Congress Sandesh - May, 2005

History

The Succession of Jawaharlal Nehru

- Praveen Davar

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century. So tall was his national and international stature that the European and American media, in the early sixties, began speculating who will succeed him after his death. There were many who opined that post-Nehru India will create a vaccum which no leader will be able to fill, and the country may face chaos and anarchy. Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Govind Vallabh Pant and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai had all died: there was no one near, much less equal, to his popularity in the north. Rajgopalachari, who had left the Congress, was too old with little acceptability. Jai Prakash Narain had taken political sanyas and joined Vinoba Bhave's Sarvodaya movement.

After Nehru Who, written by Welles Hargen, an American journalist, in early sixties when Pt. Nehru was at the peak of his worldwide popularity, became a bestseller in India and many foreign countries, especially the then USSR where its Russian translation sold more copies than the original in India. The possible successors mentioned in the book were: Morarji Desai, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gulzarilal Nanda, S.K. Patil (all Cabinet Ministers), K. Kamaraj (then newly elected Congress President), Atulya Ghosh (a prominent West Bengal leader) and Jai Prakash Narain and Vijayalakshmi Pandit (Nehru's sister but with a standing of her own).

The name of Smt. Indira Gandhi, who was the Congress President in 1958, also figured prominently in Wellen Hargen's book and speculations in the Indian media. Smt. Indira Gandhi, in her autobiography My Truth recalls that when she was asked about the Nehru's possible successor, she replied, `without hesitation', Mr. Shastri. This was before After Nehru Who was written.

Panditji, the great democrat that he was, considered the idea of choosing a successor undemocratic and `terrible'. He told Norman Cousins in May 1961: "The business of picking an individual successor is something I find quite alien to my thinking. I am not trying to start a dynasty. I am not capable of ruling from the grave. How terrible it would be if, after all I have said about the process of democratic government, I were to attempt to handpick a successor."

After the death of Govind Ballabh Pant in 1961, Morarji Desai regarded himself as the natural successor of Pt. Nehru. He had many loyal collegues in the Congress Parliamentary Party because of his reputation for integrity and administrative ability.

Under the Kamaraj Plan of 1963 both Desai and Shastri had to leave the cabinet. Shastriji was however recalled to the Cabinet as Minister without portfolio after Pt. Nehru suffered a stroke in Bhubaneswar in January 1964. According to Bipin Chandra, author of India After Independence 1947-2000:

"Nehru's death in May 1964 provided a test of the Indian political system … there were two main contenders for the leadership of the Congress Parliamentary party and therefore for the Prime Minister's job _ Morarji Desai was senior and more experienced, a sound administrator and scrupulously honest. But he was rigid and inflexible in outlook and had the reputation of being self-righteous, intolerant and right-winger. Moreover, he was quite unpopular with a large section of the party. Shastri was mild, tactful and malleable, highly respected and known to be personally incorruptible."

Journalist Durga Das in his famous book India _ From Curzon to Nehru and After corroborates this further: "But Shastri had one big advantage over Desai. Congress President Kamaraj and some of the senior members of the High Command favoured Shastri because they had good relations with him and, what is more, considered him easy to get on with."

Congress President Kamaraj played his cards dexterously and evolved a novel concept of consensus. Though Desai was against this formula he was heavily outnumbered in the CWC which gave Kamaraj the authority to go ahead with his plan. Kamaraj consulted the members of the CPP and Chief Ministers and declared Lal Bahadur Shastri as the winner. Many supporters of Morarji Desai urged him to challenge the consensus and press the CPP to vote. However, Desai, a disciplined Gandhian, bowed to the verdict, but refused to join the Shastri Cabinet. A few months later Smt. Indira Gandhi was persuaded by Shastriji to join his Cabinet with a portfolio of her choice. She agreed and became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

After the sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent on January 11, 1966, the struggle for succession, averted by Kamaraj's `consensus formula' in 1964, could not be warded off. This time Morarji Desai decided to fight it out against Smt. Indira Gandhi who had by now become the popular choice of the Party. With Kamaraj on her side (her other notable supporters were Jagjivan Ram, Y. B. Chavan and Dr. Ram Subagh Singh) and having the support of most of the Chief Ministers, Indiraji took up the challenge. In the trial of strength that followed in the CPP, Smt. Indira Gandhi defeated Morarji Desai by an impressive margin of 186 votes (355 to 169).

For the fourth successive time, since 1952, the Congress was returned to power in the 1967 general elections, but with its majority considerably reduced - from 369 in 1962 to 285 in 1967. Morarji Desai once again emerged as a serious candidate for Prime Ministership. Kamaraj, who himself lost in his home state, was not in the same position as he was on earlier two occasions. His relations with Smt. Indira Gandhi had also suffered a setback and he was now closer to Morarji Desai. Kamaraj managed to avert a contest with great difficulty. Morarji Desai was prevailed upon by the Syndicate (S.K. Patil, N. Sanjiva Reddy, Atulya Ghosh, Nijalingappa) to accept Deputy Prime Ministership under Smt. Indira Gandhi who was once again elected the CPP leader, this time by consensus. Nobody knew what was to follow two years later and after: Smt. Indira Gandhi will emerge as the undisputed leader of the Congress and the most charismatic Indian after Jawaharlal Nehru.

CP's Visit

Sonia Gandhi inaugurates 2nd ITI Plant

RAI BAREILY: United Progressive Alliance Chairperson, Smt. Sonia Gandhi on 9 November inaugurated the GSM technology based cellular manufacturing facility at the public sector ITI's plant here, thus reviving a unit that had been virtually defunct for over a decade.
This was the second ITI plant to be revived in a span of four months aided by a Rs. 1,032 crore Central package. "The revival has been of great satisfaction to me," said Smt. Gandhi at a public function to mark the turnaround in fortunes of the plant. The UPA chairperson was also present at the revival of the first ITI plant which is also in Uttar Pradesh.
The Communications and Information Technology Minister, Shri Dayanidhi Maran said although the plant was to manufacture cellular equipment that can support three million lines, the Government has now decided to double the capacity to 60 lakh lines by early next year.
The move to expand the capacity has been helped by the technical collaborator Alcatel's announcement to export 20 lakh lines to African countries next year and more orders to be placed by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited.