Unknowingly the Congress party has changed

By M H Ahssan

The Congress has changed irrevocably and substantially, and the people most unaware of it are the party apparatchik.

Their illusion of things remaining the same is understandable because the Nehru-Gandhi family is still at the helm of the organisation. And the transition from Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi has begun. The regency period will last for a few years more, but the direction of the shift is clear. So, what is changing in the party then?

First, Congress now has had two full terms in office -- 1991-96 and 2004-09 - with non- Nehru Gandhi prime ministers in PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. That is a significant interregnum for a party that prides itself in being led by the Nehru-Gandhis, and for detractors like BJP's LK Advani and Narendra Modi who accuse it of dynastic politics.

In the eight years it has been out of office between '96 and '04, the party has lost the '98 and '99 elections under Sonia Gandhi's leadership after she took over as party president in 1998. In '04, the party had to content itself being the single largest party in the Lok Sabha with the lowest ever seats -- 145 -- in the party's history.

There are enough clues in these figures about the changes in the party. First, Congress is not the dominant party any more in national politics though it does remain the only one with a nationwide base. More importantly, the Nehru-Gandhis are not the mascots they once were for the party.

They have been winning and losing elections like any other party and like any other leaders. Of course, the middling leaders as well as the underlings of the party continue to believe in the glory and magic of the family but that does not matter. The people are voting without using the family as the true north of national politics.

The person who has come to terms with the altered fortunes of the party and of the family is Sonia Gandhi herself. She has gently coerced the party to accept Singh asleader and the face of the party, and contrary to appearances, is not in a hurry to push Rahul into the hot seat of power. Indirectly, she is pushing her party to accept a situation without a Nehru-Gandhi as a prime minister.

An unkind observer might say that the situation in which Sonia Gandhi finds herself is like that of the late Mughals -- who were important but not powerful. The hopes of a revived family glory under the leadership of the next generation -- Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra -- might turn out to be dreams. The reason for this change -- and one can call it decline as seen from the family point of view -- is that the country has changed and moved on.

Congress then has entered a new phase. It is being overtaken by history. It can only hope to reinvent itself if it can find a national leader who does not belong to the family.The party stalwarts do not have the courage to accept the scenario, and they do not have the energy to take on the challenge. This would mean that the party will remain in a stage of decrepitude for years to come.

This is not inconceivable. It can be seen in the semi-comatose state of Japan's dominant national party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In the case of Japan, the painful state of the LDP is translating into a painful one for the country as well. In India, it is different. People are experimenting with political change even if it means instability and uncertainty.

The decline, if not the fall, of the Congress has opened up space for others to step in. But the others, including the BJP, the Communists andregional parties, have failed to grab the opportunity. There is nothing catastrophic about the fact that there is as yet no alternative to the Congress at the national level. The country will find its political centre of gravity in due course.

The family is quite realistic about the situation. They accept the change that has taken place. It is the credulous members of the Congress party who now have to open their eyes and see the reality for themselves.