We must not deviate from core Congress values

I have returned from Jaipur after attending the Chintan Shivir (18-20 Jan, 2013). The atmosphere in the Shivir was magical. But, nothing inspired me more than Rahulji’s speech accepting his appointment to the post of Vice President of the AICC; a speech high both on personal touch and emotion and intellectual maturity and depth- a rare combination of head and heart. I did not go to Jaipur expecting such a powerful and inspirational message. Let me elaborate.

The last few months have been quite distressing. I have been a Congress Worker for the last forty years and have held many posts in the Party and the Government. But, at no point I had seen such a pronounced disconnect between the political establishment and masses of people as in the preceding months. The youth and the middle class have been on the street first over corruption, then over the Delhi rape case. Politics has become a dirty word and politicians are perceived as corrupt, arrogant, self-serving and power-drunk. What the country needs today is a new and transformational leadership. There is a need for a complete paradigm shift in politics and in public life. I was increasingly feeling a sense of gloom and doom. But, that was till I heard Rahulji speak.

Let me paraphrase two key points from Rahulji’s speech. First he shared an important lesson that he has learnt from Soniaji that ‘power is poison’. Is not that the crux of the problem? Isn’t this poison responsible for corrupting politics and public life? If politics is about serving the people and about making sacrifices for the country no family has a more glorious tradition that the Gandhis. This is the way the Gandhis genuinely think and do their politics. Pandit Nehru had spent a decade in British prisons. Mrs Gandhi sacrificed her life protecting the unity and integrity of India and Rajivji was killed because he took on terrorism. Mrs Sonia Gandhi could have been Prime Minister, but chose not to. Even Rahulji has spent the last nine years handling organizational matters and in understanding development issues, while he could have easily decided to be in Government. The second key point in his speech was that the system in India cannot be tweaked and made to perform. We have to accept that public is angry, youth is frustrated, power is centralized and people are resenting the way the system treats them. The days of incremental changes are over. We need to change the system. Parivartan is not about changing a party in power, it is about changing fundamentals of governance and development.

In my speech I pointed out that the All India National Congress has functioned historically as an umbrella to accommodate various regional aspirations under its roof without giving up the national focus or the secular-democratic spirit. But, increasingly the regional parties are leveraging their clout not merely to pose a serious political challenge, but also to the overall growth and prosperity of the nation. The regional parties have no responsibility for keeping budget deficit under control or for making sure that oil distribution companies do not sink or that the Railways can sustain their present operations and find capital for growth. These examples are just illustrative. The fact is at a time when countries like China have rapidly brought about gigantic reforms at a national-scale, attracted FDI, built a strong manufacturing industry and invested hugely in infrastructure and human resource development, regional parties have been pursuing an agenda that preys on peoples’ fears. They blame the central Government for ‘neglect’ despite the five-time increase in central transfer of funds in the last decade. They use the delivery mechanism to take credit for welfare schemes launched/ conceived/funded by the Central Government. So, the two rupee rice scheme funded largely out of central grant is no big deal and is a matter of federal rights. But, the same is used to win votes. That is opportunism, pure and simple.

To deal with regional politics I have suggested a six-point plan without compromising on our commitment to nation building. Firstly, AICC should adopt a state specific strategy dealing with regional imbalance and aspirations of the people. Secondly, the State units need a strong and united leadership. Thirdly, we should develop a mechanism for an interface between state leaders and Central Government Ministries for putting across the demands of the state. Fourthly, AICC should develop state-specific media strategy so that the national media takes note of the opposition voice in the states. Fifthly, we need a policy to mentor youth leaders and give them prominence in the national media so that we create a new generation of leaders for the future of the party in the state. Finally, the selection of party candidates for contesting elections should be based on organizational work, support base and winning potential rather than ability of candidates to sway decisions through contacts and lobby. Many other ideas emerged during the deliberations.

My biggest lesson from the Jaipur Shivir is that Congress Workers must adhere to the core values of the Congress. These values have helped to preserve unity and integrity of the country in comparison to most post-colonial countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America that have witnessed civil war, military rule and gross political instability. Congress has played a very important role in sustaining a stable and democratic country. Because of these values, basically left-of-centre or socialistic, that we have constantly worked for the poor and the under-privileged. What are these core values? The first core value is, of course, the spirit of democratic socialism and inclusive growth. Congress has always stood against identity politics around caste, community, religion and region and our politics must always be inclusive. The second core value is the spirit of sacrifice for the greater good of society and the nation and dedicated service to the people. This is where we in Odisha have to remember old Congress leaders like Pandit Gopabandhu Das. In or out of power, we have to stay committed to core Congress values. It is more likely that we can rejuvenate the Party and the nation if we follow these ideals and hopefully we can persuade more people to support us. Back to basics. Rahulji’s message is rather powerful.