The current crisis in congress party, where they are not able to look beyond the Gandhi Parivar to revive the sinking fortunes of a 150-year-old party is the result of last 70 years of gradual surrender of their ideological and democratic character to become a personality driven party. Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru can be squarely blamed for fostering a personality cult around him which gave birth to a narrative penned and propagated by an army of court jesters who built a visionary persona for him and lived off it.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi ruthlessly capitalized on it, in fact
during her time, “India is Indira” and “Indira is India”, was coined, sadly all
the democratic process in the party were muzzled, opposition eliminated to the
extent it became Congress(I) and the era of divide and rule, coterie & high
command culture took its root, which is the only game Sonia Gandhi learnt to
survive and remain leader for last two decades.
The result is very obvious, today they do not have a single leader
to take over the mantle of congress, their two generations have just been subservient
and loyalists, not to mention corruption mired rather than character-based party
workers. They still root for the failed charisma and aura of Gandhi family to cling
to their positions and usurp power rather see the daylight to transform and rebuild
the party.
The irony is that none of the current three Gandhi’s have either
a strong character or the so-called big following in the country. They are
scripts without any content, glorified personalities without any ethical
character, as a matter of fact the tried and failed heir apparent is already a
laughingstock. Not to mention all three have cases of corruption, fraud and
quid pro quo against them.
Congress and most of the Indian political parties thrived on
this personality cult and over the years translated into a dynastic submission.
Instead of building a party cadre on the works and ethics of Tilak, Gokhale,
Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Dr. Rajendra prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri
and Narasimha Rao they propagated the
sacrifices and contributions of only Nehru-Gandhi
equation which resulted in sycophancy and subservience rather than ownership
and responsibility for a cause.
As a quick fix, it suits any political party to create a
personality cult around their leader to ensure a following to help them in
their pursuit to remain in power with their loyalty. Most of the Indians also
over centuries have been hero worshippers and always look for a Hero to fulfil their
own aspirations and relief from any sufferings.
This weakness is fully exploited by all the political parties to remain in
power rather than serve the nation earnestly.
The current dispensation in power BJP, came to power
proclaiming itself as a party with a difference with a development plank for
all. Their resounding victory in 2019 elections consolidated their position. Their
approach of Nation first is laudable, cultivation of character-based party
workers, creation of growth opportunities within the party to develop future
leaders is the way forward.
BJP need to be on guard and check on the Modi-cult to ensure
that they do not go the congress way. They benefit from the backing of RSS,
which works solely on developing a character-based cadre who are committed and
devoted to the nation building and then loans them to BJP. This is a continuous
process desired for a sustainable growth of the any political party and the
nation it serves. A good institution breeds leaders with character while a
personality cult destroys the institution itself.
Party above “I” and Nation above party is the Mantra. One Parivar
understands, the other does not.
Satish Shitut
Jai Bharat
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