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It was fashionable and quite the accepted way of
looking at things to dream and work for socialistic economy till toward
the end of Mrs. Indira Gandhi's tenure as Prime Minister of India. Crores
of rupees were spent in setting up public sector units in the genuine
belief that this would lead to economic growth and make the nation
self-sufficient. It was another way of interpreting swadeshi.
Jawaharlal Nehru, when at the Awadi Congress spelt out what he described
as "a socialistic pattern of society" meant well. The
differences between the rich and the poor had to be pared down. If private
capital was not available, it was government's duty to raise it. He was
bitterly criticised by some like C. Rajagopalachari who felt that Nehru
had gone on the wrong track. But socialism was a heady brew. And the vast
public fell a prey to Nehru's charisma, and after him to his daughter's
enticing slogan of garibi hatao. Nationalise the leading banks,
they are only favouring the rich, went the order. So some of the top banks
were nationalised. Stop the Privy Purses to the Maharajas was another
edict. So the Maharajas were overnight turned into dubious penury, and
some had to turn their palaces into hotels. The rich were considered
enemies of the people. They had to be put in fetters. So a Permit &
License Raj was set up to control their economic activities. No doubt the
Nehru Gandhi family meant well. But in the process of establishing a
"socialistic pattern of society" private enterprise was
shackled, corruption grew to gigantic proportions. Populism was the done
thing. A Minister of State for Finance, one Janardhan Poojari organised
'loan melas' for distribution of loans to the so-called 'poor'. Crores of
rupees were given away for the mere asking. Lower-level political workers
got their cuts. So, it is said, did some bank managers. To this day there
is no accounting of the money disbursed. The annual rate of growth was
stuck around 3.2 per cent and with population growth between 2.2 and 2.5
per cent annually, progress was virtually at a standstill. It was a no-win
situation. While the economies of other nations like South Korea, Taipeh
and Singapore prospered, India with its huge resources and manpower lagged
behind. It took coverage on the part of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao
to make the first move towards economic liberation. His Finance Minister
Manmohan Singh was finally instructed to liberalise the economy since then
the country has moved forward in the matter of getting rid of uneconomic
public sector units. It is a huge task and one has to move cautiously, but
the process has begun despite protests from some quarters. The business of
the government is not business, but government, a point that cannot be
stressed too strongly.
At the political level, meanwhile, certain trends are
making themselves felt. One is decline of Leftist thinking, throughout the
country. There has been a phenomenal rise of anti-leftist forces, for
example, in West Bengal where the leftists are now on the run. A poll
taken by the Marketing & Development Research Associates in West
Bengal in early March shows a marked support for the Trinamool Congress
led by Mamata Bannerjee. No doubt the Assembly elections will give a clear
indication of the public mood but one thing is clear: the state wants a
change in leadership. Much. the same trend is noticeable in Kerala, the
only other state where leftist-parties are in power.
But an even more noticeable feature is the decline of
the Congress throughout the country. Its slide in West Bengal is too
evident to be dismissed lightly,. Pranab Mukherjee's whistling in the dark
notwithstanding. In Tamil Nadu the Congress has been reduced to literally
begging to be accepted by the haughty Jayalalitha against whom several
corruption cases are pending in the courts. Such is the sad state to which
the once powerful party has been reduced. The truth about the Congress is
that it has no longer any meaningful ideology to stand on. Its socialist
pretensions were blown sky-high a long time ago. With the rise. of the BJP,
it tried for a time to bank on its secular credentials as a way to endear
itself to the minorities which have seen through the party's pretenses and
have drifted away from it. Come May, the Congress will have been out of
power at the Centre for five long and weary years. And there is no
possibility of its ever coming back to power again under its present
leadership, and outlook. First is the issue of leadership. If the Congress
has not, by now, realised that dynasticism is no longer fashionable, It
has learnt nothing. There is no way the Congress can make an impact as
long as it is led by Sonia Gandhi. She has to go. The last three
by-elections that took place in recent times have shown the party's
essential weakness. That weakness will continue to be a drag on the
party's chances in the forthcoming elections as well. Admittedly there is
now no other leader of any standing to lead the Congress but shouldn't
that be all the more reason for the party to do some serious thinking on
this score? Then there is the question of ideology. The Congress should
face up to the fact that socialism and secularism have ceased to be
attractive. These have been done to death; ergo, it is now incumbent on
the part of the party to outline a pan-Indian ideology that takes into
account the susceptibilities of both Hindus as the majority Community and
the rest whose aspirations too need to be taken into account. That point
was once raised by V N Gadgil some time prior to his death only to be
studiously ignored. It cannot be ignored any longer. This does not mean
that the Congress must attempt to be a pale carbon copy of the BJP nor
does it have to adopt a modified version of Hindutva. It should even more
strenuously refuse to pander to casteism which is presently the hall mark
of practically all political parties in Tamil Nadu, not to mention, Bihar
and Uttar Pradesh.
In pre-independence days the Congress mantra was swaraj.
Under its banner it could unite all castes, creeds and communities. In
post-independence days the Congress mantra was secularism and socialism.
Let us face it: these mantras were effective
- but they had their
day. Now the Congress requires another
- and just as powerful
mantra -
and this should be the immediate concern of Congress policy makers.
They should note two facts of life: one is that a resurgent Hinduism is
on, the march and cannot be stopped. The other is that the minorities are
seeking a role within the Hindu parameter which will keep their
self-respect intact even while ensuring their fall participation in the
national mainstream. These two are not irreconcilables. Under Shivaji, let
it be remembered, the Muslims had no hesitation in working closely with
their Hindu compatriots. What was possible under Shivaji should be
possible now.
For too long the Congress has declined to accept the
fact that Hindus are the majority and should be treated with respect. A
Hindu who is proud of his religion, is frustrated by its decline and wants
to see a Hindu renaissance is not necessarily a majoritarian,
fundamentalist, communalist or fascist. For long he has been treated as if
he were and that is one reason he has flocked to the ranks of the BJP. He
will not return to the Congress hold howsoever calculatedly Sonia Gandhi
waves her hand, Indira-style or flashes a smile at here audience. They
have seen through these dreary tactics. The job of leading the Congress is
essentially that of a Hindu born and bred, who knows the angst as much of
the upper castes as of the middle and lower castes, not to speak of the
minorities. This is one job for which Sonia Gandhi is eminently unfit, not
because of any lack of will but plainly because the she can't speak to
Hindus at their level. A Congress leader must be a Hindu
- as Gandhi was
- but has the ability to rise above caste and creed, again as
the Mahatma was. And he must have a vision of an egalitarian society that
does not discard the highest Vedantic norms but is dedicated to the
proposition: sarve janaha sukhino bhavantu. In the thirties Gandhi
could temporarily give up politics to pursue his reformist tasks. At the
beginning of the new millennium, we require another Gandhi to embark on a
new set of social reforms that would put to shame the Mulayam Singh Yadavs,
the La-loo Prasads, the Karunanidhis and the Mayavatis. Finally, a
Congress president has to seriously establish a Congress cadre at the
grass- roots level. If, at a moment's notice, the RSS can summon 30,000
sevaks to do duty in earthquake-stricken Kutch, it seems a thousand pities
that. the Congress -
and the Congress Seva Dal -
were left far behind. The Congress has presently no grassroot
support of any meaningful kind. It has only an assortment of sycophants
and they don't count for anything. One. thing is certain. No party can
ignore Hindus as Hindus. And it is folly to presume that a Hindu is
automatically anti-minority, as the Congress leaders seem to presume and
to act on that presumption. For the Congress to succeed in the future, it
must change its entire mind-set. Is that asking for the moon? |
