Congress lost in banalities

But how does the Congress rehabilitate itself in the eyes of the people? They are going away from it. The party has been losing its stock. Why? Still, the party has not shed its pompousness. It has been spoilt further by the illusion of power. A surfeit of leaders at every level gives you the impression as if they are all set to take the oath of office. Most of them make you feel small, not because of their unblemished record but because of their sense of superiority. They talk at you, not to you. They behave as if they have all the answers.

Really speaking, the Congress leaders have come to live in a make-belief world. Even if you do not expect them to work like Indira Gandhi who returned to power in 1980 after the party was in a shambles following the excesses during the emergency (1975-77), they must go back to the people and try to understand their disillusionment for the party. Why are they staying distant?

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To begin with, the Congress should learn to say 'sorry'. It should have offered apologies to workers and supporters after the three assembly elections. But then the party has not yet said 'sorry' for the emergency which destroyed the country's institutions. It looks as if the Congress has lost sensitivity. This is the worst that can happen to any political party because it reflects a closed mind, if not an arrogant attitude. Still if the Congress wants to retrieve the ground, it has to go back to those values which do not come merely by hanging the photos of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad or Lal Bahadur Shastri but by following them relentlessly and honestly. An average person had kinship with the party because it gave him a sense of fulfilment. He had a feeling that just as he had the independence made under the Congress he would do well in the economic field. Never did he imagine that the party would renounce those ideals and turn out to be corrupt. Yet his real disappointment is over the stalwart's equivocal stand on communalism and casteism. He finds most of leaders mixed up. A bit of saffronisation has come to affect their thinking. This is happening at a time when the party's image, damaged by the Shah Bano case and the opening the locks at the temple in Ayodhya, is far from repaired. The party should at least be clear in its mind that it will have no truck with communalism of any type -- Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. Sonia Gandhi sounds uncompromising on communalism. Can she fire her party men with the same commitment? It was seen during the last assembly elections that Sonia Gandhi attracted huge crowds. But when it came to discussions on the nitty-gritty of pluralism at panchayatghars or chupals, the RSS men were there to participate, argue and influence. The Congressmen were nowhere.

The old concept of workers going to villages and living there has very few takers in the party. Naturally, that task has been monopolised by the RSS pracharaks (preachers) who are busy poisoning the minds of people even in deep tribal areas. The biggest problem the party faces today is the whispering campaign against the Italian born Sonia Gandhi. The Congressmen are themselves fanning it. In the Hindi speaking heartland her foreign origin is said to account for most support to the BJP. The party has to think ways to overcome the disadvantage.

Many have been hoping against hope that she will stay as the Congress president and renounce any claim to prime ministership if the Congress ever coalesces a majority after the general election. It would have been better if the party had kept the question of leadership open till after the polls. But the party has already converted the forthcoming polls into a battle between Sonia Gandhi and Atal Behari Vajpayee instead of between the Congress and the BJP. This suits the Sangh parivar better.

In any case, the Congress cannot dwell on the Sonia Gandhi factor. It has to move on. The acquittal of Narasimha Rao from every case of corruption -- the last one was the Lakhubhai Pathak allegation of Rao's swindling of $1 lakh -- may give ideas to the party men. But it is a bit too soon. However, some discussion on this point is bound to begin in the party before long. Rao's statement that he is ready for active politics is significant. Whoever the leader, the Congress must realise that its strength lies at the grassroots. It must return there instead of feeling happy with the exposure in the media.

In modern times when some-

thing soft and glossy provides the answer, the Congress has retrieved a 250-page report by Sam Pitroda to improve its image. He was Rajiv Gandhi's wiz kid who sought to apply America's technology to the communication system. Political parties are not automats. They are a product of ideology, sacrifice and hard work. The Congress has lost such traits. This is what all the analysis of the Pranab Mukherjee committee is about on the defeat in the three states. Who is where is not important. The party has to think of ways to attain the pre-eminent position it once enjoyed.

One thing that increasingly bothers the common man -- or voter -- is the rule of law. He or she does not feel secure. Neither of them has confidence that the law would be enforced against persons in high places. Can the Congress initiate a movement on this count? Leaders should be prepared to go to jail. People's attention may get diverted from Hindutva propaganda to something appealing.

Such a movement may attract the like-minded people and parties. The Congress should in any case seek their support and make them its allies in the battle for justice. Unfortunately when it comes to alliances, the Congress gives the impression as if it does not need others, but they need it. The mere call that all secular parties should get together is not adequate; the Congress must approach each one of them.

The non-BJP parties recall with horror the treatment meted out to Shiela Dixit after she had swept the polls in Delhi. They fear the same coterie around Sonia Gandhi may not give them a fair deal. Coteries are nothing new in the Congress. Even the tallest leader like Nehru could not escape them. But then when he saw the coterie coming in the way of his direct contact with people, he cut it down to size. Can Sonia Gandhi do the same?

The Congress needs fresh air -- and fresh ideas. Too many Lilliputs have pinned down the giant. The Congress has to free itself from them. By doing so, the party may win back lakhs of people who still cling to the inheritance of Gandhi and Nehru -- the ethos of pluralism and the rule of law.

Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.