Congress revival: Time to break free of family

Congress working president Sonia Gandhi sounded confident at the party strategy meeting (Chintan Shivir) in Udaipur in Rajasthan on Sunday. "We will overcome, we will overcome, we will overcome. That is our determination, that's our Sankalp," she said.

The grand old party has tried many things after losing office in 2014—alliances (UP, Karnataka), Rightward turn (remember Rahul Gandhi's temple run and assertion of his Brahmin lineage?), Leftward turn (induction of Kanhaiya Kumar).

But Sonia Gandhi has not given up. She has announced a national Kashmir to Kanyakumari 'Bharat Jodo yatra' that is scheduled to start on Gandhi Jayanti (October 2). "All of us will participate in it. The Yatra is to strengthen the bonds of social harmony that are under stress, to preserve the foundational values of our Constitution that are under assault and to highlight the day-to-day concerns of crores of our people," she said.

The district-level Jan Jagran Abhiyan, which started earlier, will resume on June 15. "This extensive campaign will highlight economic issues, especially the growing unemployment and intolerable price rise that is destroying livelihoods," she said.

While her endeavors are admirable, one has to be an ardent Congress support to pin hopes in these programmes. But such activities are akin to cosmetic treatment, whereas the disease is much more serious, necessitating serious thinking. In fact, rethinking.

The American philosopher-author Ayn Rand famously said, "Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong." Maybe it's time for the GOP to check their fundamental premise, a dogma actually: the Nehru-Gandhi family is the soul of the Congress; the party can't exist without the family. Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar recently said, "Without the Gandhi family, the Congress party cannot stay united. They are key for the unity of the Congress party... It is impossible for the Congress to survive without the Gandhi family." About two years ago, senior party leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh had said, "Congress party's leadership isn't possible without the Nehru-Gandhi family."

Even the so-called rebels haven't revolted against the family but its weird ways. There was a news report on March 14 that when Sonia Gandhi told the Congress Working Committee that "we three" (she, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) are ready to "step back" if it is felt the leadership lacks steadiness, the gathering of elite party members and eliciting a unanimous chorus rejecting the offer. "Sources said the entire gathering, including Ghulam Nabi Azad—a leading light of the 'rebel G-23'—said 'no' and urged Sonia to continue," the report said.

Congress leaders ought to discard this dogma. They should remember that Lal Bahadur Shastri and PV Narasimha Rao served (unlike Manmohan Singh) as prime minister without the family's blessings and guidance. Narasimha Rao is one of the greatest prime ministers India ever had; Shastri too, belying fears, did pretty well.

Today India is a major economy primarily because Narasimha Rao liberalized the economy, dispensing with a variety of controls and making it possible for the entrepreneurial energies to be released. In the domain of foreign policy too, his interventions were no less important, though they are rarely acknowledged. He normalised diplomatic relations with Israel.

Shastri instilled pride and confidence in a nation that was militarily battered and psychologically shattered after the India-China war in 1962. He stood against the belligerence of Pakistan, giving President Ayub Khan a bloody nose.

In a nutshell, the two non-dynasty prime ministers from the Congress proved to very competent and effective leaders in difficult times. It will take a leap of faith for the senior GOP leaders to break the shackles of the dynasty. But that is a sine non qua of Congress revival. They should also remember that the Bharatiya Janata Party's success is also because of the fact that it is the only major party that is not a family enterprise.