The Week India – July 21, 2019

JULY 21, 2019 • THE WEEK 39

MANI-FESTO

MANI SHANKAR AIYAR

ILLUSTRATION BHASKARAN Aiyar is a former Union minister and social commentator.

T

here are no longer any ifs or buts. Rahul

Gandhi has, beyond a shadow of doubt,

resigned his position as president of the

Congress. Whoever his successor is, he or she has

his/her work cut out—nothing short of putting the

Congress back on its feet, but with the comforting

thought that neither Rahul nor his sister or

mother have packed up and gone.

They are still around and have every intention

of remaining in the picture—albeit more in the

background than at the forefront. They can still be

consulted. They will remain available for advice

and, what is more important, consent.

So, the Congress after the Gandhis is not much

different to the Congress under the Gandhis. And,

for precedent, one only has

to go back to the Congress in

the times of Mahatma Gan-

dhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

After completing his only

term ever as Congress pres-

ident in 1924, the Mahatma

resigned even his primary

membership of the party to

devote himself to “construc-

tive work” from his base at

the Sabarmati Ashram in

Ahmedabad. No less than

four years followed during which he abstained

from active involvement in Congress affairs. Yet,

he remained the core element of the freedom

movement. Leaders rushed to him in his hermit-

age. He gave them a patient hearing and whatever

advice they sought, but left it to them to run the

Indian National Congress.

He also undertook voluminous correspondence

that kept him in touch not only with the Congress

bigwigs, but also put his finger on the pulse of the

people. His message was disseminated through

the columns of his journal, the Young India, and

the many interviews he gave to journalists, both

Indian and foreign. It was not till 1928 that he

fetched up again at a Congress annual session,

largely at the instance of Motilal Nehru. Motilal

begged the Mahatma to be present and act as a

restraining hand on Jawaharlal, who had taken up

cudgels against the report that bore his father’s

name for its advocacy of “Dominion status” rather

than the “Poorna Swaraj (complete independ-

ence)”.

The Mahatma’s withdrawal from the leadership,

but not from the goals of the Congress, is a prece-

dent that could serve the Gandhis well in the 21st

century. Whether they hold a formal post in the

party or not, their influence on party affairs will

continue to be immense, even decisive.

The Congress after the Mahatma and before

the Gandhis (1948-1967) also holds instructive

lessons. In September 1951, Nehru engineered

the ouster of Purushottam

Das Tandon and took over

as a kind of interim pres-

ident of the party. But his

more pressing duties as

prime minister soon led to

nearly a decade when Nehru

remained at the helm of the

nation while the party was

helmed by others, beginning

with the little-remembered

U.N. Dhebar and extending

down to K. Kamaraj. With

virtually no English or Hindi, Kamaraj master-

minded two major transitions—from Nehru to

Lal Bahadur Shastri and Shastri to Indira Gandhi.

Thereafter again, for a decade from 1969 to 1979,

Indira may have loomed over the country and the

party, both in victory and defeat, but the party

remained under the charge of others ranging from

S. Nijalingappa to D.K. Barooah and K. Brah-

mananda Reddy.

Thus, it will be no new or untried experience

for the Congress to find itself under the titular

leadership of a non-Nehru-Gandhi. If their hands

are not on the steering wheel, the Gandhis will be

found at the rudder. Plus ca change, plus c’est la

meme chose—the more things change, the more

they stay the same.

Congress after the Gandhis