Opinion: Why Congress Is A Classic Case Study In HR Disaster

Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad's autobiography, "Azaad", has opened a Pandora's Box. While Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera has dubbed him (and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who attended Azad's book launch) a "traitor", a tweet by the party's general secretary Jairam Ramesh outlined the Congress concept of labharthi (beneficiaries) - a word often used by BJP strategists while wooing the beneficiaries of Direct Benefit Transfer to the weaker sections, which has yielded massive electoral dividends to the ruling party.

Jairam Ramesh's tweet said, "Both Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jyotiraditya Scindia have been HUGE beneficiaries of the Congress system and its leadership. With every passing day they give powerful evidence that the generosity to them was undeserved..." A day later, without mentioning the Congress specifically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing BJP cadres on the 43rd Foundation Day of the party on April 6, slammed family-dominated political parties for their "badshahi manasikta" (imperial mentality) in which grassroots workers are exploited. It was also the anniversary of the Congress' first reverse - the formation of a Left coalition government led by Communists under EMS Namboodiripad in Kerala in 1957.

The events of 1957 and 1980 have been landmarks which have seen the beginning and the accentuation of the shrinking footprint of the grand old party of India's freedom, the Congress.

In the 1950s, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was in his mid-sixties, wanted to create a line of succession and he chose Jaiprakash Narain. He invited him in 1954 to be his deputy. JP, who later became the fulcrum of Opposition unity in 1974 and heralded the defeat of the Congress in 1977, had quit the Congress with Socialist leaders post independence and, despite a warm person relationship with Nehru, whom he called "Bhai", declined. This despite persuasion by Nehru, which included a long chat over dinner at the Teen Murti House where Indira Gandhi was present. Nehru's preference for JP was not liked by a section of Congressmen, particularly Govind Ballabh Pant and UN Dhebar, and they are credited with the initial moves to induct Indira Gandhi into the party and her election as Congress President at the Bangalore session in 1959. The Communist government in Kerala was dismissed soon after her elevation, following a massive agitation which resulted in police firing and deaths. The first use of Article 356 for dismissing an elected state government was in July 1959.

The disastrous war with China followed, in 1962. In 1963 the Chief Minister of Madras, (as Tamil Nadu was then known) Kumaraswami Kamraj, floated a proposal that senior office bearers of Congress voluntarily resign and devote themselves to rebuilding the party at the grassroots level following the 1962 China debacle. Six Union ministers including Morarji Desai, Jagjivan Ram and Lal Bahadur Shastri quit and so did powerful state leaders, including Biju Patnaik (Orissa, now Odisha), S.K.Patil (Maharashtra), Pratap Singh Kairon (undivided Punjab), Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed (J&K) and Kamaraj himself. (Shastri was re-inducted as minister soon afterwards, he was to emerge as Nehru's successor in 1964.)

Ghulam Nabi Azad says in his book, "The first brick from the fort that was the Congress was removed with the implementation of the Kamraj Plan", marking the beginning of the weakening of the Grand Old Party. Azad records that the replacement of powerful party leaders who had a strong base in their domains with nominated persons, who were beholden to the Congress High Command, created a domino effect and initiated the decline of the party. He ascribes the rise of High Command culture in the Congress as the natural corollary of the Kamraj Plan. Incidentally, on close scrutiny, it appears that Kamraj Plan axed most contenders who provided an answer to the question "After Nehru, Who?" The induction of Indira Gandhi as a cabinet minister by Lal Bahadur Shastri so that it lent weight and credibility to his tenure and the eventual emergence of Indira Gandhi as PM (backed by Kamraj who by then was Congress President) in 1966 set in motion a train of events in which the persona of Indira Gandhi and later members of her family, became the fulcrum of the existence of Congress as a party.

In Tamil Nadu (Madras was renamed in 1969), Kamraj was succeeded by M. Bhaktavatsalam, who is the last Congress Chief Minister of that state. In the 55 years since CN Annadurai of DMK became the Chief Minister in 1967, the Congress has been a junior ally of either the DMK or AIADMK - the effect on Congress organisation in Kamraj's home state bears testimony to the efficacy of his plan. After the Kamraj plan, in the run up to the 1967 general elections, the Congress saw desertions by powerful regional leaders who floated their own parties. Charan Singh (UP), Mahamaya Prasad Sinha (Bihar), Ajoy Mukherjee (West Bengal), Biju Patnaik (Orissa), Kumbharam Arya (Rajasthan) were some prominent exits. As a result, while the Congress returned to power with a slender majority in Lok Sabha, it was wiped out of the northern states and in Tamil Nadu. Akali Dal won Punjab for the first time. Non-Congress governments were formed in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal on the fulcrum of the splinter Congress outfits - it was said in those days that one could traverse the Grand Trunk Road from Amritsar to Calcutta (Kolkata) without encountering a single Congress government. There are only three states with Congress governments today. In states like West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, UP, Bihar, Gujarat and perhaps even Maharashtra and Jharkhand (where Congress is a junior coalition partner), the possibility of revival of the grand old party seems remote.

