The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : FAMILY MATTERS

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Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

FAMILY MATTERS

IT IS HARDLY a secret that members of the Congress Party are prone to uncontainable excitement in the presence of the party's first family. Not surprisingly then they utilised the opportunity provided by the just concluded session of the All-India Congress Committee to shower hagiographic praise on the Gandhi clan — Sonia Gandhi of course but also son Rahul. One family faithful even contended that the session had been rendered historic by the participation of the fifth generation Gandhi. Some of this enthusiasm is understandable. If the Congress has returned to power after eight long years in the wilderness, the credit goes in large measure to Ms. Gandhi who pulled off the victory with the odds stacked against her. Who could have known when the Congress chief set off on her gruelling `Jan sampark abhiyan' (mass contact programme) that her perseverance and hard work would gain her so much popularity among the common people? For that matter not many people thought her capable of the kind of political acumen required for putting together complex coalitions. That having achieved all of this, Ms. Gandhi decided to forgo the post of Prime Minister was bound further to endear her to Congress workers. The sycophancy so much on display at the AICC session must be seen in the context of this "renunciation." As for the young Gandhi, while there is no case for casting him in the role of a future Prime Minister in the manner of fawning Congress satraps, it must nonetheless be acknowledged that he has breathed new life into the party's moribund Uttar Pradesh unit.

The average Congress worker had long lost hope of the party even crossing the 100-mark in a general election. The downcast mood within the Congress was further heightened by the dazzling scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party's "India Shining" promotional campaign with its ready adherents in large sections of the urban middle class and the media. However, the Congress can hardly afford to rest on its laurels. For a start, its rank and file must know that this victory belongs as much to coalition parties as it does to the Congress. The party's superlative performance in Tamil Nadu and its moderate successes in Bihar and Maharashtra are a result less of its exertions on the ground than of the shrewd alliances it forged on election eve. (Indeed in the first two States, its triumph was very much that of a junior partner.) No doubt aware of this, Ms. Gandhi took care to underline the importance of sustaining the United Progressive Alliance. The comprehensive resolution passed at the session too did well to reiterate this aspect.

Another noteworthy feature of Ms. Gandhi's speech was her emphatic stand against the communalism of the Sangh Parivar. The Congress president correctly posited this fight in ideological rather than electoral terms. But even as the Congress strives to return the country to the abandoned path of secularism, it must face up to other urgent problems. With another round of elections looming large, inflation has touched a two-year high, a huge cause for worry for a party that has resolved to provide substantial relief to the millions of rural and urban poor. The cycle of debt and death continues in Andhra Pradesh. In Maharashtra, the party is faced with the hard task of meeting the challenge of starvation deaths and containing its political fallout before the elections. In addition, there is the spectre of `tainted Ministers'. Last but not least, Congress leaders must understand that their eagerness to please the Gandhi family — the session was devoted to Rajiv Gandhi — must not be at the cost of the Prime Minister, a man "of great learning, vast administrative experience and impeccable reputation," to quote none other than the Congress chief.

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