Beware a Congress-mukt Bharat: AAP is not the BJP counter that India needs

While Hosanas have deservedly been raining on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after its incredible performance in the Delhi elections, and the BJP is being comforted by its dazed and distraught supporters, the Congress is mourning alone in what is arguably its worst moment of shame, after having failed to win a single seat. No tears are being shed for the party’s humiliation that saw it wiped out in area after area where it had held sway until so recently. Indeed, if anything, there’s a barely concealed sadistic glee even among its former supporters, who are suggesting that the party it had it coming, and that it is the architect of its own misfortunes. Nobody seems to wish to waste their breath even discussing it. [caption id=“attachment_2092983” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] “What’s there to discuss? Well, it’s is gone, it’s gone. Period,” is a general reaction. Yet, beyond the headlines about AAP victory and BJP defeat, the real story of the Delhi elections is where it leaves the Congress. Is it the beginning of the end for India’s Grand Old Party? And should we be simply watching while it is dying on its feet even if it only has itself to blame for its shambolic state? In recent months, there has been enough post-mortem of the causes of Congress decline. I’ll come to that later. First, the more pressing question of the longer-term implications of the Congress collapse–a situation in which a 135-year-old party–the country’s only truly national mass political organisation, a broad church with a history of inclusiveness–ceases to exist. Rajni Kothari, the great political scientist, described the Congress as the “authoritative spokesman of the nation as well as an affirmed agent of criticism and change”, as historian Ramchandra Guha recalled in an article . The reasons for “Congress hegemony”, Guha pointed out, included the fact that it was “a broad church, containing many shades of opinion within it. It had a strong presence in all states of the Union". “The Congress imprint was so substantial that even its rivals had to work within the ideological parameters set by the party and its leaders. Thus, most parties who opposed the Congress still upheld welfarism, religious pluralism, and non-alignment in foreign policy", he wrote but, crucially, hastened to remind us that this was before “the Congress converted itself into a family firm" triggering its decline. So, what happens when such a force collapses without there being a credible alternative in place? The answer doesn’t require much imagination or great insight into how politics works. There’s only one thing that can happen in such a situation: a scramble among all manner of wannabes to fill the vacuum caused by its destruction. Since politics abhors a vacuum. All it needs for any group to get a foothold is just about enough chutzpah and gumption –with a please-all agenda thrown in as bait to voters. Damn ideology or political vision. In fact, we have already seen how the political scene has fragmented ever since the Congress decline began way back in the 1970s. The space vacated by it has been filled by  mostly lumpen pretenders preening on the back of sectarian policies. Both the Sangh and Janata parivars –one Hindu exclusivist, and the other casteist –are products of this anti-Congress churning. And a fat lot of good they have done to the country which has become a boiling cauldron of divisive passions. So much so that the prime minister’s best friend “Barack” felt compelled to issue a warning. The latest to walk into this Congress-created vacuum is AAP whose ideological coherence is about as credible as the Sangh and Janata parivars’ claim to be inclusive. I’ve consistently questioned AAP’s ability to be a serious long-distance runner, and I stick to it despite its brave showing in Delhi. AAP is all tactics, slogans and a lot of hot air. It has no clearly thought out programme, no roadmap, and no proper organisation at the grassroots. It is essentially a protest group which has converted itself into a political party to tap into public disillusionment with mainstream parties. And it feeds on negativity with floating voters as its support base. None of this is the hallmark of a credible national alternative to a party which, for all its sins, has a cogent philosophy and a worldview; a mass base even if it has been neglected and allowed to rust; and an instinctive feel for the inherent cultural diversity of this country. This is where Muslims should worry whether their visceral anti-Congressism, which translates into ‘anyone but Congress’ strategy is such a good idea. No doubt, the Congress’ record on secularism is dire, but is there any other national party which has a better record? Indeed, the BJP –the only other national party –doesn’t even like the idea of secularism and would be happy drop the term from the constitution if it had its way. Have Muslims ever contemplated what would it have been like living in a theocratic Hindu state like the one that the BJP’s parent organisation, the RSS, wishes to impose on India? It’s important to point out that it is not as if Muslims have been innocent victims of the Congress’s ’electoral secularism’, a term used by a former Muslim MP to reject the Congress. [caption id=“attachment_2092987” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Despite all the faults of the Congress, should we be celebrating its demise? PTI[/caption] If the Congress was able to make use of Muslims in the name of secularism it was because the Muslim leadership was willing to play ball with it. There was a quid pro quo between Muslim leaders and the Congress whereby in return for delivering Muslim votes they were rewarded with plum jobs, party tickets and nominations to the Rajya Sabha. Granted, Muslims have had reason to feel let down by the Congress but in their desire to spite it, let them not cut off their own nose. Now, to the catalogue of Congress sins: corruption, mid governance, arrogance, dynastic rule and  abuse of the idea of secularism which alienated both Muslims and Hindus. There are elements of truth to all this, but the popular narrative of an irredeemably corrupt, dysfunctional, dynastic monster from which the country must be liberated (BJP’s “Congress-mukt” Bharat) is a disingenuous caricature of a party which may have gone out of steam for now but has a history of some very solid achievement. Achievements on which the foundation of modern India stands. In a more historically conscious society this would have been seen as an attempt at rewriting history but this being India, we are more in the realm of myth making than getting history right. However, the point is not to enumerate Congress party’s achievements or defend its policies. Admittedly, it got things wrong once too often but it has been duly punished for it. Before we throw out the baby with the bathtub let’s ponder over its implications. Is handing over the country’s political destiny to a combination of divisive and pop-up ‘secular’ forces with no national opposition to check them a good idea? Think about it.