How Indira faced crises in Congress

Rasheed Kidwai
Senior journalist and author

Instead of introspection and firefighting in Punjab, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the Congress has adopted an ostrich-like approach, hoping that time and inactivity would heal the wounds of the May 23 poll verdict. 

AICC chief Rahul Gandhi has done the right thing by offering his resignation, owning entire responsibility for the Lok Sabha poll debacle. Politically, Rahul would gain nothing if he takes back his resignation. But the Congress Working Committee is unwilling to discuss the leadership issue that may not have a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family as its leader. Fierce loyalty, bordering on sycophancy, a sense of vulnerability and Sonia-Priyanka Gandhi’s inability to take decisive action is making the grand old party every bit silly and out of sync with the stark reality. 

Ditto is the case with the political developments in Punjab, where minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has been shifted from Local Bodies to the Power portfolio. Sidhu, who fancies himself as a 10, Janpath favourite, skipped two state Cabinet meetings and was hoping for an intervention from 10, Janpath which remained non-existent.

In Karnataka, where the JD(S)-Congress alliance government is hanging by a thread, it has become virtually a free for all in the state Congress. 

In Rajasthan, where the party had returned to power barely six months ago, CM Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot are busy trading charges. 

In Madhya Pradesh, supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia have declared a virtual war on the Kamal Nath government following his humiliating defeat in Guna. The Scindia camp wants Nath to resign as state party chief and hand over the organisational wing to Scindia. Bhopal is agog with speculation that the CBI may register a "preliminary enquiry" to probe the alleged detection of unaccounted cash of about Rs 281 crore during IT raids at houses of close aides of Kamal Nath and others in April. 

Telangana, too, is  crisis-ridden. Twelve recently elected Congress MLAs have defected to the ruling TRS.

The only silver lining for Nehru-Gandhi family is that there is no whiff of revolt against Sonia-Rahul-Priyanka amid disquiet and crisis at all levels. 

But, the seeming calm is a curse for the party. Unlike Rahul, the old guard and all key characters responsible for the 2019 mess are unwilling to quit or leave the party. The Gandhis, facing a credibility issue, are not in a position to purge. Everyone stays and it explains the all-round diffidence and inertia.

This was not the case when Rahul’s grandmother was confronted with a crisis, not once but on many occasions. 

When Lal Bahadur Shastri had a heart attack and died in January 1966, the Congress had a majority in the Lok Sabha. There were several claimants for the top post, led by Morarji Desai, the then Defence Minister, YB Chavan, Jagjivan Ram and SK Patil, the Congress boss of Bombay and leading light of the ‘syndicate’ that controlled the party governments in nine states. The CWC wanted someone popular with a pan-India identity to lead them to victory in the elections. Congress chief K Kamaraj acted as kingmaker, sounding Indira out for the coveted post. Indira said she would do whatever her party chief directed her to do. In other words, Indira was ready if the majority of the party MPs were in her favour. Desai refused to accept her. A contest was announced on January 19, 1966, over a week after Shastri expired.

That day, the presiding officer handed over the result to Kamaraj in the Central Hall of Parliament. Kamaraj spoke in chaste Tamil, announcing the winner. Few MPs and AICC office-bearers understood what he said. The suspense did not last long as someone shouted excitedly: ‘Indira 355, Desai 169’. As Indira made her way to the dais, dressed in a plain white khadi sari, with a fawn Kashmiri shawl around her shoulders and holding a red rose, she greeted a grim and sulking Desai with, ‘Will you bless me in the tasks that I have ahead, Morarjibhai?’ According to those present there, a stone-faced Desai replied, ‘I give you my blessings.’

In 1969, when a group of senior party men evicted her from the Congress, leading to a split in the party, an emotional Indira insisted that Congress membership was her ‘birthright’ and that she had been irrevocably born a Congressperson many years ago in Anand Bhavan. “Nobody can throw me out of the Congress. It is not a legal question, nor one of passing a resolution to pronounce an expulsion order. It is a question of the very fibre of one’s heart and being.”

After the 1969 split, her sect of the Congress emerged as the ‘real Congress’ and Indira did not regret splitting the party over her choice of presidential nominee — VV Giri — against the old guard’s choice of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. Indira’s party was called the Requisitionist or Congress (Ruling) because they subsequently requisitioned a meeting of the CWC, party MPs and AICC to challenge Congress chief S Nijalingappa's decision to ‘expel’ Indira from the party. Indira won the support of 310 of the 429 MPs belonging to the party. At the AICC meet on November 22, 1969, 446 of the 705 delegates accepted her leadership.

Indira rose in stature and many of the Congress old guard who had thought of manipulating her to their advantage were in for a shock. Kamaraj, who had played a role in shaping Indira’s career, was disappointed when he realised that Indira had a mind of her own and an independent style of functioning. At one juncture, he was heard describing her rather ruefully as ‘a big man’s daughter, a little man’s mistake’, the ‘little man’ reference being to himself.

In 1977, the Congress’ first defeat since Independence resulted in an exodus from the party. But the fighter in Indira was far from disturbed. Some senior party leaders, including the then Congress president, K Brahmananda Reddy, on January 1, 1978, announced that Indira had been expelled from the party. Reddy had the support of many powerful leaders such as YB Chavan, Vasant Dada Patil and Swaran Singh. DK Barooah, who had famously coined the slogan, ‘Indira is India, India is Indira’, was nowhere to be seen. The CWC met at the residence of Maragatham Chandrasekhar at 3, Janpath. Twelve members sided with Indira, but the AICC chief was not accommodating. In the absence of VC Shukla, Bansi Lal, Ambika Soni, Karan Singh and DK Barooah (who had deserted her by then), a somewhat isolated Indira found a new band of loyalists — Buta Singh, AP Sharma, GK Moopanar, Syed Mir Qasim, Maragatham Chandrasekhar and Budh Priya Maurya, all members of the CWC. They marched to Reddy to challenge Indira’s expulsion. Buta, who was formerly with the Akali Dal, spoke harshly to Reddy, demanding to know how Nehru’s daughter could be expelled from the Congress. ‘She is the Congress,’ Buta said, before walking out.

It was a grim battle of survival for the Congress and Indira’s loyalists. Quickly, Buta, Sharma, Maurya, Moopanar, Mir Qasim and others left on a nationwide tour to obtain the signatures of the 700-odd members of the AICC. They found majority support in the state capitals.

A convention was organised in New Delhi on January 2, 1978, in which Indira announced that she was floating her own party, the Congress (I). Perhaps, Buta's assertion before Reddy that ‘Nehru’s daughter was the Congress’ was still ringing in her ears. She fought back to power  in 1980, when most leaders who had left her in 1978 returned to her party, giving the Congress (I) the status of the ‘real Congress’. 

In 2019, Indira’s daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter seem to be lacking that courage and risk-taking ability even though there are no challengers.