Cover Story

A Continuous and Principled Vision

Dr. Ravni Thakur

To see India free, to see her hold up her head among the Nations, to see her sons and daughters respected everywhere, to see her worthy of her mighty past, engaged in building a yet mightier Future _ is not this worth working for, worth suffering for, worth living and dying for (Annie Besant, First Woman President of the Congress, Presidential Address, 1917).

Indian National Congress 1885

Annie Besant's words, summed up many years later, a process that was set in motion on the 28th of December 1885, the day 72 men, under the leadership of A.O. Hume, a retired Crown civil servant, collected to form the Indian National Congress. Their coming together demonstrated the strength of ideas over mere issues of race or religion. Then, men came from different parts of the country and represented different communities and groups or associations. They all came under the umbrella of the National Congress to express the growing discontent with British rule that had been simmering since the first war of Independence in 1858. The foundation session of the Indian National Congress marked the beginning of a popular movement that not only threw up great leaders but also managed to turn a diverse people into a strong and united force that toppled the largest empire on earth.

Indian National Congress 1885

The history of the Congress Party, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, is inextricably linked with the history of modern India. Today's India, a modern, successful and self-reliant, is the result of the hard and principled struggle first, for Independence and then for nationhood, led by the Congress Party under the leadership of great men and thousands of ordinary Indians. At this juncture, as we race into an election year, it is important for us to remind ourselves of the important and enduring achievements of this oldest Party of the Sub-continent. These achievements are both material in nature and have imparted to India the kind of value system that allows us to be proud of our nation and it is these principles that allow us to face every situation with calm resolution and equanimity.

We need to remember the achievements of the Party even more today because the very foundations of our nationalism, our history and our sense of what it means to be Indian, are under threat from the divisive and narrow minded ideological agenda of the BJP. The BJP, a party that never contributed to the national freedom movement, today claims to be the true inheritor of the mantle of our freedom fighters. It is time to dissuade them of making such claims, be they about development, economic reform, foreign policy or even, their claims to religion.

The following article proposes to highlight some of the major achievements of the Congress Party that both in principle and act have helped shape India as we know it today. Space does not allow us to delve into detail here so the focus will be on the four most important principles that the Congress Party ideologically and administratively has contributed to the Nation. These principles are precisely what the BJP would like to overturn and would have no compunction in doing if it ever came to absolute majority.

A Democratic and Secular State

Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Acharya J.B. Kriplani with Gandhiji at the Bombay AICC meeting, where the Quit India Resolution was passed, 8 August, 1942

One of the things that India is justifiably famous for is its Democratic system with its democratic institutions and the secular character of its State. This is even more important if we keep in mind that apart from India no other third world country, with a population and land mass as large as India's, can boast of a democratic tradition. While the immediate goals and strategies of the Congress Party have inevitably changed to suit the needs of the hour, its fundamental principles have remained tied to the specific situation of India, with its multi-ethnic and multi-religious diversity. This respect for diversity is what laid the basis for our Constitutional Democracy. This commitment to democracy, both within the Party and for the nation as a whole, has been one of the biggest achievements of the Congress Party not only through out the grueling, and often, hazardous freedom struggle but specially after Independence. It was the Congress's commitment to Democracy that was able to transform traditional loyalties to religion and community into loyalty to a new nation state.

Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru addressing the assembly on 14-15th August Midnight

After Independence, the Congress' legacy of Democracy has not been mere words. It led to the creation of a modern nation state based on a far reaching, well debated and modern Constitution, an independent judiciary, the separation of the army from politics and a federal polity. In fact, the Constitutional debates are an excellent example of the spirit of inquiry, the freedom to differ and to reach a consensus that the Congress has always encouraged. The post Independence years have tested the Party's mettle many a time and it is because of the democratic traditions ingrained in us that we have been able to weather and challenges of electoral politics, taking both defeat and victory with equanimity.

Pt Jawaharlal Nehru taking the oath of office as the first Prime Minister of India

Democracy for the Congress has always meant, what was one of Gandhiji's greatest contributions to the freedom movement, the population of the idea of equal citizenship for all its citizens, be they women, dalits or minorities. Under his leadership women flocked to the Congress in droves as did the dalits, who found in his call for Swaraj a hope for Swaraj from the centuries of bondage that shackled them. The Congress was the first Party to insist on reservations for the scheduled castes and tribes. This was not just in keeping with Gandhiji's dream of equality within the nation it also ensured that the fruits of a modern India would be more justly distributed. Right from the beginning it stood for equal rights for women and enshrined these rights by giving them equal voting rights and equal rights to property and advancement through education. It also took the lead in fighting those backward practices that subjugated women traditionally. It has further empowered women within the Party by supporting the principle of 33 percent of reservations for women and have pushed this bill at the Centre as well. This tradition was greatly strengthened under successive Congress Prime-ministers, the last being Rajiv Gandhi's devolution of powers to our Panchayati Raj institutions.

Smt. Indira Gandhi with the army on the Kashmir front during the Indo-Pak War 1965

Along with Democracy, the Congress Party ensured that Secularism in the country was constitutionally guaranteed. Here again, Nehruji's worth quoting, especially since today Secularism has become a much maligned word, thanks to the BJP's anathema to it.

