Mr. Rahul Gandhi has got it right. Political parties cannot be personality centric. Political parties must have a structure, an ideology and inner party democracy. They cannot be run on the whims of an individual. We may now try to analyse as to what went wrong with a number of political parties in India that they became unstructured and personality oriented.
Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister was charismatic. The Congress in the 1950s started identifying with him. This led to the marginalization of a large number of political leaders who did not agree with him. When he made Mrs. Indira Gandhi President of the AICC in the late 1950s it was the beginning of Congress Party’s official acknowledgement that dynastic rule was ushering in. Many senior leaders were by-passed in order to enable the daughter of the Prime Minister to become the Party President.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s personality dominated her politics. This led to the Congress split in 1969. In 1973 her attempt to undermine India’s judiciary became a part of the Congress’s ideology. In 1975 when Emergency was imposed, authoritarianism became a part of the Congress ideology. Institutional destruction was accepted as the Opposition, the Parliament, the media and the Judiciary were shown their place. “India is Indira and Indira is India” was officially proclaimed by its AICC President as the Party’s slogan. Her commitment to a regulated economy through economic programmes announced during the Emergency became the Congress Party’s philosophy.
In 1984 the anti-Sikh sentiment was generated through Operation Blue Star. Justification of the massacre of a community became a part of Party’s programme. Initially Mr. Rajiv Gandhi gave an impression of breaking away from the past. However, by 1987 defending and covering up scams became a part of the Party’s commitment. When the senior leadership was involved in trying to implicate Mr. VP Singh’s son in the fake St.Kitts case, the whole party stood up for the fabrication. What better evidence does one need of the Party’s personality centric politics?
When Mrs. Sonia Gandhi entered politics in her own right, the Party accepted the principle that a person of foreign origin can be the Prime Minister of India. She eventually decided not to accept the post. The virtues of renunciation were now sung by the Party. Mr.Rahul Gandhi’s decision to overrule the central Cabinet through his ‘non-sense’ comment were pointer to the fact an individual was taller than the party. In a structured party like the BJP or the Left, Mr. Rahul Gandhi would still have been struggling to get his first assignment as an office bearer in the Party structure or in a legislative body. It is only in a personality and family dominated set-up like the Congress that he can be nominated as the unquestioned supremo.
Outside the personality cult there have been two Congress Prime Ministers who have stood apart. Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri was a Prime Minister for a brief period. His simplicity and high credibility inspired the whole country. His goodness is not a part of the Congress legacy. Despite some failings Mr. PV Narasimha Rao has a place in history as a leader who transformed India’s economy and foreign policy. He never appears on Congress Party’s billboards.
Having popular leaders like Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr. Narendra Modi is very different from the BJP becoming personality centric. These leaders were and will always remain subject to the Party structure. Mr. Rahul Gandhi has got the principle against personality centered party right, he has got his facts all wrong.