Ten months after the Lok Sabha results that saw the BJP failing to secure a clear majority on its own and forming a government dependent on allies, the ruling dispensation is sitting pretty. The enactment of the Waqf amendment law displayed the robustness of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime. This, despite the opposition INDIA bloc pausing its internal bickering and seemingly reuniting to oppose the bill.
The past week saw two all-India parties of the INDIA bloc, which essentially incorporates regional outfits, hold their conclaves. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had its 24th party congress in Madurai and Congress went back to Gujarat after a gap of 64 years for a meeting of the All India Congress Committee(AICC).
Neither event grabbed eyeballs. They did not trigger heated or informed debates on TV channels. Newspapers preferred their inside pages to chronicle these meets as no pathbreaking tidings emanated to merit front page coverage.
The BJP's feathers were not ruffled. The 45-year-old party, whose foundation day, April 6, was in the midst of the conclaves of 140-year-old Congress and CPI(M) - which traces its origins to the foundation of Communist Party of India in 1925 - has reason to be tranquil. Apparently, politics in the past 45 years have skewed towards BJP, relegating the centenarians to the background.
The Congress conclave was taken to Ahmedabad ostensibly to challenge Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on their home turf. The attempt to beard the lion in its den did not fructify-the AICC session produced lot of hot air but no balloon was launched.
While a majority of the speakers at Ahmedabad were virulently critical of Modi and BJP, a miniscule minority felt that while being critical of Modi and the BJP, Congress ought to throw up an alternative, positive narrative before the nation. Congress resolutions did not offer an alternative vision of India.
CWC (Congress Working Committee) member Shashi Tharoor, the four-term MP from Thiruvananthapuram who had polled 1072 votes against Mallikarjun Kharge in the Congress presidential election, was asked to second the political resolution moved by Sachin Pilot.
"Congress must be a party of hope, not resentment. A party of positivity, not only of negativism. A party of the future, not just the past - a party with a positive narrative and just not criticism", Tharoor urged. He reflected the thinking of a section of Congressmen whose numbers can perhaps be gauged by the 11.4% votes he polled against Kharge.
The Congress session was preceded by an attempt to resurrect Sardar Vallabbhai Patel in the CWC meeting at the Patel memorial prior to the main session. This CWC meeting could have been scheduled at the foot of the Unity of India statue at Kevadia, which is a three-hour drive from Ahmedabad. But the fact that this memorial to Sardar Patel is a legacy of Narendra Modi regime may have come in the way. No descendent of Sardar Patel was associated with the commemoration.
Scaffolded by obsession for the Nehru family, Congress has tended to ignore its icons. One by one, the BJP has usurped them. The latest is the case of Tribhuvandas Kisihibhai Patel, the founder of Amul. To commemorate his pioneering role - not only in milk production but the cooperative movement itself - Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah piloted legislation for setting up Tribhuvan Sahkari University in Anand a fortnight back. Congress and Trinamool Congress MPs seemed unaware of Tribhuvandas Patel, who had set up Amul at the instance pf Sardar Patel to challenge the dominance of British firm Polson in the dairy business.
The Ahmedabad session, while asserting Congress's nationalism, dubbed the BJP's stance as 'pseudo-nationalism'. (Perhaps an attempt at plagiarizing Lal Krishna Advani's jibe of 'pseudo-secularism' that he threw at Congress in the 1990s). The BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS), were targeted in the political resolution: "Ironically the very organizations that opposed the Freedom Movement, especially the Quit India movement, now claim the contractual right to issue fake certificates of nationalism. The pseudo-nationalism of BJP-RSS is nothing but sheer opportunism for power."
RSS baiters often latch onto the fact that the organization had not actively participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942. While the RSS did not actively participate, the Communist Party of India (CPI) openly opposed the Quit India movement because of its formulation that with the Soviet Union fighting against Hitler by the side of the Allies, it was a "People's War".
The BJP was born in 1980. Its precursor Jana Sangh was founded by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, a former member of Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet, in 1951. Thus recalling 1942 in the context of the BJP is farfetched.
Incidentally, the Left parties are not only partners of Congress in the INDIA bloc today but it was with their MPs' support that Indira Gandhi could survive the exodus of her MPs, which had reduced her Congress into a minority party in Lok Sabha in 1969. The Congress assumed power in 2004 under Sonia Gandhi with the active participation of the Left. Apart from their opposition to the Quit India movement, the Communists, after Independence, in 1948, had called for a nationwide strike to oppose Nehru's government with the slogan "yeh azaadi jhoothi hai (this freedom is a lie)". Thus, delving into the past may not be a happy exercise.
The CPI(M) meet produced a new party General Secretary, Mariam Alexander Baby - a veteran who has risen from the student and youth movement. It also saw the retirement of leaders above 75 years of age, including former General Secretary Prakash Karat. The party called for a fight against "neo-fascism and neoliberal capitalism". In doing so, the CPI(M) stepped aside from the formulations of the other two Communist parties in Lok Sabha, who see the threat of 'fascism'. India's Left is mired in European thought and ideology, bereft of ground reality at home.
The Left is no longer a factor, as it was even till the first decade of this millenium. Mamata Banerjee has snuffed out the Left from West Bengal. Only Kerala has a Left Front regime led by the CPI(M). There are just eight MPs of Left parties in Lok Sabha.
Prior to the Ahmedabad session, Rahul Gandhi initiated a move to empower 800-odd District Congress Committees (DCCs). A meeting was held in Delhi and now the process is being set in motion. In most states, DCCs are yet to be constituted. The idea seems to have been inspired by DMK leader MK Stalin's direct outreach to his district chiefs. The DMK is essentially a state party. With DCCs "empowered" and directly dealing with the Congress leadership in Delhi, what will be the role of the state Congress Committees?
Such exercises are not new. In Rajiv Gandhi's time(1984-89) the parliamentary constituency office of Amethi became more powerful than the state Congress committee in Lucknow. In Amitabh Bachchan's tenure as Allahabad MP, an outfit styled as 'Amitabh Bachchan Fan's Association' overrode all party committees. The result of the exercise: Congress has failed to win Uttar Pradesh since 1989.
The absence of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Parliament when Waqf was discussed and from the Ahmedabad session raised eyebrows.
'Suprabhatham', a Malayalam daily perceived as pro-Indian Union Muslim League (with whose support Priyanka and earlier, Rahul Gandhi, won from Wayanad) wrote in an editorial: "Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi ....did not come to parliament despite party whip. That will remain as a blot. Also, why did Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi not speak on the Bill?"
When questioned in Ahmedabad, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal said Priyanka had sought leave of absence both from the Parliament session and from the Ahmedabad party meeting. Spokesperson Jairam Ramesh added, "There are 35 besides her who are absent". Since the last reshuffle in AICC portfolios over six months back, Priyanka has been "General Secretary without portfolio". The interior decoration of the new AICC headquarters was assigned to her and that's about all.
(Shubhabrata Bhattacharya is a retired editor and a public affairs commentator)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
