Who after Rahul? This is a difficult question with which senior leaders have been grappling. Can somebody outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty lead the party? There have been precedents —Lal Bahadur Shastri become Prime Minister after passing away of Jawaharlal Nehru and P V Narasimha Rao led by the party following assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Unfortunately, the present Congress has become leaderless; there is no leader tall enough to replace Rahul Gandhi. Those who had capability to lead the party have lost the election. For instance Mallikarjun Kharge who led the party in the 16th Lok Sabha has lost election. A suggestion was made that he may be entrusted with party responsibility and Rahul take up his role in Lok Sabha. Rahul has already stated that he is ready to lead the Congress Parliamentary Party. But one wonders if Kharge will be acceptable to rank and file of the party?

It is in everybody’s mind but nobody has talked about it yet. Why not let Priyanka Gandhi take the place of her brother? She has leadership quality, charismatic and draws crowd. Some compare her with her grandmother India Gandhi. Three months is not a long period and there are many possibilities — Rahul may agree to continue beyond the next three months, someone emerges outside the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to lead the Congress at this critical juncture, or Priyanka agrees to take up the mammoth responsibility. A few promising parliamentarians may emerge from among the lessor known Congress MPs from the more literate, better ruled states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The Congress, which has governed India for most of the seven-odd decades after independence, is facing an existential crisis after being reduced to double digits in the Lok Sabha for a second successive time. This not for the first time the grand old party has faced crisis. It has passed thorough most difficult times but the present one is unprecedented.

The Congress was plunged into a big crisis during Indira Gandhi’s time. This time it was over economic issues. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi under the influence of Mohan Kumaramangalam and P N Haksar, appeared inclined towards nationalisation of banks and heavy industries. Morarji Desai, on the other hand, favoured mixed economy model developed through a consensus between socialists and capitalist streams in the party during Nehru years. Indira Gandhi went to AICC session in July 1969 where “the note on economic policy and programme” was circulated among delegates, outlining the shift in approach.

This brought a firm reaction from Desai, culminating in a power tussle between Indira and the Syndicate. The occasion was the election of President of India the following month. Indira’s authority was challenged with the announcement of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as the Congress’s Presidential candidate. She took the challenged head-on and backed V V Giri. Slighted, Congress President S Nijalingappa prepared for a showdown, and Indira sought his removal.

Parallel CWC meetings were held, one at the Congress headquarters, and the other at Prime Minister’s residence. Days later, Niglangappa expelled Indira from the Congress. The party officially split. She was forced to adopt a new party symbol—the cow and calf. Later, both the factions held AICC sessions. The Indira faction elected Jagjivan Ram as the President in the Bombay session. The Congress (O) led by the Syndicate even brought a no-confidence motion against Indira’s government, but it was defeated. She called for elections in 1971 and came back with two-third majority.

Indira Gandhi’s imposition of Emergency in June 1975 was followed by the Congress party’s heavy defeat in the elections, called by her after lifting Emergency in 1977. She herself was defeated in Rae Bareli. The ruling party split again with Jagjivaram breaking. The Congress and Indira spent the next two years in political wilderness while Prime Minister Morarji Desai looked entrenched. Indira and some ministers of her erstwhile cabinet were arrested on charges of corruption. But the tide turned in the Congress’s favour.

Chandra Shekhar, president of the ruling party, raised the dual membership of former Jana Sangh members. Those in government including Atal Bihari Vajpyee and L K Advani had to choose between staying in government and being members of the RSS. Vajpayee and Advani choose the latter and the government collapsed soon. Desai’s successor Charan Singh could not run a stable government and Indira returned to power in 1980.

In 1991, Rajiv Gandhi became the second Congress President to be assassinated while in office. The party once again plunged into turmoil but managed to emerge the single largest party in 1991 election, and P V Narasimha Rao took over as PM.

The Congress suffered a series of splits during the 1990s. Rao faced difficulties right after taking over in running the government as well as party. There was mistrust between him and veterans like Arjun Singh and N D Tiwari. At the Tirupati AICC session in April, 1992, Singh won the CWC polls with highest margin; Sharad Pawar too won. Rao asked the entire newly elected CWC to resign on the pretext that there was not enough representation of women and Dalits. He then reconstituted the CWC and included Singh in the nominated category.

The crisis is nothing new to the Congress and each time the party has had to tide it over. The present crisis, however, is the gravest that the grand old party ever faced. It may come out of it following a long-due internal struggle. Being the oldest political party, the Congress has still and deep roots, and it should survive this round too.(IPA Service)