We talk about a secular state in India. It is perhaps not very easy even to find a good word in Hindi for `secular'. Some people think that it means something opposed to religion. That obviously is not correct. What it means is that it is a state which honours all faiths equally and gives them equal opportunities; that is as a state, it does not allow itself to be attached to one faith or religion, which then becomes the state religion. (1961)

Like in other periods of Independent India's victory, we are once again facing a threat to both the principle of democracy and of secularism. The BJP's record in Gujarat is testimonial enough of its utter disregard for the basic principles of equality and justice that underlie the concept of secularism.

Finally, the Congress Party gave India a free press and the many political parties that today jostle for space against it. And we need to emphasize this fact. For had the RSS as the Jansangh come to power at Independence, there would have been no democracy for our minorities or our dalit brothers and sisters. Above all there would have been no free press or educational institutions. We have only to look at the BJP's and Shiv Sena's treatment of its critics and of those who do not agree with their unilateral programmes. Intellectuals, artists, film makers, dancers, anybody critical of their treatment of the minorities in Gujarat, or anybody daring to expose the corruption in their highest echelons has been harassed, imprisoned and even killed. That is why it is essential for Congress workers not only to put up a united fight against the threat posed by the BJP to democracy but also to proclaim the Congress's contribution in ensuring it remains alive in India.

Creating a Modern and Scientific Human Resource

Smt. Indira Gandhi with Leonid Brezhnev just before the Soviet-Indian official talks.

Some of the earliest critics of British Rule in India, the moderate wing of the early Congress, people such as Dadabhai Naoroji for example, also understood some of the benefits of British rule. Chief amongst these was the ushering in of a scientific and modern outlook. India, which had at one time boasted of great medical and other scientific traditions, had become a culture of superstition and ignorance, prey to the ritualistic control of temple priests and maulvis when the British colonized India. Change spread because of the role played by educational institutions an access to the critical scientific progress the West had made during the period of the Industrial Revolution. The young leaders of India then were able to see the need to learn from the West and pull India into the modern industrial era if we were to ever achieve any semblance of equality with the West. This scientific spirit has been instrumental in making India self-sufficient in technology and industry.

This is what led our first cabinet under Prime Minister Nehru, to formulate an education policy that spread and popularized scientific education. It was because of the Congress Party's commitment to modernization and science that India today has universities and institutes of science and technology which have helped us develop an indigenous missile and satellite programme. It is what Smt. Indira Gandhi continued when she turned India into a nuclear power and Rajivji continued with the Information and Technology revolution launched when he became Prime Minister. It is this scientific tradition that has put us on the map of the world and it is this scientific tradition that Shrimati Sonia Gandhi fights for when she criticizes the BJP's educational policies.

This has been another of the Congress's major achievements and, again, important to emphasize today so that the contrast with the BJP's medieval and unscientific programmes for the nation can be highlighted. They have tried to once again promote the very superstitions and religious dogmas that intellectuals since the time of Raja Ram Mohun Roy have fought against. Witness the role played by Murli Manohar Joshi as the education ministry tries to interfere with our IIT's and IIM's. Instead of promoting science and management, they want to promote traditional subjects which will loose us that technological edge that we are just breaking into because of objective policies on the part of previous Congress regimes. The BJP's single-minded devotion to saffronisation of education and even of science is setting a dangerous trend. We do not want our nation to return to the medieval ages. Our youth must continue to inculcate a scientific spirit so that we keep up with the latest technological advancements in the world and not fall back on astrology as the BJP would like us to. That is the only way India can acquire the word power status that it deserves.

A Viable and Strong Economic Base

Smt. Indira Gandhi addressing Non-Aligned Summit in New Delhi in 1980

The history of colonialism was essentially a history of economic exploitation when India was turned into a producer of raw material for British Industry. The Congress, right from the beginning was conscious of the need to have an indigenous industry and sufficient food production. Nehruji put it succinctly when in a message to the nation on 18th May, 1936 he said :

Political freedom thus becomes the primary objective without which we cannot advance materially in any direction. But behind that lies the real urge, the urgent necessity and desire to solve our problems of poverty and unemployment, to raise the standards of our millions, to remove illiteracy, to build up industries, to get out of the iron grip of vested interests and to rid India of the numerous ills of colonialism.

Thus, the Congress, as far back as 1936 had identified political freedom with economic emancipation for the masses. When the first five year plan was formulated, India had practically no manufacturing base, today it boasts of the fifth largest economy and is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. We are expected to become a major economic power 2020. This is the cumulative result of long term policies initiated under successive Congress regimes. While the early land ceiling acts and the abolition of the privy purses led to large scale redistribution of land, the other measure that boosted agricultural production was the great success of the green revolution in Punjab and other areas launched under the leadership of Shrimati Indira Gandhi.

