Congress is paying heavily for Indira Gandhi’s deeds, but history may repeat itself as BJP is going down the same road
Written off as a ‘dumb doll (gungi gudiya)’ by veterans of Congress, Indira Gandhi emerged from their shadows to become one of the most powerful prime ministers of the country. As a resurgent BJP under an equally domineering Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes about its self-professed task of a Congress-free India, there are educative parallels of how powerful leaders have ended up pulverizing the very organisations that seeded their growth. The past, thus, indicates that the present Congress could be the future of the BJP.
Indira Gandhi began with a whimper but soon came into her own with a bang. Thereafter, there was no looking back. “Indira is India” is how then party president DK Barooah described her. In time, her power dominated every facet of governance as well as the party, diminishing all others to merely the roles assigned by her. The BJP is headed the same way, as Modi eclipses his mentoring edifice. Today, he is the government and he is the party.
Once upon a time, Congress chief ministers would vanish without a word; now BJP chief ministers are here today, gone tomorrow. Biplab Deb became the latest BJP chief ministerial head to roll into history in the north-eastern state of Tripura. Until September last year four BJP chief ministers had been sent packing in six months in three states - Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Gujarat.
If Nehru was essentially a statesman and a democrat with strong secular credentials and a zest for promoting science and technology, his daughter Indira Gandhi metamorphosed fast into a strong, aggressive hard boiled politician, who could captivate and cut down with equal ease. She was as much at ease in the countryside of India as holding her own in “Woh kehte hain Indira hatao, main kehti hoon garibi hatao (They say remove Indira, I say remove poverty)”. ‘They’ included the Jan Sangh then. Sounds familiar! Years later, Modi was heard saying “who kehte hain Modi hatao, main kehta hoon corruption hatao (they say remove Modi, I say remove corruption)”. ‘They’ now meant the Congress. Similarities abound.
Indira Gandhi’s propensity for playing on the front foot formed the basic template of Modi’s politics which, however, deviated sharply thereafter into the rough and tumble of no-holds-barred freestyle fighting.
In Indira Gandhi’s case, she went slam-bang into the old guard of her father’s era and bludgeoned her way to the top by splitting Congress. She was one of the most powerful Prime Ministers in the history of India who was famously described by BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee as “Durga’ after she split Pakistan to carve out Bangladesh in 1971.
However, it was during her 15 years at the helm that the PMO became all powerful and the party was reduced to an add-on to Indira. All power flowed down from her whether it was the government, party or constitutional appointments.
In fact, the Congress return to power after defeating the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led ‘India shining’ NDA in 2004 and the two terms thereafter lulled the Congress led UPA into a false sense of complacency while the RSS was busy cobbling together a new narrative which was being tested in its political laboratory in Gujarat by strategist chief minister Narendra Modi. The recipe involved a potent blend of heightened religiosity, communal cleaving, corporate indulgence, grandiose schemes, global lobbyists and tech-savvy social media management. This was topped with Modi’s masterful oratory and skilled self-marketing.
However, after eight years in power the Narendra Modi-led BJP is today suffering from all the infirmities which has brought Congress to its present state. The Jan Sangh and its present avatar the BJP prided in being cadre-based party where decision making flowed from the bottom to the top. The pyramid stands inverted and today power flows from a single source down to the bottom.
In a tearing hurry for a ‘Congress-mukt’ Bharat, the ruling party at the Centre is a bloated ‘Congress-yukt’ BJP. Manik Saha, the replacement for Deb in Tripura, is the fourth leader of Congress lineage in the North East to become BJP chief minister in the region. That he was elected to the Rajya Sabha just two months ago also confirms that there is no method in the measure, just a summary step to neutralise anti-incumbency as Tripura goes to polls next year.
Hardly any of those who served as state party chiefs or chief ministers after Narendra Modi in Gujarat have risen on the strength of their own standing. Vijay Rupani disappeared along with his cabinet, a day after he was praised for good work during the pandemic, as did many other BJP CMs countrywide. Modi’s domination has reduced all others to insignificance.
(The author is a political analyst)