Four cautionary tales of Congress: A title holder, a contender, a rebel and a loyalist

This is the story of a title holder, a contender, a rebel and a loyalist. It’s now been nearly 25 years since a non-Gandhi held the post of party president in the Grand Old Party. Most memories centre around the so-called ‘bloodless coup’ that led to Sitaram Kesri reluctantly relinquishing the post. But he was the one true title holder who lasted as long as he did.

Kesri’s signature style was a Gandhian cap that he sported all the time, his perpetual companion — a pooch called Ruchi, his love for holding durbars in his bungalow opposite Pragati Maidan and an inside track on the political machinations around Lutyens’ Delhi.

Kesri was catapulted to this top post with the aim of neutralising then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao, being a Gandhi family loyalist, but will go down in history ultimately for excessive and unrealistic ambitions.

Kesri, who was so good at pontificating, and could speak eloquently about a Nehru or a Vajpayee with a twinkle in his eye, lost the plot when he wondered why he could not become the prime minister.

His defining legacy as Congress president was when he pulled the plug on the Deve Gowda government in March 1997. His argument was: If HD Deve Gowda with 42 Janata Dal MPs could become prime minister, then why not him?

As Kesri looked back, in his mind’s eye, he could see 141 Congress MPs in gladiatorial mode. Kesri thought he had an excellent chance to claim the top job as Sonia Gandhi was seemingly disinterested in becoming the party president.

She had gone through a phase of personal despair and political revulsion after losing her husband to LTTE terrorists. But after the defeat of the Narashima Rao government, it was just a matter of time before she made her move across the political chess board.

That day finally came on 14 March 1998. Kesri, dimmed by age, failed to realise his camp of loyalists had diminished rapidly. Sonia had propped him up to counter Narasimha Rao’s growing importance. The Gandhi family could not tolerate a prime minister who was independent, intelligent and path-breaking in policies.

When Kesri came for the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on D-Day, reality punched him in the face. The agenda was to get rid of him. Pranab Mukherjee and others conspired to eliminate Kesri from the party for Sonia Gandhi.

Kesri, along with other CWC members including Tariq Anwar, was “roughed up” at Congress headquarters on 19 May 1999, following the split in the party that led to the formation of the Nationalist Congress Party.

Then came the contender in November 2000.

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Jitendra Prasada served as the vice-president of the Congress (1997-98) and was also political advisor to two prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and PV Narasimha Rao in 1994.

In 1999, rebellion against Sonia was brewing, when Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar openly spoke against her. They felt she did not have what it takes to become the prime minister, primarily on account of inexperience and her Italian nationality. This faction, which was openly challenging Sonia’s control over the Congress party, was eliminated.

Jitendra Prasada and Rajesh Pilot, both of whom were struggling to make their mark in the party, then stood up to challenge Sonia’s hegemony. The Congress was well known for promoting nepotism and stifling merit.

Prasada chose to be the matador to take on a raging bull. He challenged Sonia Gandhi to a straight fight during the party presidential elections. Of the 7,542 votes that were polled, he got a paltry 94.

Prasada was experienced enough to realise there was no way he could win. Two months after challenging Sonia Gandhi, he suffered a massive brain haemorrhage. He died on 16 January 2001. Many linked it to the mental trauma and ostracism he suffered from a party over which he once held sway.

The story now moves towards a rebel.

As a young boy, Rajesh Pilot, aka Rajeshwar Bidhuri, used to live in the outhouse of a bungalow in Delhi, tending to cattle and delivering milk. According to his wife Rama Pilot, he put himself through flying school and joined the Indian Air Force. It was in 1979 that he met Indira Gandhi, who gave him a ticket to contest elections.

Pilot won first from Bharatpur and then from Dausa in Rajasthan. He was also Minister for Telecommunications, Internal Security and Environment at various points. Pilot emerged as a prominent Gujjar leader.

But Pilot always remained restless. He had come up the hard way. Destiny had pitchforked him into rubbing shoulders with Rajiv Gandhi, a man he revered, and emulated. No wonder, he loved fast cars, flying and had a swag.

Rajesh Pilot would openly talk about his disagreements with Narasimha Rao and later with Sonia. He believed Sonia had no other calling card except being married into the powerful Gandhi family. He would speak about it during his election campaigns in a cramped small plane which he flew.

Later, he lost the election for the post of Congress president to Sitaram Kesri, but remained in the first line of Congress leaders.

Then one fateful day his love for tearaway driving got him. He died on 11 June 2000 in a car accident near Jaipur.

Sonia Gandhi remained the Congress president for 19 years till 2017 when Rahul Gandhi was elected the party chief unopposed. He relinquished that position in 2019. Sonia is holding that position on an interim basis.

And, lastly, the loyalist who could don the mantle.

Ashok Gehlot was chosen by Indira Gandhi. She mentored him after Emergency as older leaders who had remained non-supportive were dumped. Young Gehlot was then looked after by Rajiv Gandhi till another transition brought him face to face with Sonia. Such has been his unwavering loyalty over three generations that he is now the “Chanakya” uncle to the siblings: Rahul and Priyanka.

The Gandhi family loves loyalists who would perennially watch their backs. They detest the Cassius types — with their lean and hungry look.

Gehlot in that sense has been a magical fit. In the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, Indira Gandhi selected him as a candidate from Jodhpur. The 29-year-old Gehlot won by a huge margin. Mohan Lal Sukhadia, till then one of the tallest leaders in Rajasthan, was cut down for not doing enough for Indira during Emergency.

Gehlot galloped ahead. He became a Union Minister. He was also a minister in the government of Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao.

When Congress won 153 out of 200 seats in the Rajasthan Assembly elections in 1998, instead of Rajesh Pilot, Natwar Singh, Buta Singh, Balram Jakhar, Parasram Maderna, Sonia placed her bets on Ashok Gehlot. He became the chief minister for the first time.

These four lessons indicate the Congress would inevitably swerve towards the Gandhi family, the splits notwithstanding. The family has zero tolerance towards dissent. Rahul wants a team of his own but the challenge for him is to begin winning and regain political turf. But the biggest lesson is the Gandhi family loves a flag-waver.

The Congress is currently a confusing mess with a dire need to replenish faith in the party leadership and trust in the high command.

The Congress is India’s oldest political entity. Having gone through periods of painful evolution, it is now at a crossroads. It can either adapt itself to a rapidly changing environment in which the juggernaut called BJP moves relentlessly while regional parties occupy swathes of territory. Or it scatters into fragments from where smaller seeds can germinate.

The author is CEO of nnis. Views expressed are personal.

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