The oldest political party of India—the Indian National Congress—ceased to be a party of the people soon after Indira Gandhi became the party president after splitting it. It may well be argued that even after the takeover by Indira Gandhi, the Congress did have party presidents and prime ministers from outside the family. But one should look at the brief tenures that they have had. After Jawaharlal Nehru who was Prime Minister for 17 years (from 1947 to 1964), the others had brief stints of just a year or two with the exception of Indira Gandhi (four years), Rajiv Gandhi (five years), PV Narasimha Rao (five years), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (six years), Manmohan Singh (ten years) and Narendra Modi (almost five years). After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, there was understandable speculation about who her successor would be. Even among the diehard family loyalists, there was some doubt as to whether Rajiv Gandhi would be her immediate successor. The names of Pranab Mukherji and PV Narasimha Rao were aired for a day or two, but Indira Gandhi’s immediate successor turned out to be her son Rajiv Gandhi. And that has been the line that the Congress seems to have taken to keep a dynastic party with just a sprinkling of stalwarts from outside the family for the sake of appearances. The underlying culture of the Congress has been dynastic for all practical purposes. And had there not been a bar on a foreign national becoming the Prime Minister of India, Sonia Gandhi could well have become Prime Minister. This speaks volumes for the mentality of Indian politicians who are usually democrats for convenience and not because they truly believe in democracy. They want democracy because had there been any other acceptable form of government without elections, they would not have been able to become legislators and ministers. We have had six prime ministers between Rajiv Gandhi and Narendra Modi. Some people were even beginning to wonder if the pursuit of the most important job in the country had been given up by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Nothing of the sort is likely to have happened. In between, the political parties other than the Congress have been able to form the government a few times and that is what had prevented the dynasts from becoming prime ministers of the country. The dynasty has been firmly committed to family rule.
The rapidity with which Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv Gandhi, has reached the pinnacle of the Congress hierarchy has surprised quite a few political observers. But what we cannot afford to lose sight of is the fact that Rahul Gandhi would have been made Congress president much earlier if the Congress had been in power. In fact, he would have become Prime Minister of India if his party had been in power. And now the Congress is doing everything possible to get back to power in the forthcoming general elections this year. If that happens, he would become Prime Minister of India. But there are many in the Congress who do not envisage a change in the political climate this year to enable Rahul Gandhi to become the Prime Minister. The mid-term poll and panchayat poll results do not seem to indicate any major changes in the power structure. And there are quite a few people who believe that Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is a better choice for politics than Rahul Gandhi. She has finally been persuaded to take the plunge into active politics. There are some who see this as a move to lend support to her brother in the forthcoming general elections. But this could be an oversimplification of things. If anything, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is likely to do better as an active politician than her brother, and if by chance the Congress does manage to return to power, it would not be surprising to find both brother and sister in the Union Cabinet.