Fifth Column: Left Side of History

India Today, November 30, 1998
Nov 30, 1998

FIFTH COLUMN
Left Side of History

Sonia socialism is the Congress' great leap backward.

Tavleen Singh

The shadow of death looms once more over Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Government. The past couple of months have seen the fat lady from Chennai in subdued mode (too many corruption cases). So the prime minister has had a few moments of respite in which he has been attempting finally to get on with the business of governance. But with early polls predicting the BJP is almost certain to lose Rajasthan and Delhi in the coming assembly elections, senior Congress leaders are gleefully admitting they expect a change at the Centre soon.

At least they are telling the truth now. This is better than the lies about "not hankering after power" we have heard from them in the past six months. The only thing that has curbed this "hankering" so far is the realisation that 175 MPs, which is what the Congress needs to form a government, are not going to be easy to get or control. But the party has behaved as if it were doing the country a favour by sitting in opposition.

Every time I have run into someone from Sonia Gandhi's inner circle of flunkies and family retainers, I have been told off for not noticing that "it is thanks to Madame and only her that we are not already sitting in South Block". My attention has been repeatedly drawn to this as evidence of Madame's political wisdom.

Many journalists have bought the line and propagated it. But, alas, hacks like me, hardened by years of covering Indian politics, have become cynical about signs of altruism in our political leaders. Hence my conviction that the only reason the Congress has not tried toppling the Vajpayee Government so far is because the numbers are not quite working out for an alternative.

It's nice to know I've been right. Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of Sonia's most devoted family retainers, has now announced: "After assembly elections in the four states, there will be a change of government at the Centre." Shivraj Patil, Azad's colleague, said something similar this past week. Senora Sonia herself began her party's campaign by announcing she expected Vajpayee to "rule well or quit". Sounds a little like an ayah admonishing some badly behaved child -- but perhaps only because her speechwriter was getting a little carried away with the scent of power.

How can we blame the Congress, now out of power longer than ever before, for not beginning to dream. Offers of support or possible support have been coming in daily, with the Tamil Maanila Congress announcing it will back a Congress regime in Delhi and with Mamata Banerjee making noises.

Mamata threatens the prime minister every other day with some new ultimatum or the other. One day she resigns from the ruling coalition's coordination committee because of the price of onions. The next day she says she is giving the Government four months to pull up its socks. She cannot offer Sonia any more than this because the Congress' most solid support has so far come from the political party Mamata hates most: the CPI(M).

Comrade Jyoti Basu -- who in this year's general election insulted the thin lady from Turino by calling her a mere housewife -- now joins the ranks of her devotees. There is mutual adoration here. She has praised him for being our new B.C. Roy: "Mr Basu, like late B.C. Roy, is among the sterling patriots of India."

For his part, Basu hesitated to praise her personally but was fulsome in praising the dynasty's founder: "Throughout the nationalist struggle, Nehru symbolised the left and secular forces within the Indian National Congress." Basu went on to praise Jawaharlal Nehru for his emulation of the Soviet model of development and attacked the Congress for moving away from central planning by opening up the economy.

It would be interesting to know whether the Congress shares this view. Under Sonia's guidance (and despite her weakness for Shahtoosh shawls and Bulgari watches) the party rededicated itself to Nehruvian socialism at Pachmarhi. So when she becomes prime minister can we expect the economic reforms will be reversed?

Sonia's new friend, Comrade Basu, believes the Soviet Union was destroyed by capitalism, not Marxism. In his Nehru Memorial Lecture, he said, "Rampant capitalism in the garb of essential economic structural re-engineering took over and plunged the Russian republic into chaos. From the high point of hope, we witnessed the decline and the break-up of the Soviet Union and the socialist forces in the world received a major setback." Does Sonia agree?

These are questions we need answers to, now that it is clear the Congress is not prepared to wait four years to return to power in Delhi. If it does well in the assembly elections, it plans to pull together Marxists, Yadavs and sundry other "secular" forces to form a new government in Delhi. Congress leaders have been trenchant in their criticism of the BJP for its "unprincipled" alliances. Can we know what principles apply in the alliance the Congress plans to form?

Meanwhile, we can look forward to more instability and non-governance. This column has consistently advocated fixed terms for governments. But to achieve even this we need a government that can survive long enough to consider making the change. As things stand, we will enter the 21st century lurching from one crisis to the next. This is good news only for whoever the prime minister is -- because incompetence and ineptitude can then be blamed on instability.

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