Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party presidency.

It seems evident that Rahul Gandhi will soon be elected as the President of the Congress Party. Though these elections are a matter that is internal to the Congress Party, many intellectuals and opposition parties have started to rake up the old issue of the Nehru-Gandhi family establishing a dynasty within the party! 
Apart from the Gandhis, we also have the Mundes, Mahajans, Yadavs, Patnayak, Pawars who are also a part of the Indian political horizon.  The Karunanidhis and NTRs add to this list by representing the South. In fact, the Indian Subcontinent is also not an exception to this phenomenon!  In Pakistan, we have the Bhuttos, the Zardaris, the Sharifs and in Bangladesh, we have Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Jiya ur Rehman. In Sri Lanka, we have the family of Bandaranayike-Rajpakshe, and in Nepal we have the Koirala family to add to this list. If we move further ahead, then we can list the Bush senior and junior and also Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton in the United States. Even France, England, Germany and Australia are not an exception to this. Instead, we have had a dominance of a particular family in certain political parties of every country. In India, we notice this prominently in the Congress because the party is more than 125 years old!

The Congress was established as a party in Mumbai. Since then, the Bombay Presidency has contributed to many of its most prominent leaders. Nowroji, Gokhale, Tilak and Gandhiji, all of them were from the Bombay Presidency. Both, Motilal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru were not from Mumbai, and it remains a fact that though popular among the masses, they could never get a grip on the party organisation. It is a well-known fact that when the country gained independence, most of the ‘Pradesh Committees’ of the Congress chose Patel over Nehru as their leader who was to become the first Prime Minister of the country. However, Nehru was not only a leader of these committees but also a leader of the masses of the country. Hence, Nehru was chosen as the Prime Minister as a mark of respect for the wishes of the people of India.
Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964, but during his entire tenure, Indira Gandhi never became a Member of Parliament. In December 1963, he had chosen Lal Bahadur Shastri as his successor. In fact, Indira Gandhi entered active politics after Nehru passed away. Despite this point, it is beyond one’s understanding as to why Nehru is accused of initiating dynasty in the Congress Party.
If we look at the Congress party and specifically look at the Nehru-Gandhi family, then we see that there are few instances where members of this family have become Congress Presidents. Motilal Nehru was the President in 1919 and 1928, whereas, Jawaharlal Nehru was elected in 1929, 1936,1937,1951,1953 and1958. Indira Gandhi was the President once during a special session in 1959 and then in 1978 and 1983. After Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi became the Party President in 1985, and Sonia Gandhi became the President in 1998, a post she has continued till 2017. However, there has been a faction within the party that has opposed this leadership every time.
Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister for the first time on 24th February 1966 by defeating Morarji Desai who was also in the race. It was the time when she had started gaining an individual existence. Mr V. K Sarsimhan, in his book ‘Kamraj – A Study’ writes, “there was general welcome to her election not only as Nehru’s Daughter but also as a Leader in her right”. But like Nehru, Indira also faced a lot of opposition from within the party. In 1967, under the leadership of K. Kamaraj, a plan was laid down to create to oppose Indira Gandhi. Morarji Desai, Nijlingappa, Kamraj were opposed to Indira Gandhi, while Congress (R) was supporting her. Pranab Mukherjee, in his book, ‘The Dramatic Decade- The Indira Gandhi Years’ has written extensively on this subject.

