With the last vestiges of Secularism melting at the altar of an upsurge of Hindu Nationalism in the Republic, the dynasty had fired its ultimate salvo: Brahamastra of unleashing Priyanka Vadra on Uttar Pradesh elections, without any tangible return, yet with infamy galore of having ended up with an egg at its face: securing 2 seats out of 388. Little wonder then, the family which was considered as a jewel in the nation’s crown once, as never before, appears to be on political crossroad: either it should gracefully quit the leadership space as demanded by the group of dissidents, metaphorically referred to as G23, or be prepared for writing its own obituary.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: Indeed Uttar Pradesh electoral outcome was the final nail in the proverbial coffin of Gandhi–Nehru family: The Party not only emerged scathed with a stigma of securing 2 seats out of 388, but that too, when its much vaunted superstar campaigner, Priyanka Vadra took the command to lead the party from the front. Significantly, Congress’ trumpeting of Priyanka as a replica of her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, began singing panegyrics, fantasising unrealistically that her charisma will help the party revive from scratch. Worse still, the Party, boosted by some form of unfounded euphoria, based on its intrinsic belief in the descendant of the family who they thought would blow the incumbent chief minister and BJP into smithereens. Unconscionably, they presumed that Priyanka Vadra possessed the magical wand, strikingly identical with that of ‘Gungi Gudia’, the nick name of her grandmother, when the Syndicate, in its intoxication, believed that she was capable of manipulation. No wonder, Kamraj and others came in for a huge shock: Gungi Gudia’, as they misconstrued, turned the table on most unsuspecting benefactors who seldom thought that their ‘ Goongi Gudia’ will make them the gang of ‘ Gungas’ by showing them the night in the day time. In other words, Indira marginalised one and all when she emerged invincible then. Evidently, the Congress leaders in their infatuation with the heroism of Indira Gandhi fabulously anticipated the same story: The resurrection of Indira in her granddaughter. Alas, wishes were horses! The granddaughter proved to be a fiasco, belying all expectations, she took Congress to its lowest tallies ever: 2 seats out of 388. Why Congress has come to this sorry pass? Why its very raison d’etre and summum bonum appears to have been derailed, without the least scope for its revival? The explanation for the same is this: The dynasty which was considered as the guarantor for success at the hustings, in a turnaround of situation, is reduced to being the formidable curse for the Party. Paradoxically, the worshipful adoration of the illiterate masses falling for Indira’s seductive ‘ Garibi Hatao’, into that of educated citizens who look upon Gandhi-Nehru family as the albatross around the nation’s neck, call for the banishment of Gandhi- Nehru family from Congress Party. Small wonder then, with the Hindu awakening in the polity, the ascendancy of Hindu Nationalism under Modi and Yogi, has left no space for Congress. Hence, Muslims were left to be serenaded, which too had wedded their destiny with the regional satrap, Akhilesh Yadav, Congress was left with handful of few cheering for it.
But then how India, over decades, had moved from the reigning slogan: ‘ Indira tere subah ki jai, Indira tere sham ki jai! Indira tere kaam ki jai, Indira tere naam ki jai! Indira is India, India is Indira’! The goddess who reigned supreme in the Republic, whose equation with the nation, by her sycophant, Devendra Baruah, was the vindication that, how Indira Gandhi had sought to enslave Indian constitution to her individual whims and fancy, by imposing an emergency upon the nation for saving her own chair. Decades later, her daughter in law, proving to be no lesser, in fact, even bigger, who had condescendingly sought to hijack Constitution by craftily manipulating it by foisting a protege upon the nation as de jure Prime Minister, while hubristically arrogating to herself the role of a Super Prime Minister sans any accountability or even the modicum of responsibility. The brazenness of Sonia Gandhi in brushing aside the gravity of Constitution was of such magnitude that, while donning the role of Marie Antoinette of Indian politics, she continued, and still continues, to nurse an overwhelming ambition to ensure her son, Rahul Gandhi to step into his father’s shoes. Unfortunately that was not to be, the power which Sonia had articulated to be a ‘ Poison’, when she had enacted the biggest theatrics of power renunciation in the wake of anointing Dr Manmohan Singh as India’s Prime Minister. Significantly, Sonia’s palpable haste in assuming the presidentship of Congress party, from Sita Ram kesri, on account of his sluggish performance– Congress had secured more than 130 seats in 1998– yet she remained perched comfortably in chair in 2014 when Congress had secured just 44 seats in Lok Sabha, and 52 seats in 2019. Unequivocally, the rules that applied for booting out the poor Kesri–how pathetically he was locked in the toilet when Sonia was ceremonially assuming the presidentship of the party. But then even the most powerful of a time, ends up as the most enfeebled person in different times. The death of Alexander is the vindication of the maxim that, how once a world conqueror, failed to rise up from his bed.
