If the Congress’ Srinagar conclave intended to launch an ideological offensive against the BJP, one must conclude that it failed on account of its unwillingness to address key issues of concern to society. Long overtaken in crucial states like Uttar Pradesh by upstarts like the Bahujan Samaj Party and stalwarts like the Dravida parties in Tamil Nadu, the grand old party of Indian nationalism fumbles at a crossroad, its old ‘umbrella’ status in tatters.
Congress needs a grand vision for the future. The party has been on the ideological backfoot ever since the Nehruvian framework received its first serious challenge from the peasant castes of northern India in 1967. Indira Gandhi’s political agility kept it in power for a decade thereafter, but the ideological vacuum became a visible chasm under Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao.
As I see it, Congress will continue to be at a disadvantage vis-à-vis a BJP-led coalition at the Centre because it has failed to appreciate the reasons for its loss of umbrella status, and strives in vain to recreate it. Today, different interest groups in society want direct representation in the polity and do not want to be smothered under the centralizing tendencies of Congress. Regions like Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh have attributed their general neglect and backwardness to the functioning of the umbrella organization; states like Andhra Pradesh felt their regional aspirations were not adequately served by Congress and hence the rise of NT Rama Rao and the Telugu Desam. Various castes groups have also floated their own parties from time to time, notably the myriad Janata formations.
It is true that at Srinagar Ms. Sonia Gandhi spoke of the possibility of pre-poll alliances in states like Uttar Pradesh, but this is not as simple as it sounds. Mr. PV Narasimha Rao’s previous deal with Ms. Mayawati severely undermined the Congress and condemned it to eternal irrelevance in the state as it gave Dalits such a sense of political supremacy and empowerment that they will never again be content to live without. Hence, notwithstanding media hype about Ms. Priyanka Gandhi’s trips to Amethi (Shahuji Maharaj Nagar), I do not see Dalits playing second fiddle to Congress in the immediate future.
In Tamil Nadu the Dravida parties are too firmly entrenched for Congress to take on. The party is similarly handicapped a propos the CPM in West Bengal and Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar. All in all, that puts the Congress out of the reckoning in around two hundred (200) parliamentary constituencies. A pre-poll alliance with Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party, if actually arrived at, can hardly reverse the trend of Congress irrelevance in UP.
The Srinagar conclave also failed to impress because it dodged two of the most burning issues agitating the public mind today, namely the extension of reservations to forward castes and aggressive evangelization by foreign-funded missionaries. Since the bogey of reservations for the poorer among the forward castes was floated by Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress president Sonia Gandhi specially mentioned the grant of reservations to displaced Kashmiri youth in educational institutions in Congress-ruled states, the party betrayed intellectual bankruptcy by failing to take a stand on the efficacy of increasing the reservation pie. The invitation to the BJP to join in the game of political expediency on the issue was worse.
Congress should also urgently to clarify its views on evangelization. It is true that since independence Congress governments in the states introduced legislations against conversions by force or fraud. But the record also shows that these very regimes turned the Nelson’s eye against questionable conversion activities, particularly in the tribal belts of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. In the recent past, local resentment exploded in the form of the tragic murder of missionary Graham Staines (and his two sons) and an assault on an American pastor in Kerala, who allegedly used extremely offensive language against Hindu gods like Sri Krishna.
Congress has generally tried to dodge the conversion debate ever since the Italian-born and Roman Catholic Sonia Gandhi became party president. Indeed, her spin doctors have worked overtime to project her image as a devout Hindu bahu. But the party’s second most popular leader, Ms. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has married into a Christian family and may have views at variance with the sentiments of the majority of the population. Also, Pope John Paul II has recently made some rather abrasive remarks about the native Indian resistance to missionary activities. Unlike other nations, India has from time immemorial accorded all citizens, and even refugees, the personal freedom of religion. But today aggressive proselytisation seeks to undermine our culture and civilization. As the country’s oldest political party, the Congress should elucidate its position on this matter.