By Neeta Lal

NEW DELHI – Last week, India’s oldest political party – the ruling Congress – founded in 1885 during British rule, turned 125. The event led to nationwide jubilation within the Congress camp, with the party’s political and economic achievements over the years showcased and its revered leaders – from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi – lauded.

The party has roped in advertising agencies to launch a media blitzkrieg to mark what are planned as year-long celebrations. A 19-member organizing committee, helmed by party president Sonia Gandhi, has been set up to plan events over the course of the year. Exhibitions, seminars and film shows – highlighting the Congress’ role in the Indian freedom struggle and its contribution to the development of post-independence India – will be held across the nation.

However, while showcasing its past, the Congress must also be

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// ]]>// <![CDATA[// looking to its future. Since India’s independence in 1947, Congress has lost much of its independence-era sheen due to the changing dynamics of Indian politics. The emergence of a new electorate that is less enamored with the party’s role in Indian politics and the formation of new groups and interests have all chipped away at the Congress bastion.
The manifestation of personality-oriented politics is another reason why the party had to split several times – in 1969, in 1977 and then again in the 1990s. Due to this recurrent fragmentation, the party that once ruled imperiously in New Delhi had to be content to resort to a minority government and then coalitions.

This is not to undermine the Congress’ numerous remarkable achievements. The party stunned its critics by crushing the opposition and silencing its errant allies with a decisive victory in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) polls in 2004 and then again in 2009. It bagged 206 seats across the nation, 61 more than its tally in the 2004 polls, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the largest opposition party – managed only 116 seats, 22 short of its earlier tally.

The Congress also retained three states – Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh – while the opposition is in total disarray. The BJP is embroiled in a crippling leadership crisis while the left parties are practically non-existent. The Samajwadi Party is battling for survival while the Bahujan Samaj Party is facing the heat of an onslaught launched by Congress scion, Rahul Gandhi, in Uttar Pradesh (UP) state.

The All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu state is hardly registering its presence on the national radar while, in the same state, the chief of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, M Karunanidhi, is embroiled in succession plans. The Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh state is too shaken up from its electoral debacle to be a force.

Congress, meanwhile, is poised to regain much lost ground in the Hindi heartland states of UP and Bihar, where it had been reduced to a bit player. Rahul Gandhi is in charge of what has been impressively termed “Mission 2012” for UP. The 39-year-old leader – projected as part of the Congress trinity, along with his mother Sonia and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – had a major role in the party’s decision to go it alone in UP in the Lok Sabha polls. His gamble paid off and the Congress bagged 21 seats in the state.

Now, the party plans to replicate the UP model in assembly elections in Bihar, where, too, it is confident of going it alone. In 2011, the Congress’ aim is to unseat the left governments in West Bengal and Kerala in what is being viewed as its vendetta on the left parties for withdrawing support to the coalition government in July 2008 over the India-United States civilian nuclear deal.

In such a scenario, the Congress has reason to be jubilant. Sonia Gandhi, 64, too, deserves credit for becoming the longest-serving president of Congress; she is also the first president to lead the Congress into coalition politics and nominate a prime minister after eschewing the post herself.

Despite being derided as a “reader rather than a leader” (for her laborious reading of Hindi scripts), Sonia has been at the helm of the ruling party for over a decade after her predecessor – the late Sitaram Kesri – was sent packing in mid-1998 for his failure to revive the party after a poor showing in elections.

Sonia has guided the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to victory twice in a row. The feat is all the more significant considering her husband – the late Rajiv Gandhi – had been voted out of power in 1989, and that Sonia’s foreign origin (Italian) has always been made a big issue by the opposition. However, despite the odds, in 1991 she brought the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government down and formed a coalition government. Five years later, she anointed Manmohan as prime minister.

The right-wing BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani, had often mocked Manmohan as the “weakest PM”. But this didn’t cut much ice with the Indian electorate because while Manmohan might not be a seasoned political in-fighter, his appeal cuts a swathe across the educated middle class, which views him as a credible premier. During the recent bruising economic times, the professional economist – who as finance minister spearheaded India’s economic reform program in the early 1990s – has won praise for helming the nation with aplomb, managing 7% gross domestic product growth in 2009.

However, though Manmohan and Sonia Gandhi make a mighty combo, and have been able to steer the party with intelligence, there is disenchantment among some party leaders on several counts. First, senior leaders are clamoring for a larger share of responsibility as they feel there is a skewed distribution, with too few people taking on too many responsibilities.

Also, the manner in which some national issues – including the Telangana affair and skyrocketing prices of essential commodities – have been handled highlight the party’s lack of political dexterity.
In particular, the decision last month that a new state – Telangana – would be carved out of the southern districts of Andhra Pradesh state has opened a Pandora’s box. After retaining the state in 2009, the Congress was stable in Andhra Pradesh until the chief minister, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, died in a helicopter crash. The vacuum created by his death has weakened the position of the party as well as that of the state government.

Reddy’s successor, K Rosaiah, has been unable to contain dissent within the party and the onslaught launched by the opposition forced the Congress, as a face-saving measure, to approve the creation of a new state.

The Telangana fallout is that other states are now demanding to be carved into smaller regions – UP chief minister Mayawati has already written a letter for the splitting of her state.

These developments highlight that although the Gandhi family remains the glue to unify the party, it has failed to build up strong second-rung leaders. This could be a deliberate ploy, say some observers, to retain dynastic power within the family. It is now a given that Rahul Gandhi, current general secretary of the Congress, will be anointed for the premiership in good time. But he, too, has yet to build up a committed team that could work independently to strengthen the party’s rank-and-file.

Moreover, the UPA government has also come under attack for not delivering on its much-vaunted claim of “growth with social justice”. India’s position in the United Nations Human Development Index has stagnated around 134 (one is the best) for the past 15 years, despite years of economic reform. Nearly a third of the world’s hungry are in India, while nine out of 10 pregnant Indian women are anemic. India also faces a crippling agrarian crisis.

Congress has achieved much in its 125 years, where even a week in politics can be a long time, but the ongoing anniversary celebrations cannot disguise the fact that there is still a lot of work to be done.

Neeta Lal is a widely published writer/commentator who contributes to many reputed national and international print and Internet publications.