In 1977, the success of a united Opposition was prompted by the formation of the Congress for Democracy (CFD) by Jagjivan Ram, H.N. Bahuguna and Nandini Satpathy, who broke away on 2 February 1977, barely a fortnight after Indira Gandhi relaxed Emergency and announced polls. The revolt by CFD signalled that the Emergency had indeed been relaxed and that people are at liberty to make a free choice - which they did by defeating the Congress and installing the first non-Congress regime in New Delhi. But this dispensation, which lasted less than three years, had at its helm former Congressmen - Morarji Desai and Charan Singh. Ironically, when the Congress was ousted in 1989, the new PM, VP Singh, too was from the Congress stable - and so were his successors of the Nineties, H.D.Deve Gowda and I.K.Gujral. Atal Behari Vajpayee was the first-ever truly non-Congress PM.

Much has been written about the letter that a group of senior leaders, who acquired the epithet "G23", wrote to Sonia Gandhi. In the 1954 biographical movie on Mirza Ghalib, a qawalli penned by the legendary Shakeel Badauni says, "sajde mein hai sar, tum par hai nazar, shikwe bhi zuban tak aa pahunche-aye duniya ke maalik dekh zara, deewane kahan tak aa pahunche; shikwe bhi zuban tak aa pahunche (we bow our head in reverence and look to thee, our grievances are on our lips - O almighty, ponder, where your devotees have reached; the grievances are now vocal)". G23 had a similar tone and tenor. But in a party where elections had become rare, a demand for elections was seen as revolt. In Indira Gandhi's time party polls were held in 1972 (Shimla). Thereafter till 1992, when PV Narasimha Rao held polls in the Tirupati Congress session, followed by Sitaram Kesari (1997) in Kolkata, there were no elections. G23 pointed out that a quarter century had passed since 1997. The election of Mallikarjun Kharge last year has met this demand of G23. However, Jairam Ramesh's comment that Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra was the main event and the party presidential poll was a "sideshow" was perhaps a dampener.

The Grand Old Party has now been jolted by the resignation of the son of a prominent leader, AK Antony. Anil Antony joined the BJP on 6 April, the latest in a series of exits including those of Jitin Prasada, Himanta Biswa Sarma, RPN Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and many other prominent leaders from the Congress. AK Antony criticised his son's move. Public memory is short.

AK Antony, appointed Kerala Congress unit chief in 1972, had gone with the "Other Congress" during the 1978 formation of the Congress (Indira). He later formed his own party, Congress (Antony), which became a partner of the CPI (M)-led EK Nayanar government in 1982. Antony returned to the Congress before Indira Gandhi's death, but was given a position only in the regime of Rajiv Gandhi.

In sharp contrast to the exodus and ghar wapsi which dots the history of Congress, the BJP and its predecessor Bharatiya Jan Sangh have not had any splits - the BJP is the only political party sans splits. Powerful state leaders Kalyan Singh (UP) and BS Yediyurappa (Karnataka) quit, but returned soon afterwards. The founder member of BJS, Balraj Madhok, also quit the Jan Sangh and tried unsuccessfullyto float a party. These departures did not dent the BJP or BJS the way the exodus of leaders have hit the Congress.

The rise and rise of the BJP and regional outfits like Trinamool Congress, YSRCP, BRS, Samajwadi Party, RJD, JMM, Shiv Sena (both factions), DMK, AIADMK, NCP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the corresponding decline of the Congress since 1963 merits a case study by experts in Human Resources (HR) development.

After Sanjay Gandhi's death in June 1980, primacy was given to persons chosen by the High Command -Amitabh Bachchan, Arun Singh, Arun Nehru - all of whom left the Congress when the boat started sinking. Amitabh Bachchan's election in 1984 from Allahabad (Prayagraj), where he defeated HN Bahuguna, was seen as a landmark. Bachhan relied more on an organisation styled as "Amitabh Fans' Association" than on the city Congress committee. The result was the rout of the Congress in the 1988 byelection snd the rise of VP Singh, which triggered the decimation of the Congress in UP and elsewhere in North India.

A senior Allahabad pre-Independence era journalist, PD Tandon, had lamented in 1988: "Fans' Association" became an exhaust fan for Congress. A case study by HR experts may like to analyse how a series of such self-goals derailed the behemoth called the Indian National Congress.

(Shubhabrata Bhattacharya is a retired Editor and a public affairs commentator.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.