Congress, the breath of free India

 Without meaning to be , I can't help being sentimental when it comes to Nehru's legacy, his family - taken forward by Indira, his only daughter. All because of what? Power? Genuine nationalism? I am not sure, because both are drugs as it is apparent. 

Let's imagine Pandit J. M. Nehru's choices for a while so as to see him in the best light. 

The only male heir of the great Motilal , JMN could have chosen differently. Motilal Nehru was the only lawyer of Indian ethnicity who was so competent that he was invited by the British bar to argue before the privy council. He was a highly successful advocate practicing in the Alahabad court. His life style was completely Western before the 1919 massacre at Jalianwala. That had a tremendous impact on him and under Gandhi's influence he burned his English clothing and became a Khadi clad Congressman. 

His son, Jawaharlal, was a proper British barrister, having attended the inner temple. He was called to the bar in 1912 and so was a bonafide Barrister during the British misrule! Jawahar Nehru didn't practice. He came to India, again a choice he made, and immediately came under the influence of the Mahatma. Then onwards he quickly won the trust of the founding fathers of the main nationalist movement and made significant contribution to it with his great intellect. 

After India's Independence and owing to the assassination of Gandhi, Jawaharlal was the obvious choice for the first prime Minister of independent India. There is a belief that Vallabhbhai Patel was worthier. That may well have merit but the fact is that Jawaharlal Nahru IS the first PM of India. 

Pt. Nehru's only daughter, Indira became the PM subsequently after the brief interlude of Shastri and Nanda. Parliamentary democracy had taken roots in India by now. That credit MUST BE given to Pandit ji's navigation through the earlier uncertain times of partition and chaos and poverty and general illiteracy. If India's outlook is modern, and if India is any modern power in her own right in world politics, it is largely, if not solely, due to the choices of Pundit Nehru. 

The best years of his life were spent in the turmoil of a nation aspiring for freedom from an oppressive foreign power. Towards the end of his life, he was a wounded man, hurt by the aggression from China. He died in 1964.

Unfortunately Lal Bahadur Shastri also died in Tashkent two years later and subsequently Indira Gandhi carried the baton. Not only did she have to fight on the  ideological front but also faced barriers of Indian male domination, the tradition, and the curse of identity politics. All those factors led her to declare the state of emergency in1975. 

Indira was assassinated in 1984, by a begrudged minority, namely the Sikhs, because of her handling of a tyrant, Bhindranwale, who chose to take refuge in the golden Temple at Amritsar. When the holiest of the holy of the Sikhs was attacked by the Indian Army on the orders of Indira, she was slain, quite treacherously, by her own sikh guard. 

Her reluctant son, Rajiv, was forced into politics by the sentiment and influence of the party leaders, only to be blown to shreds just eight years later, in 1992. He was bombed by the Sri Lankan Tamil rebels. His younger brother Sanjay had crashed his plane. But that was as few years before Indira was shot! It was in Sanjay that Indira saw the future of Congress I. 

In 1992 when Rajiv was blown, his son Rahul Gandhi was a youngster, just out of his teens! 

When Rajiv was gone, the party prevailed upon his widow, the shy Italian bahu of Indira, Sonia Gandhi. She had absolutely nothing to do with politics. But she accepted to take charge. She joined the party as the party president. 

Nrusinhrao, an old Congressman became the only non-Nehru/Gandhi PM to complete a full term of office. He was seen as the most senior Congressman who wasn't tottering in his dhoti. Sonia proposed his name since she did not want to be directly involved in Indian politics. Her presence in the Congress served as glue and effectively managed to herd the geriatric lot! 

After Rao's demise, Sardar Dr. Manmohan Singh was made the PM. He admittedly said, "I became the accidental prime minister" (quotes mine). He was there for two full terms. Then, towards the end of his second term, allegations of corruption plagued the party. Ten long years of Dr. Singh saw quite some changes, both good and bad, but his freeing of India's economy from the quasi socialist Nehruvian clutches of 'licence raj' is, in my view, the best thing that could have happened. 

Then, from a shy PM in the form of Sardar MM Singh to the chest thumping loud mouth, Mr Modi, India has seen much. India has seen much and India has seen through much of Modi's photo optics and if the purblind jingoism of Modi worshippers are contained, Rahul's crowning as the future prime minister of India is guaranteed.

 




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