- Vincent Kundukulam
The recent revelations about the ‘vote chori (theft)’, that were made by the Congress Party, lead us to believe that the BJP has come to power for the third time through the unfair ways. The failure of the Election Commission in refuting the allegations raised by Mr. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition, the evidences the latter produced during the press-conferences, the BJP’s reinforced attempt to denigrate the image of Rahul Gandhi calling him ‘Amul-Boy’ than precisely responding to his allegations, all these show that BJP deviously intervened in the electoral process.
Though the failure of the INDIA alliance in 2024 can be partly explained by the vote chori factor, there are other factors also to be examined in order to understand the decline of the Congress Party in the country. Of course, the slow and steady growth of BJP, with the support of the RSS and its affiliates, is a major reason for the decrease of Congress’ influence in the nation. Yet one may ask, why did the Congress, which had 206 MPs during its tenure in power (2009-2014) get reduced to the level of a tiny party with 45 seats in the 2014 elections? The anti-incumbent factor and the constant allegation of corruption raised against the UPA allies are partly responsible for its miserable show. However, there are certain internal elements, connected to the ideological and organizational aspects, deeply affecting the core credentials of the Congress Party. The book, Ideology and Organization in Indian Politics: Polarization and the Growing Crisis of the Congress party (2009-2019), published by Zoya Hasan in 2022 throws light upon them.
The introduction of Mandal-Politics by V.P. Singh, the Prime Minister of India from December 2, 1989 to November 10, 1989, brought the caste-factor into the forefront of the political debate. The Mandal Commission Report envisaged reserving 27 % of jobs in the public sector to the 3, 743 backward castes, in view of rendering them justice and equality in the country. The reinforcement of caste consciousness badly affected both Congress and BJP. But its impact on BJP was not as much for the Congress, because, detecting the imminent danger ahead, the BJP decided to play the communal card – enthusing the Hindu consciousness against the minority religions like Islam and Christianity. Constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya after demolishing the then existing mosque was the means it found to arouse the Hindu feelings. This strategy of ‘constructing against the ‘religiously other’’ by the BJP was strongly supported by the Sangh Parivar movements, and it created an incredible appeal among the Hindu sections across the states.
The trajectory of the Indian democracy is deeply connected with the history of the Congress Party as its leaders shaped the Constitution, defined the principles of democracy and set the guidelines for the effective functioning of the democratic institutions. Although, the vision and modus operandi of the Constitution were strictly followed by the Congress for a few decades, lately, may be due to the lack of value-based leadership, the Congress moved away from the secular, socialist and democratic stands both at the ideological and organizational levels. In this brief note, we would be able to deal with only the ideological shift that happened in Congress.
The introduction of Mandal-Politics by V.P. Singh, the Prime Minister of India from December 2, 1989 to November 10, 1989, brought the caste-factor into the forefront of the political debate. The Mandal Commission Report envisaged reserving 27 % of jobs in the public sector to the 3, 743 backward castes, in view of rendering them justice and equality in the country. The reinforcement of caste consciousness badly affected both Congress and BJP. But its impact on BJP was not as much for the Congress, because, detecting the imminent danger ahead, the BJP decided to play the communal card – enthusing the Hindu consciousness against the minority religions like Islam and Christianity. Constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya after demolishing the then existing mosque was the means it found to arouse the Hindu feelings. This strategy of ‘constructing against the ‘religiously other’’ by the BJP was strongly supported by the Sangh Parivar movements, and it created an incredible appeal among the Hindu sections across the states.
But, as far as the Congress Party is concerned, it was difficult for it to openly persuade the communal line as it upheld the secular values and cut across a pro-minority image, although it used to discreetly satisfy the interests of majority Hindu community. Hence, the Congress continued its double game – appeasing both the majority and minorities ad casum. Unfortunately, it led to the distancing of both sections from the Congress. A few regional political parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party emerged in the central and northers states to meet the aspirations of the backward classes and lower classes respectively. Thus, the loser in the game was rather Congress and not BJP. Perhaps, the most tragic consequence of these divisions was that, on the one hand, the confessional politics got cemented with the Indian democracy and on the other hand, it paved the way for the destruction of the Congress party at the grass-root level.
There happened also some other events, which made the people to think that the Congress is not faithful to its original values and that it tries to retain power through the politics of appeasement. In the most famous case of Shah Bano (the question was whether the husband is obliged to provide the divorced woman with maintenance even after the iddat – a waiting period of time taken to complete the three sermons of divorce according to the Muslim law) the Supreme Court judged in favor of the Muslim woman, approving the right of the divorced woman to get maintenance even after iddat. But, the Congress amended the order through a law passed in the parliament, which laid the responsibility of maintenance expense on the shoulders of her relatives and the Waqf Board. The secular minded Indians considered it as a betrayal of the Constitution, while the pro-hindutva wing lived it as an act of humiliation. To console the aggrieved Hindus, the Congress did the shilanyas i.e. laying the foundation stone for a Ram temple in Ayodhya in 1989. On account of such cheapened opportunism, not only that the Congress lost its credibility but also that the BJP got its strategy of communal game legitimized in the Indian politics.
- kundu1962@gmail.com
