Government for all

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?
 

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