Recently. Rahul Gandhi had a chat with Kaushik Basu, who was earlier India’s Economic Advisor and presently he is professor in the Cornell university in USA. He spoke on some topics, concerning Indian political scene. I am listing below the same with my comments on the same.
1 He said, he is all for internal democracy in the Congress, which fought for India’s independence, gave the country its constitution and stood for equality.
My comment– firstly the present Congress is entirely different from the Congress which fought for country’s independence and their leasers were involved in framing the constitution. Will he care to reply why the elections for Congress Working Committee (CWC) and party present has not happened for many years. In fact elections for party president has not happened for many decades, and secondly why the leaders who were involved in framing the constitution and other leasers started deserting the congress when they felt the govt headed by successive Congress PMs were abusing the constitutions. Congress presently has become dynastic party.
2 Regarding emergency imposed by his grand mother Indira Gandhi- he says “it was a mistake, and even my grand mother also accepted it. There is a difference between what happened during the emergency , which was wrong, and what is happening now in the country. The Congress party at no point attempted to capture India’s institutional framework, and frankly the Congress party does not even have capability to do so. Our design does not allow us that and even if we want, we can not do it”. He alleged that the RSS is doing something which is fundamentally different, and filling up the institutions with their people.
My comment- We all know what happened during emergency, and how his grand mother Indira Gandhi and her cronies meddle in the affairs of all institutions and even curbs were imposed on the fundamental rights of the citizens. Scondly can he deny that Congress did not fill the institutions with the people who were following Congress’s ideology.Judiciary was the most affected institution, during emergency PM even made some one Chief Justice of India, who is 4th in seniority list. And Rahul’s uncle Sanjay Gandhi who held extra constitutional power, and he was almost running the govt. Even songs sung by Kishore Kumar were banned on All India Radio and Doordarshan, just because he refuse to attend a function organised by Sanjay Gandhi. What about freedom of press during emergency- there have been numbers of instances when the news paper’s front pages used to have blank spaces, as that part of news was censored.
3 He further adds that, he is the one who pushed for elections in the party at the Youth Congress and National Students Union of India NSUI) levels, but was attacked by his own party easers. He says why nobdy raises the questions on why there is no internal democracy in BJP, Samajwadi party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj party (BSP)
My comments- After holding election for Youth Congress and NSUI, what stopped him holding internal election in Congress party,the problem in the party is old leaders including his mother Sonia Gandhi. Thesee oldies feel that if youth takes over then their importance will be lost.It only proves that he does not have much hold on his partymen and he wants to rule the country. The fact is that even the senior leaders of party also behaves in dynastic manner, you can count many young people in Congress whose only qualification is that they are sons/daughters of such and such leaders. As there is no pan India leader in the party, every leaser feels that he is the king of his territory, and his children jhave every right to rule. Regarding internal democracy in other parties like BJP, SP and BSP. The fact is that it is known to every one that SP and BSP are dynasty based parties and they do not preach about internal democracy in the party. Regarding BJP, it is better than all other parties as far as there is no dynasty at top post of Party Presidents and other key posts. Can Rahul Gandhi tell how many party President Congress had in last 4 decades, and they are Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narsimha Rao, Sitaram Kesri, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Here also Naarsimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri were President by default, after the death of Rajiv Gandhi. As least in BJP the party president is being changed evet 2/4 years, and I cn not recall all the names of their party president.
So Rahul Gandhi’s contention that other parties are also ruled by dynasty is not correct, It is only happening in the parties formed by leaders who were earlier associated with Congress. He did not mention any thing about Left parties, knowing that they are not dynasty based. His main attack is always on BJP, but by targeting BJP or their top leadership, he can not lead party to victory in elections, which has been proven time and again. It only means that Rahul Gandhi is living in his dream world, thinking that one day he will lead the country.
Waiting for your views/comments on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
4th March 2021.
R. N. Mungale.
I agree with Mr. Malik.