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Before the Congress's Jaipur 'Chintan
Shivir' brainstorming camp, there was the Surajkund 'Samvak
Baithak' dialogue last November. A feature of the meeting at the
Haryana tourist resort was the bus rides taken by the party
bigwigs to the site. Jaipur's greater distance from Delhi
precluded the adoption of a form of transport associated with the
'aam admi', the common man. So, the focus is on how the party
intends to meet its latest challenge - the growing disconnect
between it and the urban middle class in the wake of the ghastly
gang-rape and death of a young woman last month.
This new threat has come in the wake of the erosion of its
"traditional support bases", as Congress president Sonia Gandhi
said, which means the Dalits and Muslims. However, there may be
greater worry about the loss of touch with the middle class
because the latter is more vocal. Its disillusionment is not only
with the Congress, but with virtually the entire political class
and it first came to the fore during the anti-corruption movement
of civil society activists.
Now, it has become even more apparent if only because this time,
there are no organizing groups like India Against Corruption (IAC)
to bring the hundreds of young men and women out on the streets in
Delhi's bitter cold to demand a sense of accountability from a
seemingly insensitive political establishment. Without a leader
and without even an identifiable ideology, they came out
spontaneously to face the police batons and water cannons.
Not surprisingly, Sonia Gandhi referred to the challenge from the
middle class in her Jaipur speech, which was otherwise replete
with the usual advice to partymen to be disciplined and
unostentatious. But, notwithstanding the acknowledgement about the
new political reality, what the Congress will be worried about is
the political fallout from the anger expressed against the party
by such a large group of people and the extensive coverage which
it receives from the media.
The Congress's concern may be all the greater because although it
has in its ranks quite a few young and articulate MPs and union
ministers, led by Rahul Gandhi, they were unable to establish any
rapport with the surging crowds. The only person who made an
attempt to reach out to them was Delhi Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit, but she had to retreat in a hurry after being booed. In
contrast, Rahul Gandhi simply disappeared from the scene for
several weeks, an absence which can come to haunt him in course of
time.
Because of the gang-rape and death, and the revelations in their
wake of the high rate of crimes against women, the 'Chintan Shivir'
is bound to emphasise the need for proactive measures to ensure
the safety of women. But what the party cannot be unaware of is
that mere words have ceased to carry conviction. They have come to
be seen as routine homilies, delivered by a privileged group
surrounded by armed commandos.
For the Jaipur conclave to be a turning point, therefore, it will
have to strive to eliminate the trust deficit that has grown
between the party and a sizable section of the people. Otherwise,
gatherings such as these will be seen as picnics in a scenic
location. A major reason for the trust deficit is that there is no
explanation as to why the systemic response to the many critical
developments has been inadequate - why sleaze continues to affect
the common man, why police stations are regarded as places which
are to be avoided, why as many as 274 politicians with a criminal
background are MPs.
The political ploy till now was to pacify pesky groups with offers
of reservations in government service and educational
institutions, or provide free power for agricultural production,
or sops like free television and laptops at election time.
The post-liberalisation generation cannot be neutralised through
such populism. It is not dependent on a paternalistic "mai-baap
sarkar" for jobs or education, let alone television sets and
laptops. Armed with their own telecommunication gadgets and global
credit cards, the "more aspirational, more impatient, more
demanding and better-educated" youths, as Sonia Gandhi said, see
themselves as citizens of the world where the rule of law has
primacy of place. And the laws of the land will gain precedence if
only the bureaucracy, and especially the police, can act
professionally and not look over their shoulders at the
politicians for guidance.
For a larger part of its 127-year-old history, the Congress has
been a modernising force which eschewed casteism, communalism and
obscurantism. In the recent past, however, it has been swayed by
these very factors, which are practised by its opponents, to
encourage caste-based quotas and even consider extending them to
minorities. But, if these compromises with its principles haven't
helped the Congress to regain its influence over "large parts" of
the country, as Sonia Gandhi said, the reason is that the voters
do not want it to be a clone of the sectarian-minded regional
parties. Unless the Congress rediscovers its original vision, it
will continue to be in trouble.
Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be
reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com
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