Author: Editorial
Publication: The Times Of India
Date: January 20, 2003
A political cartoon of the early
'80s had Indira Gandhi gravely inspecting a queue of Congressmen and then
tell one of them, “You are the chief minister of Maharashtra, what's your
name?” That joke, as good jokes always do, had a serious subtext. Under
the then powerful Congress 'high command', it was the lot of the regional
satraps to be used like pawns on a chessboard. Does the chief-ministerial
change in Maharashtra suggest that the Congress leadership is back to its
bad old game? Not by a long stretch. If Sushil Kumar Shinde has replaced
Vilas Rao Deshmukh, it's hardly because the junior Mrs G has suddenly decided
to emulate her more illustrious mother-in-law. Indira made and unmade chief
ministers at a time her party occupied the commanding heights in Indian
politics. As an unrecognisable shadow of that once imposing political force,
today's Congress is simply not in a position to be authoritarian. In other
words, Mr Shinde's appointment is less a whimsical manoeuvre of an imperious
boss than a tactical move by a party looking desperately to arrest its
decline. But is Mr. Shined a shot in the dark or is there a larger design
here?
There has been some attempt from,
within the Congress to project Mr. Shinde's appointment as a conciliatory
signal to Dalits, not only in Maharashtra but across the country. If that
is indeed the case, then we are possibly seeing the beginnings of a much-needed
overall strategy in the Congress. The post-Indira Congress's biggest drawback
has been its inability to enunciate a clear vision of where it is heading.
As a consequence, rather than setting the agenda, the Congress has been
reacting to the BJP's agenda, from playing second fiddle to the BJP on
reforms to responding to Moditva with soft Hindutva. Where is the Congress's
distinct all-encompassing ideology? Where are the imaginative slogans that
can capture the people's minds? For all that Indira's 'Garibi Hatao' was
a magnificent fraud, it worked wonders as a slogan. The same with Indira's
'80s slogan: A government that works.' Today, there is nothing from the
Congress's stable that can match Hindutva's powerful appeal. The Congress
of Indira stood for the little man. To counter the BJP's sectarian appeal,
Sonia's Congress has to project an all-embracing image. And what better
way to do this than to promise a government that will not discriminate
between people, a government that stands for all?
