deepak mohite,
Grandmother’s Footsteps – The Grandson’s Journey
” Frontline,”
Author: Deepak Mohite,
Exactly 49 years ago from today, on 23rd August 1977, for the first time after independence, the Indian National Congress and Indira Gandhi suffered a crushing defeat. A wave of anger against the Congress had swept across the country.During the counting of votes for the 1977 Lok Sabha elections in the premises of Delhi’s Tis Hazari court, the Janata Party and the then Jana Sangh, now the BJP, came up with a slogan – “Show a Congressman and get Rs. 100.”
This slogan hurt many Congressmen deeply. But even in such a situation, the Youth Congress under the leadership of Sanjay Gandhi was aggressive. Even while Congress candidates were trailing by huge margins in the counting, Youth Congress leaders challenged that slogan and dared to give a counter-slogan – “Yes, yes, we are Congressmen, bring the hundred rupees!” Of course, the Jana Sangh did not show the magnanimity to give them Rs. 100, because keeping one’s word was not in their dictionary. Power was gone, the financial condition was very miserable. There was not enough fund in the party treasury to run the organization. In such a pitiable condition, the Youth Congress leaders had to carry forward the party’s work. Ghulam Nabi Azad, a young leader from Doda district of Kashmir, spent many days, weeks and months surviving only on pieces of bread and bananas instead of meals. Azad and Panicker used to live together in a single room of the government accommodation allotted to Ramchandra Rath. The pangs of hunger were so intense that Azad developed a permanent disease in his intestines, which remains till today even after he became the country’s Health Minister. The defeat of the Congress on 23rd August 1977 was significant. The Janata Party got 295 seats while the Indian National Congress got 154 seats. Indiraji and Sanjay Gandhi were defeated in Rae Bareli and Amethi. In Uttar Pradesh, which has 84 Lok Sabha constituencies, not a single Congress candidate could win. There was such immense anger among the people. The malpractices in the sterilization program and Indira Gandhi’s decision to impose Emergency were the two reasons that created public opinion against the Congress party. The situation was similar in many states of North India. After the first crushing defeat of the Congress, most of the workers left the party. The then Congress President K. Brahmananda Reddy along with some senior leaders expelled Indiraji from the Congress party on 1st Jan 1978. Reddy had the support of stalwarts like Vasantdada Patil, Devakanta Barua, Sardar Swaran Singh. Vidya Charan Shukla, Bansilal, Ambika Soni, Karan Singh also left Indira Gandhi. Devakanta Barua, who once gave the slogan “Indira is India,” was nowhere to be seen in Indiraji’s circle.* *When the ship starts sinking, even the rats that roam freely in it flee. Indiraji was left alone at that time When biographer Dom Moraes went to meet Indiraji, she was physically very weak. Yet her face was very cheerful She told Dom, “It feels as if a lot of burden has been lessened from my shoulders.”*
*Aruna Asaf Ali, a senior colleague in the Congress party, told Indiraji to give her courage that people will return to Congress again. Then, when? There was some helplessness in Indiraji’s voice as she asked this question with curiosity. The Janata Party had no intention of giving Indiraji enough opportunity to easily return to national politics. The hatred for Indira in the minds of its leaders had reached its peak. Apart from the Shah Commission, a dozen criminal cases were going on against Indiraji. Sanjay Gandhi also had to undergo imprisonment many times. The Morarji Desai government was not leaving a single opportunity to harass them. A team of intelligence officers in a black car would chase Sanjay Gandhi wherever he went. After her arrest, when Indiraji was in Tihar Jail, Sonia Gandhi used to take home-cooked food and water for her in jail, along with little Rahul or Priyanka. Through such visits, Indiraji wanted to achieve many objectives – how the Gandhi family faces the ups and downs and crises created by destiny with courage, how we should always be prepared for it, this training should be given to her children, and how strong the unity of the Gandhi family is even in times of crisis, the world should see it. Indiraji was very patient. When Congress President Reddy expelled Indiraji, while leaving his house, Buta Singh told him, “Remember one thing, Indiraji means Congress…” Later Buta Singh started telling Indiraji the whole sequence of events and how he showed Reddy his place. Then without a moment’s