP-led government won't be as amenable as one existing on Congress support.If the mere hint of a Vajpayee ministry emboldens the CBI to leave for the Channel Islands, how much farther will investigators go once the BJP leader is firmly in the saddle? More to the point, will Congressmen continue to sing Sonia Gandhi's praises once the true facts of the Bofors scandal begin to come out?
The deity in 10, Janpath prefers to take no chances. It wants to tighten the Nehru-Gandhis' grip on the party before it is too late. Many commentators noted that the Congress desperately needed Sonia Gandhi to campaign if the party tally weren't to drop to two figures in the General Election. It is no less true to say that she needs all those MPs to speak for her today.
I predict that Sonia Gandhi's devotees are already preparing to accuse the BJP of ``political vendetta''. They are also erasing their memory banks of Sonia Gandhi's own now notorious challenge to release the Bofors papers received from the Swiss. After all, if they can suffer amnesia about the Jain Commission (the immediate excusefor these polls), they can forget other inconvenient details equally easily!
When I speak of ``devotees'', my definition includes much more than Congressmen alone. Amongst Sonia Gandhi's most prominent non-Congress supporters shall, I believe, be the Yadavs -- Mulayam Singh and Laloo Prasad. No principles are involved, it is simply a case of ``you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours''.
It is actually quite comical, considering what they were saying just yesterday. When Sonia Gandhi announced she would hit the election trail, Laloo Yadav advised her to sit at home and Mulayam Singh said he would definitely put up a candidate in Amethi! Both Yadavs have far too many skeletons in their own cupboards to go point fingers at others. Neither can afford to have Vajpayee assume office any more than Sonia Gandhi can. Which explains why Laloo Yadav avows that only the Congress has a mandate to form the government, something even that party doesn't dare claim!
``The cannon-fodder of the Treasury benches'' was afamous jibe flung at the vast mass of silent Conservatives in the House of Commons who renounced conscience for the whip. Given the issues involved Bofors and the Fodder Scam we can revive the phrase today for MPs from the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Last year, Indians were urged to follow the freedom fighters' example. I am happy to report that Hari's devotion continues to inspire the Congress!
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
