Dynasty debate resurfaces in Congress after Tewari’s remarks
Resentment and frustration among Congressmen are on the rise as many senior leaders are reviving the spirit of 23. Don’t you remember the 23 veteran Congress leaders who raised a revolt against the Nehru-Gandhi clan, demanding “glasnost” in the party following the second successive defeat faced by the Grand Old Party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls?[1]
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shashi Tharoor, and Kapil Sibal were some of the prominent names that figured in the list of 23, which had questioned the dictatorial control exerted by the Nehru-Gandhi clan over the party. Azad resigned from the party, followed by leaders like Captain Amarinder Singh (former chief minister of Punjab, who was unceremoniously ousted from the chair by the Yuvraj). Whoever questions the unfettered control the family has over the party was either silenced or isolated in the party.
It is at this juncture that Manish Tewari, MP and former minister of state for information and broadcasting in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, has come out with the book A World Adrift, a work on global power dynamics. Tewari wrote the book as a sequel to Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and The Last Man and Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Though Tewari’s book is unlikely to hog even national limelight, a comment made by him is an indication of things to come in the future.
The Congress leaders and workers may throw rotten eggs at each other as well as at their political enemies. Leaders like Tewari survive because of the amount of venom they spat on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP, and the RSS. But they will not open their mouths against the presiding deities of No 10, Janpath. Omerta (Italian for silence) is the catchword in the GOP. The moment any leaders or dealers question the supremacy of the clan, they are finished forever. The list is long and includes Rajesh Pilot, Madhavrao Scindia, Jitendra Prasada, Arun Nehru, Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy, and the like. This prevents the upcoming leaders from challenging the clan’s hold over the party. The Congress has been silent all these years over dynasty politics, whether in India or abroad. For the first time in the history of the Congress, a leader like Tewari has given enough hints that family control in any political outfit is not advisable. He is careful and cautious in selecting the words. Instead of selecting the Nehru-Gandhi clan in the Congress, the Karunanidhi family in the DMK, the RJD in Bihar, Tewari has chosen the Rajapaksa family of Sri Lanka to give vent to his anguish.
While referring to the crisis in Sri Lanka (page 96), Tewari has this much to say: “The real catalyst for the crisis lies in the deeply personalized nature of the economic ties between Colombo and Beijing, rooted largely in China’s cultivation of a close relationship with the Rajapaksa family, who held power from 2005 to 2015”.
Though Tewari stays away from criticizing the dynasty politics in India, the message is loud and clear. He has in his mind the deal signed between Yuvaraj and the Chinese Communist Party leadership during the official tour made by him with Mama Antonia and a namesake Prime Minister to Beijing.
The spark has been lit by Tewari and is for the veterans in the G-23 to take up the issue.
Reference:
[1] G-23 leaders target Congress High Command for protest at Sibal’s residence – Sep 30, 2021, HT
Note:
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2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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