delay, scolding him for using unparliamentary language, Indiraji said, “Don’t forget one thing, no matter how extreme the discord goes, they are the President of the Congress.” On 2nd Jan 1978, in Delhi’s P.G. Malvankar Hall, in a meeting, Indiraji announced that, “I am founding a new party, Indian National Congress (I).” Her new party did not even have its own office. At the same time, the Election Commission gave three options for the election symbol – elephant, bicycle and hand. Narasimha Rao and Indiraji finalized the hand symbol. Since she was not in power and the party was just starting, the treasury of the headquarters was empty. MPs and many leaders used to give donations of 100 or a little more. Some leaders reluctantly gave ten or twenty rupees. Buta Singh used to accept all these donations with great humility and happiness. If Congress workers who came to the headquarters looked hungry, and if there was not enough money in the treasury for their meals, Buta Singh would quietly walk to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib and bring food for the hungry workers from the langar.*General Shahnawaz Khan, who was in Pandit Nehru’s cabinet and was elected to the Lok Sabha thrice, and was a contemporary colleague of Subhash Chandra Bose, used to come to the headquarters at Indiraji’s insistence to guide the younger generation of office bearers and workers. Initially Indiraji was disappointed, but by the time the year 1978 dawned, the old enthusiasm and determination entered Indiraji very rapidly.*Speaking before the members of the A.I.C.C., she said…” I want to say with confidence, the Congress has no intention of ousting this government from power until its term is over, but with our immense strength we can force this government to change its attitude. If we stand firmly behind the Harijans, who has the courage to burn their houses and huts? If we stand firmly behind the minorities, who has the guts to persecute them?”*After that, whenever there was any religious or caste tension anywhere in the country, Indiraji made arrangements in the party to immediately reach there and intervene with positive action, and to increase the participation of the oppressed and deprived in all fields at the national level. Later, when the Janata government collapsed on its own, mid-term elections were announced. While preparing for the elections, Buta Singh, Antulay, Moopanar, Pranab Mukherjee and colleagues worked for more than twenty hours a day. At that time, while giving more tickets to the youth, special attention was paid to clipping the wings of most of the traditional satraps of the Congress in the states. Indiraji and Sanjay Gandhi created a record of travel during this period. They used to fly more than 40,000 km daily. Both of them toured the entire country. Both of them held fifteen to twenty public meetings a day. Describing this, an English weekly wrote, ” It is difficult for the Janata Party leaders to survive before the political storm of a 62-year-old woman wearing a khadi saree and dust-covered sandals.” That article came true. Indiraji succeeded in her effort to ensure that at least every fourth voter out of 100 crore people of the country should see or hear her directly.In an era when there were no 24-hour news channels, no modern means of communication as today, and newspapers did not reach every corner of the country, a mother and son achieved an unparalleled peak of whirlwind campaigning. What the result would be was obvious. Times have changed but there is a lot to learn from history. In the end, no defeat is final. Change is the law of nature.*
*The fickle nature of destiny is no exception for any arrogant,self-absorbed leader. This history is not of shallow bogus parties born yesterday doing calculations of religion, but of a glorious, traditional party that rises from the ashes like a Phoenix. This is the time to once again throw light on and strengthen the bonds with the freedom struggle in which we were moulded, and to show the communal forces their place. Half a century has passed since this incident. In these fifty years, the Indian National Congress has seen many ups and downs. Today, the grandson of the same woman is travelling across the country and raising a storm against the people of the same ideology. The Sanghis who mocked him as Pappu, he is now putting his finger on their sore spot and asking them questions. But the incumbent Prime Minister does not dare to answer even one of his questions. What will happen in the elections in the future cannot be said, but as of today, no one can deny that this grandson of Indiraji has left the government breathless.
