Mission Opposition and the Congress

A close view of Nitish Kumar’s initiative of ‘mission opposition’ and analysis of expected, resulting events in Indian polity, as given by Dr. P. C. Singh.

Nitish Kumar’s initiative of ‘mission opposition’ has drawn wider national attention. As per his strategy, he has already met several opposition leaders in Delhi-NCR. He met Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Akhilesh Yadav and his ailing father, and Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav. In fact, he has touched almost every key political figure in Delhi-NCR including Sitaram Yechury (CPM) D.Raja (CPI), Om Prakash Chautala, and Sharad Yadav and also, Senior leader Sharad Pawar. He is reported to have given his consent for attending the proposed opposition gathering called by Chautala on 25th September on the birth anniversary of his father Chaudhary Devi Lal.

However, what is striking is the fact that he started his initiative of uniting opposition by knocking at the door of Congress. This decision of Nitish Kumar is deliberate and not accidental. The message is clear that an effective and meaningfully united opposition and subsequently, an Anti-BJP front is impossible without Congress. There have been proposals of a non-BJP/Non-Congress front by many but Bihar chief minister seems to be more pragmatic and farsighted. Although it is not an easy task, if it is successfully executed, it may pose a serious challenge to the prospects of the ruling party at the centre in the forthcoming parliamentary poll. Whatever may be the outcome of this initiative, once again it has been affirmed that despite all odds and opposition from within and outside the age-old Congress party continues to remain relevant in the Indian politics.

Of late, the Congress has received several setbacks. A number of promising leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad and before him Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, and many more have left the parent organization. The party is facing turmoil on account of G-23 rebellion from within. This has forced Rahul Gandhi to announce that the Congress president would be someone from outside Nehru-Gandhi family.

What lies behind this sustained survival of the Congress party in the country? A number of critics such as the well-known historian Ramchandra Guha has gone to the extent of asking the Gandhis - Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi – to leave congress to ensure its survival and future of Democracy in India. He has argued that dynastic regime represented by Rahul Gandhi has been disastrous for the party and Democracy and has given rise to self-made politician like Narendra Modi.

This is not the first time that the dynastic rule in the country is being questioned. In the past too, Ram Manohar Lohia’s call for ‘Non-Congressism’ had proved instrumental in organizing the non-Congress political parties to provide a common platform and caused a substantial damage to Congress in the late 1960s by installing non-Congress coalition governments in several states in north India. But this experiment could not survive for long. On the contrary, dynasties emerged in those political outfits which boast of their affiliation with Ram Manohar Lohia. Lalu Prasad Yadav ‘s RJD in Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajvadi party are case in points. Today, there is hardly any political party in the country except the communists, which is not affected by this syndrome. Dynastiies have emerged in other neigbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Srilanka and at a time even in the USA.

The Congress also received a major setback on account of the charges of corruption by late V.P. Singh on the issue of Bofors scandal. This led to the emergence of Mandal-Kamandal politics and not only uprooted the Congress in the north India but also led to the unprecedented rise of the BJP. Despite all these odds, Congress has survived in the country and is the main opposition party in Lok Sabha.

So, what lies behind survival of Congress? The dynastic rule in the Congress was instituted in the 1969, when the age-old party witnessed a split on account of presidential election. While the memory of the old Guards also called the syndicate-comprising of Morarji Desai, S.Nijalingappa, K.Kamraj, and N.Sanjeeva Reddy did not survive for long, Nehru –Gandhi Family has given three prime ministers to the country thus far. It seems as if dynastic rule has proved instrumental in politics as common people find it easy to connect with. As people find it convenient to connect with objective identity like religious symbol or secular symbol such as national flag, so they find it easier to associate their political aspiration and ideology represented by particular political family and hereditary rule. Otherwise, how to explain the survival of the congress despite several charges of corruption and inefficiencies on its leadership? The same may be said about RJD which has survived against all odds till date in Bihar and Samajwadi Party in the neighboring UP.

Dr. P.C. Singh (Author)

Dr. P.C. Singh A doctorate from JNU and a Masters from Delhi School of Economics, he has more than 25 years of experience of research and teaching. He has been involved in doing research in academics, and Mass Media including television & print. He has worked in various mainstream media houses like SAHARA INDIA, INDIA NEWS, NEWS LINE, PATRIOT etc. He has to his credit a book and numerous articles published in Indian Express, Telegraph, Hindustan Times, Pioneer, India Abroad, Think India Quarterly. He is at present, professor at JIMMC, Noida.