Shri Rajiv Gandhi taking the oath of the office as Prime Minister

In the industrial sector, the Congress put into effect large scale state industrial enterprises that created mass employment and through its policies helped build the industrial base that today allows us to compete with the rest of the world. Above all, the congress has been able to understand the need to change policies when international economic imperatives demanded it. Development over the last ten years was accelerated by the reforms introduced by Dr. Manmohan Singh, finance minister in a Congress Government, not as the BJP claims, by waiving a magic wand in the past five years. In fact, the BJP was the most vociferous opponent of these reforms then. The Congress continues to support reform, but unlike the BJP, the Congress has always considered the principle of development with self reliance and equitable distribution as its mantra. It carried out economic reforms and set India on the road to a new economy within the WTO order but it did not loose sight of its need to be self reliant. The Congress's economic policy has always stressed the middle path and in today's rapidly integrating global markets, it means ensuring that our people do not suffer unnecessary hardship while continuing the momentum of reform. While the BJP hands out sops to those who can afford to buy consumer goods, our rural areas and the poor in the informal sector barely survive with one meal a day. It s time to point out to our readers what Shrimati Gandhi said, "Development without justice is no development". Today the BJP is busy privatizing not those state industries that have actually turned unprofitably but only those that are earning the government crores of rupees. These skewered priorities are not what is meant by economic reform. Instead, we must aim to ensure that the much touted trickle down effect actually becomes a reality by ensuring a modicum of security for the weaker sections of society.

Foreign Policy and the Concept of Panchsheel

This year is the golden jubilee of one of the Congress Party's and especially, Pundit Nehru's major contributions to world politics. This is the concept of Panchsheel and Peaceful Coexistence that has guided India foreign policy since the very beginning and, till today, holds us in good stead. Pundit Nehru laid out these principles clearly in a speech he delivered to the Lok Sabha on the 17th of September, 1955:

What are these five principles? They are very simple. The first is: the recognition by countries of their independence and each other's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The second one is non-aggression: the third is non-interference with each other, and the fourth is mutual respect and quality. And fifth is coexistence … The concept of Panchsheel means that there may be different ways of progress, possible different outlooks, but that, broadly, the ultimate objectives may be the same. If I may use another type of analogy, truth is not confined to one country or one people;

These five principles also became the charter for the Non-Aligned Movement. The session of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1983 held under the leadership of Shrimati Indira Gandhi in Delhi provided concrete leadership on the questions of peace in the nuclear age and also in dealing with the inequitable economic relations that persisted between the first and third world. As Shrimati Gandhi said in her speech to the Conference:

"The Non-Aligned Movement has stood firmly for a thorough going restructuring of international economic relations. We are against exploitation. We are for each nation's right to its resources and policies. We want an equal voice in the operation of international institutions."

Panchsheel represents both a summing up India's non-violent ethos and also its resolve to defend itself in the face of any violation. It represents a combination of respect for others and yet a fundamental respect for the traditions and values of its own culture. The record of the Congress Party on this front is remarkable. Under the leadership of Congress Prime Ministers this country fought four wars and acquitted itself with distinction each time. Its leaders sacrificed their lives but were not afraid of taking hard decisions when the territorial integrity of the nation was concerned.

Contrast these achievements with that of the BJP government. Never have India's borders seemed more porous, our soldiers more at risk not just in Kashmir but across the country. We have had Kargil and the release of terrorists who were personally ferried across to Afghanistan by Mr. Jaswant Singh. We have had an attack on our Parliament and even lost people in terrorist attacks in the heart of Bombay because of the hatred spread by the Gujarat riots. The causes are not hard to identify. They lie in the short-sighted and adventurist policies of the BJP. Instead of having a cohesive agenda for dialogue with Pakistan, we have had the BJP government oscillating between `no dialogue with Pakistan unless terrorism stops' as Mr. Advani says, to Mr. Vajpayee's `hand of friendship'. From `China is enemy number one', as Mr. George Fernandes once claimed to Mr. Vajpayee's peace mission there recently. A nation's foreign policy cannot be held to ransom by the imperatives of narrow-minded ideologies and to differences within the leadership. The fluid and changed international situation after 9/11 demands a cohesive, long-term and principled stand on all foreign issues. This only the Congress can once again provide because it has always placed the interests of India first not sectarian ideologies.

Finally, let us look at the Congress's past record and reclaim it with honour. And let us never forget that it was because of the foundation built by the Congress Party that we stand on the road to becoming a leading nation of the world today. The time has come to proclaim our achievements loudly and tell the nation what the Congress has stood for since its inception a hundred and eighteen years ago and the principles that it means to uphold in the future.

In the end, the words of Nehruji are an apt and cautionary summing up of the Congress's record. Said exactly fifty years ago, they seem oddly appropriate at this juncture:

I look back on the record of the Congress, with its ups and downs, and its successes and failures. It is a proud record in spite of our failings. But such a record brings with it tremendous responsibility. Even today the responsibility of the Congress all over India is very great. The governments that the Congress runs are important. But behind the govt. is public opinion. It is the function of the Congress to guide, mould and to be guided by this public opinion, the opinion of millions of people … If any people think they are above this public opinion or above the Congress, then they are greatly mistaken and the very foundations that they stand on might be swept away (Address to Congress Presidents, 26th May 1954).