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The e book not solely makes for an fascinating learn however also needs to kick off the following spherical of debate on how the oldest political celebration of India has change into a household enterprise
The lengthy and dreary story of the Congress turning from a political celebration to a household fiefdom that’s typically accused of selling corruption and nepotism, is most appropriately represented by a number of of these incidents which aren’t usually reported within the media. They not solely make an fascinating learn however also needs to kick off the following spherical of debate on how the oldest political celebration of India has change into a household enterprise and might one thing be finished to democratise it? Or is it doomed underneath the current management, as predicted by a lot of the political pundits?
Rasheed Kidwai’s newest e book Leaders, Politicians, Residents: Fifty Figures who influenced India’s politics ought to assist kick off this debate.
Screengrab courtesy Amazon.co.in
Kidwai is thought to have tracked Congress celebration very carefully for greater than three many years as a journalist and so he has many fascinating anecdotes to inform. Speaking about Motilal Vora, who was the Congress treasurer for 18 years and whose identify has cropped up within the controversial ‘Nationwide Herald’ case additionally, Kidwai writes, “Vora…knew probably the most fiercely guarded secrets and techniques of the Grand Previous Get together-especially how cash got here into the celebration’s coffers and the way it was spent. Vora additionally knew the identification of each faceless donor the Congress had.”
“At night time, Vora would typically be seen strolling within the compound of 24 Akbar Street. He would say, it was a routine after-dinner stroll. A better look revealed one thing extra. Vora would politely ask bystanders and celebration staff to go away the workplace premises. Minutes later, invariably, a automobile would arrive, carrying ‘items’ that required secure, pressing and discreet parking.”
Kidwai additional provides, “When Sitaram Kesari demitted the workplace of AICC treasurer, Vora found a false ceiling in a room within the celebration workplace. He was unusually cautious of inspecting it. When requested, Vora had stated nonchalantly, ‘Do you anticipate him to go away something unattended?’”
Some of the fascinating chapters on this e book is a profile of Ottavio Quattrochi, the person accused of receiving kickbacks within the notorious Bofors scandal of the Nineteen Eighties that costed Rajiv Gandhi his authorities in 1989. The e book says that Quattrochis have been shut associates of Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi. Throughout 1984-1989, when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister, the proximity between Gandhis and Quattarochis was fairly well-known.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi. ANI
“The Quattrochis have been additionally regulars on the Sunday brunch served on the Gandhi residence. The gatherings at all times included Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Suman and Manjulika Dubey, Mohan and Nirmal Thadani, Michael and Usha Albuquerque, Sunita and Ramesh Kohli, Deep Kaul, Romi Chopra, Arun and Nina Singh, and Satish and Sterre Sharma…The exclusiveness of the gathering led to numerous heartburn and hearsay mongering amongst these not included within the Prime Minister’s ‘interior circle’.”
When Ramchandra Rath, a former Youth Congress chief and shut affiliate of Sanjay Gandhi needed to step down as fertilizer minister within the authorities, the Delhi grapevine had it that this was the value he paid for protecting Quattrochi ready. Rath later claimed he was having lunch with the then Odisha governor and didn’t know who he was on the time.
The e book brings to the fore the interior contradictions of the Congress celebration.
Two examples would suffice on this regard: The primary one is expounded to the Congress veteran turned dissident Makhan Lal Fotedar. The second instance is expounded to the blow hot-blow chilly relations between Congress and Shiv Sena. On this context the chain of occasions seems to have come full circle in Maharashtra.
First about Fotedar, who was an off-the-cuff adviser to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. However he was faraway from the Congress Working Committee apparently as he had reservations about Rahul Gandhi’s functionality to guide the Congress Get together.
Fotedar had noticed on this autobiographical account The Chinar Leaves: A political memoir, “Rahul Gandhi’s management is unacceptable to this nation and Sonia Gandhi has her greatest years behind her. The celebration has nobody to offer course. It refuses to study.”
Fotedar highlights the inner wrestle of the Congress Get together on the prime echelons as he wrote in his memoir, “Rahul had a sure stubbornness and his motivation to change into a pacesetter was not very robust. Individuals round Sonia ji secretly didn’t want him to succeed as a result of they realised that if Rahul grew as a pacesetter, they’d themselves change into irrelevant. The dilemma earlier than Sonia ji was that, on the one hand she couldn’t do with out her coterie, whereas on the opposite, she had an overriding need to see her son achieve politics.”
Kidwai observes, “A number of senior Congress leaders had privately stated they noticed some advantage in Fotedar’s criticism.”
So far as Shiv Sena-Congress relationship is worried, it’s fascinating to notice that in Sena’s preliminary years, it was utilized by Congress to ‘repair’ Morarji Desai, VK Krishna Menon and a number of other different influential gamers, based on Kidwai who additional mentions, “…When the Congress authorities in Maharashtra was nervous over the Communists gaining a foothold within the industrial items of north Mumbai …the Shiv Sena’s job was to struggle communists-by any means essential — and to guard the Congress bastion.”
In line with Kidwai, “Within the 1980 Meeting elections in Maharashtra, the Sena didn’t subject any candidates towards the Congress… Later too Thackeray would assist the Congress’ presidential nominees in 2007 and 2012.”
The Shiv Sena struck an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Get together(BJP) in 1995. The alliance was undone in 2019 by Uddhav Thackeray and he fashioned a authorities with assist of Congress and NCP. By the way, based on Kidwai’s e book, it was a Congress authorities in Maharashtra that had imprisoned Bal Thackeray for 100 days in 1969!
(Leaders, Politicians, Residents: Fifty Figures who influenced India’s politics’, by Rasheed Kidwai, Hachette India)
The reviewer is an creator and columnist who has written a number of books. Views expressed are private
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