HVK Archives: Haste & waste
Haste & waste - The Times of India
Editorial
()
12 August 1997
Title: Haste & waste
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 12, 1997
An "old man in a hurry" was how former Prime Minister Deve Gowda had
dismissed Congress president Sitaram Kesri in his grandiloquent exit speech
delivered on the floor of the Lok Sabha. Mr Kesri now informs us that he
has only a small problem with that - he is an old man not just in a hurry
but in a tearing hurry. Many among us would empathise with Mr Kesri and
not least because of the headlong dive the Congress has taken from its once
high place in the national pedestal. Indeed, there is something intensely
painful about a party that claims to have given us freedom having to think
in terms of rebuilding itself in the 50th year of that freedom. But that
unfortunately is today's truth. From being almost the only party in power,
the Congress is now one amongst a growing number of parties, each more
Aggressive than the other. For the Congress to even hope for a return to
the old times, it must seriously reflect upon its shortcomings which means
a willingness to rediscover its identity and search for its lost roots.
This is a lengthy route to power, involving hard work of the kind
Congressmen are no longer accustomed to putting in. This is perhaps why at
the Calcutta plenary, Mr Kesri all but handed over the party to Mrs Sonia
Gandhi, seeing her possibly as the Congress's last tenuous link with its
past, as a symbol at once of continuity and unity. For the thousands of
cheering AICC delegates, too, Mrs Gandhi was clearly a dream-come-true -
the only answer to their desperate prayers and the shortest distance
between despair and hope.
With an appeal that cuts across caste and religion, Mrs Sonia Gandhi may
seem like a shortcut to stardom for Congressmen starved for power. And
yet, a bigger role for her, at this juncture raises crucial questions. For
starters, it would be a negation of the democratic tradition that has with
difficulty returned to the Congress. This was an overdue correction of
past autocratic tendencies, even allowing for the criticism that partymen
merely went through the motions of internal elections. Indeed, it was
largely because of the precedent set by the recent elections to party
president that there was almost no talk of nominating members to the
Congress Working Committee. Secondly, the nature of politics itself has
changed in the years since the Gandhi family took a backseat. Today,
regional power is a growing reality which cannot be wished away by any
party. Which is why Mr Kesri is premature in being dismissive of coalition
governments run by regional parties. If anything, regionalism owes its
phenomenal growth to the Congress's disdain for regional satraps. It was
the humiliating snub offered by a visiting Rajiv Gandhi to Andhra chief
minister T Anjaiah which paved the way for the colossus-like appearance of
N T Rama Rao. 'Rat this danger still hovers on the Congress horizon is
clear equally from the separate outfit floated by Ms Mamata Banerjee ,in
West Bengal and the murmurs from the southern leaders over their
marginalisation in the CWC. The past few years have also seen caste groups
like the OBCs and Dalits asserting themselves in ways which would make
their co-option that much more difficult. Whether run by Mrs Gandhi or Mr
Kesri, the Congress cannot hope to stage a victorious comeback without a
more accommodative attitude to this plurality of legitimate interests and
aspirations.
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