Hence, while accusing Indira Gandhi of encouraging dynasty in the Congress Party, one fails to notice her struggle and her eventual victory against that faction of the Congress which used to call itself original. After Nehru ‘s Presidential year of 1954, U.N Dhebar was the Party President from 1955 to 1959. After him, Neelam Sanjeev Reddy was the President in 1960, 1961 and 1963 and K. Kamaraj occupied this position from 1964 to 1967. All these leaders were opposed to Indira Gandhi.  Then again in 1968 and 1969, Mr Reddy became the President. Around that time, the Congress Party more influenced by the leaders from the South and they all were Indira opponents. Former Central Minister Mr K Natwar Singh writes in his book ‘ One life is not enough’ that ‘From 1966 to 1969- Indira Gandhi was in office but not in power. The actual power rested in the hands of Syndicate- S.Nijlingappa, Atulya Ghosh, K.Kamraj, Morarji Desai and S.K. Patil.’ It meant that despite being the Prime Minister, Mrs Gandhi was weak in her party as compared to other leaders.
The state of the Congress Party was terrible in North India, and it needed a representative face from the region, which could also work as a puppet to the senior leaders. Indira’s description as a ‘Goongi Gudiya’ was during those very times. These leaders wanted to cash on Nehru’s name, but by keeping the control of the party to themselves!  Indira, on the other hand, had an individual identity as she was an active member of the Congress Party since the pre-independence days and had undergone imprisonment during the Quit India movement. Despite all this, these Indira-opponents were not ready to acknowledge her existence and contribution. It also does not give them the moral right to accuse the Nehru-Gandhi family of incepting a dynasty.
Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister after the results of the 1967 general elections were declared. Out of the Congress Party’s 284 elected members of Parliament, she had the support of only 211 members. The government was stable because of the support offered by the members of the Left parties. However, when in the next three years senior party leaders began to create roadblocks to her functioning, she dissolved the Lok Sabha on December 27, 1970, and called for fresh elections. But the Congress’s election symbol of ‘pair of bulls’ was retained by the senior leaders. Indira split and formed her party which had a symbol of a cow and a calf and secured 350 seats in Parliament! The ‘Indira-Jagjivan Ram’ Congress had defeated the Syndicate Congress, and Indira Gandhi had carved out her identity in a very short span of time. She was no more ‘Nehru’s daughter’, rather she now had an independent existence that could influence major decisions. Also, it had nullified the issue of dynasty and family politics. It is rather funny to recall that people objected if Indira was called ‘Indira Nehru’ as they used to point to the fact that she was now married and her last name was Gandhi. These days the same type of comments are made when grand-daughter Priyanka is referred as ’Gandhi’ instead of ‘Vadra.’ However, it is the leaders of the Congress who use the ‘Gandhi’ last name whenever they feel the party is sliding into trouble. It is significant to notice that Jawaharlal Nehru was the President of the Congress party in 1954 and Indira Gandhi became the Party President in 1978 – after 24 years! 
The Congress party then adopted an entirely new election symbol – the hand – and Indira Gandhi was now a political leader, willfully accepted by the people of the country. The leaders who had previously betrayed her later rejoined her, and this has had a substantial political significance!

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated seven years after Indira’s assassination. Even when he was alive, there was a group within the Congress that was opposed to Rajiv. After Rajiv’s death, Sonia Gandhi was not seen on the political horizon. However, many leaders within the Congress requested her to become the Party President instead of Sitaram Kesari, and it brought her into politics. All these details are documented by Mr Arjun Singh in his autobiography.
There are many reasons why the Nehru-Gandhi family has received love and affection from people all across the country. Their contributions to the freedom struggle, their sacrifices and their contribution to nation building play an essential role in this. One of the significant features of this family is that it is impossible to restrict them to a particular caste, race, religion or state.

On similar lines, if we wonder whose leader Rahul Gandhi is, we fail to assign a particular caste, religion or a region to him and this is a very positive aspect of our society.
The Indian subcontinent and many countries in the world have accepted the leadership of certain families, however, through a democratic system. It is no secret that certain political parties or faces have an element of goodwill or a brand value associated with them. Like the Tatas, Birlas and Godrejs of the industrial world, many political leaders in India have a brand value associated with them. However, the Nehru-Gandhi family has it the maximum. The Bhartiya Janata Party, which accuses Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of creating and encouraging a dynasty, could not stop itself from awarding the Ministerial berth to Meneka Gandhi immediately after her entry into the party and also elevated Varun Gandhi as the General Secretary of the Party. Thus, they have even tried to cash on the Gandhi brand value.
Today, Monarchy exists in the Great Britain. However, the same Britain is credited for incepting democracy. It may be a surprise to hear, but the Congress Party, concerning the Gandhi family, has become like Britain!

Another factor that adds to the strengths of Rahul Gandhi is his age. 47, in the context of Indian politics, is young!  Apart from being highly educated, he is exceptionally soft-spoken. In an era where violent speeches and gestures make you famous, he chooses to enter into a peaceful dialogue with people and presents himself with modesty.

Only time will tell how Rahul will perform and steer the party after he takes over as the President of the Congress Party. However, Rahul’s dignified approach to issues, his humbleness while speaking and the modesty in character is uplifting, especially when we see and hear crass political speeches around us. One has to admit that much beyond election results and routine political affairs, Rahul's conduct makes the Congress fortunate to have him as its leader!

© Raj Kulkarni,