A Young Turk in the Congress, enjoying considerable popularity with the masses and the intelligentsia alike, has challenged the leadership of the Nehru-Gandhis and staked his claim to the post of Congress President. Such a development is unprecedented in the history of India’s grand old party which has been under the sway of the Gandhis for decades now.
However, many political analysts say this was inevitable in face of mounting anti-incumbency and waning influence of the Gandhis. After years in power, the Congress leadership has become sclerotic and ossified, leaving the rank and file dispirited. The party’s government in the states have been rocked by allegations of corruption while the central government faces a war like situation. However, the leadership has been found wanting in proposing course corrections, leaving workers dispirited. The Young Turk, unlike many others, rose through sheer merit from the lower ranks and now stands poised to take over the party’s top post. His resume makes for impressive reading: he cracked the civils but opted for the rough and tumble of mass politics; he has displayed a flair for organizing and held many important administrative posts in his brilliant career.
The move to challenge the Gandhis has left the loyalists stunned as it threatens their own positions. Mrs Gandhi, as usual, chose to remain silent, but it is understood that she is extremely upset over the development. It may well be her ardent desire that the Nehru-Gandhi scion takes over the party but the insolent challenge of the Young Turk has upset succession plans. The Nehru-Gandhi scion keeps going off to Europe and does not have as much of a connect with the masses. He has also been accused of not translating his lofty ideals into action and is viewed by many as a ditherer. The Young Turk now poses a grave threat not just to the Nehru-Gandhi scion but the dynasty itself.
The Young Turk has proposed bold and radical organizational reforms and pursuit of swaraj, a pet theme of his, much to the chagrin of the coterie. Mrs Gandhi said her family would prefer to continue to rule by proxy. A puppet may yet again be fielded to defeat the Young Turk and preserve the influence of the Gandhis.
Tailpiece: In 1939, the Young Turk, Subhas Chandra Bose, resoundingly defeated Mahatma Gandhi’s preferred choice, Pattabhi Sitaramayya. However, the Gandhi-led clique in the Congress Working Committee refused to co-operate with Bose, forcing his resignation and ouster from the party. The last obstacle to Nehru’s eventual coronation had been cleared. Bose would move on to script one of the most seminal chapters in India’s struggle for independence by organizing the Indian National Army (INA) and drafting Indian prisoners of war into its ranks to secure India’s freedom through military means.
After the war, the fate of members of Bose’s INA captured by the British in the eastern theater of war fired the imagination of the masses. Their trials for sedition would spark violent confrontations with even the ratings of the Royal Indian Navy mutinying. That, and not the Quit India Movement, which was a damp squib, would make the British realize that they would not be able to hold on to India any longer, paving the way for independence.