Congress finally attempting to balance old with young

There is a whiff of change in the air. After years of inertia, inaction and tardy decision-making, the grand old Congress is showing some signs of life. A bold settlement of the political situation in Punjab and sudden spurt in crisis management in Rajasthan has indicated that the Gandhi trio – Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka - have understood that ‘masterly inactivity’ has turned suicidal.

These are early trends but a few pointers are significant. Is Sonia Gandhi signalling a sunset time for herself? Sonia has been an ‘interim’ AICC chief for two years now [she will be completing two years as interim president on August 10, 2021] and longest-serving Congress president in the 136-year old history of the party. Any attempt towards a ‘clean break’ from her in-house political management would be a major development. Sonia may have been a doting mother who wished every success for Rahul but in practice, her post 2014 instance has been status quoist and accommodative towards the old guard. The BJP, in power since 2014, has overtly and covertly shed its ‘baggage’ from the 1990s and A B Vajpayee era except for an exception in Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari.

The Congress, on the other hand, between 2014-2021 had been hopelessly dependent upon the old – be in Vir Bhardra Singh [till he was alive] in Himachal Pradesh, Bhupendra Singh Hooda in Haryana, Captain Amrinder Singh in Punjab, Kamal Nath-Digvijaya Singh duo in Madhya Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan, Oommen Chandy – Ramesh Cheninthela- A K Antony in Kerala and Adhir Ranjan Choudhury in Bengal. In Gujarat too, as long as Ahmed Patel was alive [he died in 2020], nothing would move without his knowledge or consent.

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Rahul Gandhi, who had taken over as 87th AICC chief in December 2017, tried to force a generational change. However, his ‘reformist’ agenda remained inconclusive on account of stiff resistance from the likes of Patel, Motilal Vora, Janardhan Dwivedi and the failure of his own team consisting of Madhusudan Mistry, Mohan Prakash, C P Joshi and others who frittered away the opportunity given to them. They also failed to strike a rapport with the young guns or create a niche for themselves. Rahul’s revolving door strategy and experimenting did not help the party either. Instead of generational change, each time the CWC was reconstituted, it came packed with too many veterans and lightweights. Rahul constantly shied away from disturbing the existing power equations within the Congress. This status quoist approach [perhaps unwittingly] damaged the party’s long-term interests.

Enter Priyanka Gandhi. The youngest Gandhi sibling joined the Congress as AICC general secretary in 2019 but consciously kept herself away from overt decision making. However, since 2-3 weeks, something seems to have changed. Priyanka’s Sujan Singh Park residence not only became a hub of hectic political activity but saw her lending support to Navjyot Singh Sidhu in Punjab, Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan and Harish Rawat in poll-bound Uttrakhand. Priyanka appears to be backing Rahul to the hilt, accelerate decision-making and look for newer vistas for politician management, alliances etc. What I am told with a degree of conviction is Priyanka’s ability to blend young with the old.

At 73, Rawat is not exactly young. However, the old warhorse is seen as a winner in the hill state of Uttrakhand even by his opponents. Rawat’s deft handling of the Amrinder versus Sidhu feud in Chandigarh has remained understated. At one instance where Sidhu was supposed to meet Captain Amrinder for the first time after being named as Punjab Congress head, there was a crisis. Captain arrived late and Sidhu disappeared. Rawat tracked down the cricketer-commentator, satirist turned politician, to a nearby Gurudwara bowing before the Guru Granth Sahib. In the presence of the holy religious scripture of Sikhism, Rawat smartly made Sidhu swear by and adhere to the ‘peace formula.’

Challenging times

In Priyanka’s scheme of things, the Congress narrative, while providing fillip to the young, need not be made anti-old age. From Mallikarjun Kharge to Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Kamal Nath, the party needs their wisdom and acumen to tide over the most challenging times of the Congress history.

These developments bring to a question whether a thrust on age is justified? More importantly, is it democratic or such a “rule” is valid. It goes without saying that the constitution and law makes no barrier on grounds of age. A cursory look at old age leaders in India and abroad will tell a story on age and experience actually bringing an added advantage.

The first non-Congress prime minister was 81 when Morarjibhai Desai humbled the might of Indira and Sanjay Gandhi. In the next two years, Desai, a Gujarati, went on achieving many milestones such as improving India’s relations with Pakistan which were derailed after the 1971 war and restoration of political relations with China which had received a setback since the 1962 war. Desai’s chief contribution was that his government enhanced popular faith in democracy. His government annulled some of the legislations passed during the emergency and made it difficult for any future government to impose emergency. It is a different story that in 1979, Chaudhary Charan Singh withdrew from the Janata alliance and forced Morarji Bhai Desai to resign from office on July 15, 1979. Charan Singh himself was 79 when he took oath of office as prime minister. In fact, the entire stir against Indira and emergency was spearheaded by septuagenarian Jayprakash Narayan just as India Against Corruption (IAC) campaign against Manmohan Singh-UPA-Congress was led by octogenarian Anna Hazare.

Winston Churchill, perhaps the most popular British prime minister of all times was reappointed as prime minister in 1951 at the age of 76 following the Conservative party’s victory in the poll. From 1951 till his resignation in 1955, Churchill helped fix the devastated Europe, and shrewdly managed the steady decline of the once-powerful British Empire. Many believe that those three and a half years cemented his place as one of the 20th century’s greatest leaders, and forever carve his name in the hearts of the British people. Actor-politician Ronald Reagan became the oldest US president in the 239-year history at the age of 69. South Africa’s anti-Apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was 75 years old when he became the country’s first black president in 1994.

Priyanka seems to have developed their own version of a Bahudhā approach – a celebration of diversity and successfully brought Rahul on board. Together, they are set to unleash a new and somewhat unconventional doctrine to take the Congress story forward. At least an attempt is being made.

(The writer is a senior journalist)