“The present position of weakness and abject dependence on the party’s traditional opponents for sheer survival may and should move the Prime Minister to have worthwhile second thoughts on the entire tragic episode. The history of the country is replete with instances of one of the protagonists of an internal quarrel preferring to play into the hands of an outsider with calamitous consequences. Now that Mrs. Gandhi has to woo one opposition or the other for merely staying in office, is it so difficult for her to ask herself whether it is not easier to make up with her erstwhile party colleagues, men and women who have suffered and sacrificed to win freedom and build up the organisation, than to court the party’s sworn opponents?”
NOVEMBER 18, 1969
Congress vs. Congress
THE GRIM GAME OF NUMBERS HAS BEEN PLAYED OUT AND IT has become clear that there are at least 60 Congress members of the Lok Sabha who have firmly backed the decision of the “old guard” to come down uncompromisingly on indiscipline in high places. With these members no longer behind Mrs. Indira Gandhi in a House of 522, of which the original Congress strength was 282, her Government has been reduced to a minority government since the support of at least 262 members is needed for an absolute majority. Though a combined Opposition vote to defeat the Government may not materialise soon, because of the individual predisposition of the various Opposition parties and perhaps of their anxiety to avoid another election as long as possible, it is an inescapable fact that Mrs. Gandhi’s Ministry can hereafter exist only by courtesy of the Communists. There will, of course, be the price to pay for such support on every crucial occasion, a price that may often make a mockery of the avowed policy commitments of the Prime Minister’s group and compel the Government to engage continuously in horsetrading. Is it for this position of perpetual weakness from which to herald her brave new world of dynamic change that the Prime Minister so assiduously worked all these weeks?
Now that the big break in the Congress has occurred and each side in the grand old party sits apart in the Lok Sabha, this may really be the time for the bitter contenders to pause and take stock of their doings and the consequences. To the onlooker, Mrs. Gandhi’s over-reactions ever since the majority decision of the Congress Parliamentary Board at Bangalore on the party’s Presidential nominee have been hard to understand.. She had her way when she wanted Dr. Zakir Hussain for the Presidentship on an earlier occasion. If every time she must have her way in such matters, is it her contention that the Congress Parliamentary Board, a democratically constituted party body is to be only a rubber stamp of the Prime Minister? The point we seek to make is that her decision which resulted in the bringing down of the whole edifice of her party on this one issue, was destined to do only incalculable harm all round. If her concern was really for a dynamic economic programme, was that not the one issue on which every section of the party, the “old guard” and the Young Turks alike, was equally committed, as the unanimous approval of her “stray thoughts” and the 10-point programme showed? None takes seriously the veneer of ideological ideological differences that has been sought to be applied to the naked power struggle.
It could be that one of the motivations of her recent actions leading to the ultimate split was based on a feeling that the “old guard” had become dissatisfied with her leadership and had decided to replace her sooner or later. No one need deny her exalted sense of mission for initiating and carrying through the changes that the country badly needs — and so of her desire to stay in power at any cost to fulfil that role. Even Mrs. Gandhi’s bitter opponents may concede that principles apart, she has demonstrated a new grit and capacity to live with crisis that can be assets in a leader. Tactical though it may be, her open commitment to implement the accepted Congress policy to which some of the “old guard” are even more inexorably wedded, may also qualify her for the leadership of the party more than ever before.
The present position of weakness and abject dependence on the party’s traditional opponents for sheer survival may and should move the Prime Minister to have worth-while second thoughts on the entire tragic episode. The history of this country is replete with instances of one of the protagonists of an internal quarrel preferring to play into the hands of an outsider with calamitous consequences. Now that Mrs. Gandhi has to woo one Opposition party or the other for merely staying in office, is it so difficult for her to ask herself whether it is not easier to make up with her erstwhile party colleagues, men and women who have suffered and sacrificed to win freedom and build up the organisation, than to court the party’s sworn opponents?
Hopeless as it may appear at this late hour, this may yet be the moment for both sides to see the utter unwisdom of this suicidal split and the wisdom of getting together again in the interests of a stable government at the Centre and for the firm pursuit of progressive policies that everyone swears by. Having launched on one wrong step after another, obviously in a panicky sense of insecurity, it will be upto the Prime Minister to make some concessions – for she alone is in a position to do so effectively – if the breach is to be closed. It may, of course, take a Mahatma Gandhi to confess to a Himalayan blunder and retrace faulty steps. If Mrs. Gandhi can still free herself from those around her (intent for their own ends or on settling old scores) who are leading her up the garden path and muster the moral stature to undo the recent past of her making, she could still emerge as a real leader. That would also bring back stability at the Centre and the climate and the freedom from perpetual coalitionist politics, necessary for purposeful action. Her oft-advertised concern for the poor of this land cannot be sustained by stray sniping at the haves or other desperate policies that her government would be driven to in the face of proddings all round to prove her bona fides. It can be shown only by intelligent and well-planned activation of economic growth which, alas, has already become the first casualty of the continuing power struggle. So the real test of Mrs. Gandhi’s professions will be her ability to arm herself with the strength to govern with purpose, by re-uniting the entire party. The alternative may well be the fall of her government during the Budget session of Parliament, if not in the present one followed by elections, in which a disgusted people may say “A plague on both houses”.
Reference:
The First 100
A Selection of Editorials, 1878-1978, THE HINDU, VOLUME I