The Praful Bidwai Column
Fateful moment for the Congress
THERE'S probably only one thing on which there exists across-the-board agreement about the Indian National Congress: Ms Sonia Gandhi has grown in her job as party president. If her takeover 10 years ago occurred amidst raucous sloganeering against incumbent Sitaram Kesri, her continuation today is seen as natural, well-deserved and dignified by many of her detractors, as well as supporters.
The churlish and xenophobic demand that she should hold no public position in India because of her "foreign origins" hasn't died down. But it has become muted -- and irrelevant for most Indians. Her decision to live and work in India as a citizen is widely respected.
Soon after Ms Gandhi took over, the Congress handsomely won the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi assembly elections, held immediately after the Pokharan-II blasts, which were supposed to help the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Yet, the rejuvenated Congress spent 5 years deluding itself that the people would reject coalitions and return to "one-party dominance."
It was only in 2003, after the Congress lost the 2002 Gujarat assembly on top of the Lok Sabha elections, that it decided to form broad-based coalitions against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
It also attempted a break with its "soft-Hindutva," conservative, free-market orientation under Narasimha Rao. It coined the Left-of-Centre slogan, "Congress ka haath, garib ke saath" -- although soon, aam admi replaced garib. It promised food security and a National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Spring 2004 was Ms Gandhi's finest moment. She single-handedly built the would-be United Progressive Alliance by reaching out to every secular party, including the DMK -- accused of colluding with the LTTE. She succeeded in breaking the back of "anti-Congressism."
Ms Gandhi further enhanced her moral-political stature when, in May 2004, she renounced the prime ministership. She has, since, remained the pre-eminent figure in Indian politics.
But she had to pay a price for keeping away from day-to-day governance by conceding autonomy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's team, including arch-conservatives Montek Singh Ahluwalia and P. Chidambaram.
Early on, the UPA's neo-liberal proclivity was contained to some extent by the National Common Minimum Program negotiated with the Left.
Ms Gandhi also tried to influence policy through the National Advisory Council, comprised of progressive intellectuals and administrators. This became near-defunct after she resigned on the "office-of-profit" issue. Her re-election to Parliament hasn't led to its revival.
Ms Gandhi succeeded in ending Hindutva's 6 years-long spell, in creating hope for a just society, and putting the Congress back into power after years. But she's reluctant to shape its economic and foreign policies, or to break its dynasty-based culture.
The UPA/Congress has, since, drifted in a neo-liberal direction. Its policies have worsened the condition of a majority of the population. Radical course correction is overdue. But the UPA seems unwilling to do this -- despite the economic adversities confronting the people.
With rising oil and food prices, inflation could soon cross 6 percent. The poor are bitterly complaining of high prices of grains and vegetables. The decline of the dollar and the stock-market meltdown are slowing investment and growth.
All this calls for reflation through public investment in the infrastructure. But the UPA, following monetarist dogma, has fought shy of this.
The UPA's budget did take some pro-people measures, like writing off Rs 60,000 crores in farmers' loans, and modestly increasing spending on an expanded NREGA.
The loan-waiver must be welcomed as a moral acknowledgment of the grave agrarian crisis, which has driven 150,000 farmers to suicide over a decade.
However, the waiver won't become another garibi hatao -- the "one big thing" that transforms the Congress's relationship to the masses. Its limitations are becoming obvious.
The waiver excludes the majority (58 percent) of farmers, who lack access to organised credit. The 2-hectare ceiling is far too low for distressed rain-fed regions like Vidarbha, where the average holding exceeds 3 ha. The 25 percent write-off for higher-than-ceiling holdings shouldn't be made conditional upon the pre-payment of the rest of the loan.
Unless the UPA rectifies these flaws, it may end up creating more agrarian discontent. In Vidarbha, an average of 7 farmers have committed suicide every day since the budget.
Similarly, unless more money, and political and administrative commitment, is put into the NREGA, it won't meet the target of creating 100 person-days of work for each rural poor household.
If the UPA really wants to revive agriculture and combat mass poverty, it must make big investments in the infrastructure, irrigation, equitable water-sharing and prevention of land erosion. It must make growth inclusive and more labour-intensive.
Above all, the UPA must provide public services as a matter of right, including healthcare, drinking water, education, labour welfare and social security.
The UPA must identify itself with marginalised social strata, including Dalits and OBCs, especially the most backward classes. It must take affirmative action for Muslims in keeping with the Sachar report.
It isn't enough that Mr Rahul Gandhi spends a night in a Dalit's house, as he recently did. The Congress must establish a program-based pro-Dalit image.
The UPA has built skewed relationships with the United States and Israel, while ignoring a broad-horizon agenda with an emphasis on justice and peace in international relations.
India has become US-obsessed. It often fails to pull its weight -- e.g. on Burma and Tibet -- or take stands on ending Palestine's occupation, stopping Nato's expansion, and the militarisation of space.
Ms Gandhi has been inarticulate on these matters because she's "advised" to keep silent in view of her "origins." This must change if she wants the Congress/UPA to alter policy course and cultivate a plebeian social base different from its upper-caste middle class core following, supplemented by sundry layers.
Organisationally, Ms Gandhi must stop promoting her son, and revive long-moribund democratic structures, such as the Congress Parliamentary Board, district- and state-level committees, and policy forums, which generate popular feedback on policies.
Ms Gandhi shouldn't dilly-dally on implementing this wide-ranging agenda.
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