Is Congress Challenge From Ahmedabad Formidable?

The speeches of party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi put the perspective in place. The party does not talk of reforms or liberalisation, and is unambiguously taking sides in favor of the public sector

The Ahmedabad session of the All India Congress Committee has reiterated the Congress’ resolve to go back to its ideological roots. The vacillations the party has been showing for many decades since the arrival of Indira Gandhi to power seem to be approaching an end.

Mrs Gandhi changed the decentralised and federal party into a centralised machinery with an individual in command. The Congress sessions were reduced to praise-singing concerts, and meetings lost their significance as decision-making bodies. The successive leadership since then has only followed the pattern. It affected the party from top to bottom, and the party gradually lost its interest in ideological issues. Everyone has to follow the decision made at the top.

How the process crippled the party could be seen in accepting uncritically the policy of economic liberalisation by its workers despite its being contradictory to the long-held stance of the Congress. The policy was against Nehru’s mixed economy with core sectors under the government’s control.

A revisit to Nehru’s policies shows how effective they had been in creating basic infrastructures for health, education, and science and technology. It formed the base for India’s journey towards becoming a Vishwaguru, the term that fascinates Prime Minister Modi and his fans.

Nehru’s vision of the Indian economy resulted from the anti-colonial struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi. It was aimed at reviving the Indian spirit destroyed by the British and regenerating the skills that were destroyed by the colonial looters. The country also had to keep pace with the rest of the world and adopt the development in the field of science and technology.

This was the reason Nehru amalgamated the traditional skills with modern science and technology. We have pictures of the rocket being transported to the Thumba Rocket Launching Station on a bicycle. We find a classic example of the amalgamation of traditionalism and modernity in establishing the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) along with institutions such as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Atomic Energy Commission. The former promotes skills we have been possessing for centuries, and the latter develops the most modern scientific knowledge. Gandhi and Nehru believed in the strength of Indian skills. This is the reason no Congress session was concluded without reiterating its belief in Khadi.

The Congress under the leadership of Indira Gandhi and her successors changed the decision-making process of the party to the extent that the decision to dismantle the public sectors in the name of economic reforms met with no resistance. The party shifted to the right-wing ideology.

The party leadership was so enamoured of its power that it failed to recognize the rot within its structure. It could not anticipate the effect of ideological collapse on the party. The electoral rout the party faced in 2014 was the symptom of a disease of its creation.

If we look at the party’s journey through the thorny political terrain controlled by the RSS and the BJP, it only shows that the party took considerable time to rise to the challenges. Many performers from its band just left to join the rival orchestra. The BJP has several MPs and MLAs, including chief ministers and ministers who once belonged to the Congress. Some of them have been known loyalists of the Gandhi family.

The realisation that the party has to change ideologically and structurally came late, and the Bharat Jodo Yatra could be considered the watershed moment. Rahul had to travel 4000 km to put the party on the right track.

The session at Ahmedabad could be seen as a milestone in the journey for the transformation of the party. The ideological hesitation the party has been showing even in the wake of debacles seems to be over. The speeches of party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi put the perspective in place. The party does not talk of reforms or liberalisation, and is unambiguously taking sides in favor of the public sector. The most significant aspect of the exercise is that the party is not apologetic for it and does not try to balance its stance through palliatives.

The selection of Ahmedabad as the venue shows the confidence the party has regained from its ideological revival. Gujarat is the epicentre of the onslaughts by the right wing. It would be undermining the role of Prime Minister Modi if we portray him only as a Hindutva leader.

It is to his credit that he has cleverly integrated Hindutva with the corporate. It makes Gujarat a model state for the supporters of right-wing ideology. Ahmedabad is now as important as Nagpur, the city that accommodates the RSS headquarters.

With an AICC session in the city, the Congress has tried to reclaim its lost roots. People who see it merely as a challenge to Prime Minister Modi on his ground fail to appreciate the symbolism. Ahmedabad is associated with both Gandhi and Sardar Patel.

Gandhi cannot be easily appropriated, but Patel has shown some ideological vulnerability because of his aversion to the ideology of socialism. Unlike Nehru, he adhered to the Gandhian ideology of the 1920s. Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Rajgoplachari were not exposed to the changes Gandhi had made in it, during the 1930s.

It makes them vulnerable to appropriation by right-wing forces. However, Patel was not a communal leader as portrayed by the BJP. By firmly putting its claim over the legacy of Sardar Patel, the Congress will gain nationally. Patel commands tremendous respect among the common people for his great efforts in merging princely states into the Union of India.

In the recent past, Congress has abandoned its lethargy in reclaiming its unmatched legacy. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel have been the victims of the lethargy. They are immortals among the freedom fighters.

The challenge that Congress has declared from Ahmedabad appears to be formidable.

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)