2014, a watershed in Indian politics, when Hindu Nationalism was in ascendancy, along with the rise of a new leader Narendra Modi from Gujarat. Sonia, utterly sceptical about the rise of Narendra Modi, had left no stone unturned in her endeavours to stifle his rise. The unleashing of CBI in the aftermath of Gujarat riots, with an ulterior motto to implicate Modi to thwart his rise as India’s Prime Minister, failed to gain any traction with the people of India. Sonia Gandhi had intuitively sensed the rise of Narendra Modi will correspond with the upsurge of Hindu Nationalism, which was strangled by Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. Nehru’s ostensible anathema towards the resurrection of Somnath temple, was the living testimony l of Nehru’s paranoia towards the revival of Hindu Nationalism in the polity. Indira and Rajiv too, intuitively felt that any such accentuation of political consciousness was detrimental to their dynastic interest. Hence, they worked out a subtle understanding with minority Muslims; remarkably converging their dynastic interest with their minority appeasement policy. Shah Bano case was the pointer in the given direction as to how minority appeasement, despite risking an alienation of the section of Hindus, was tailored to suit the political expediency of the family. And all this was perfectly worked out plan, for the divided Hindus hardly presented any political threat to the dynasty, whereas pandering to chauvinistic Muslim interest presented the opportunity of fetching the monolithic Muslim vote bank. No wonder, the dynasty thrived in Muslim appeasement for consolidating its stranglehold over power and consequently the family interest was craftily weaved around minority appeasement giving it a new dimension of Nehruvian Secularism.
2014 turned the polity topsy turvey: A new wave of Hindu consolidation began happening around the scattered and fragile Hindu community. The realisation became starker that divided they would lose their grip over power, hence a semblance of unity, even in midst of division, was sought to assert its consolidated identity. Narendra Modi’s victory twice at the hustings–2014 and 2019–was the consequence of a broader awakening among Hindus about an impending Muslim deluge if Hindus failed to present a united face. This resurgence of Hindu identity threw the dynasty completely off- balance-Rahul Gandhi’s temple visit, exhibiting thread — all conceivable postures to appear more Hindu, while diluting secularism, failed to evoke much interest. However, the latest performance of Congress in Uttar Pradesh elections in 2022 took the Congress to its nadir. Significantly, the adage as it goes: The sun never sets on British Empire, too proved to have an end. The famous dynasties world wide, including Kennedy’s, too had eclipsed, yet Gandhi- Nehru family continued on the horizon for decades. However, the time comes when this family too meets with cul-de-sac. The Himalayan fiasco in Uttar Pradesh elections has vindicated that Gandhi- Nehru family has enormously begun to fetch a law of diminishing return. The latest fiasco of Priyanka Vadra failing to have even the least traction with voters, irrefutably establishes the fact that the first political dynasty of India is on the verge of extinction. Hence in this backdrop, it is the time the dynasty heeds the mesage on board: The sun sets on Gandhi- Nehru family, and gracefully exits from all positions. It is the time for Sonia to heed the justifiable demands of G23 and walk into the sunset, or else her prolonging of stay in power will be tantamount to writing to the political obituary of Gandhi- Nehru family. The choice for the same rests with her as the eldest member of the family.
