Kumar Ketkar: Adversity is a challenge and opportunity for Rahul Gandhi

The whole world is passing through an ideological and existential crisis and Rahul Gandhi has been given the task of navigating the Indian National Congress through this huge turbulence. It is indeed a challenge to lead and navigate the Grand Old Party, which has humongous historic baggage of over 133 years. A glorious but chequered past and uncertain future, a magnificent legacy and unprecedented challenge, a vast mass base and yet a very thin cadre network!

Once the Congress party with huge mass base had support from all classes—working class in factories or mines, peasantry in all layers, small traders and small-medium industrialists and so on. The opposition to Congress came from the very rich sections, traditionally aristocratic layer, former princes, some big industrialists, zamindar community and so on.

Most of the leadership at the top level as well as middle and lower, came from various segments of the middle class. That included doctors, teachers and professors, professionals from architects to engineers, even writers, theatre and film industry artists, self-employed entrepreneurs and others.

The then Opposition parties like the Communists had some sound base in the working class, but not total hegemony. Communist leadership and cadre also had middle class activists. Urban and upper-caste-white collar-middle class as well as sections of the trading community generally supported the Jan Sangh, the then political front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. There were splinter parties and regional formations with base in the local populace. But the Congress was too large because of its inclusive class character.

However, over the years, the vast sections of the middle class and the new-middle class got alienated from the Congress party. Slowly, they were migrating towards the Sangh Parivar or to regional parties. Particularly after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the urban middle classes began to shift their loyalties to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the political inheritor of the Jan Sangh. The professional and hi-tech educated middle class which had supported Rajiv Gandhi on a large scale, also began to move towards the right and the Sangh. This was the period when a new global-Indian middle class emerged, particularly in the United States. This NRI community slowly turned highly hostile to Congress.

One of the biggest challenges before Rahul Gandhi is to win the confidence of this middle class, of nearly 40 crore people, and spread over urban, now even rural and of course the NRI and newly emerged techno-savvy community. This class was never homogenous before. But it has become now, particularly after liberalisation and globalisation

Higher incomes, much better living standard, superior lifestyle, rising aspirations, imitating American way of life and without ever going abroad, trying to follow the NRI attitudes are the characteristics of this middle class now.

In the last two decades, Congress lost contact with the middle class. It is not as if all had turned away from the party. It is the party which had turned away from all layers of middle class. The party also neglected the legitimate interests of the working classes. The educated middle class provided second and third rank leadership to the party before. But over the years, the party got disconnected with them and promoted only family kith and kin at the middle level.

The disconnect of the party with this opinion-making class, which holds positions of power and influence in the media, bureaucracy, academics and professionals has cost Congress immensely. The political vacuum created by this utter neglect of a class that matters was filled by the BJP. Congress was always regarded as a Left-of-Centre outfit. It began to be seen as Right-of-Centre and soon lost that space too as the BJP claimed the right wing and conservative platform.

Today, even as the BJP is losing traction and the frensied support to Narendra Modi is in decline, the middle class continues to hold on to the ideology of the right and fascination for Modi and his aggressive leadership.

Rahul has to emerge as a credible, firm and decisive leader. Like his grandmother. It is sad and unfortunate that many naive people compare Modi with Indira Gandhi, when there is nothing in common between them. Indira was humane and human, cultured and graceful, approachable and concerned about the poor, connected with the intelligentsia and even intellectuals, artists, writers. Modi lacks all this but is seen to be “decisive”, though he has not shown any success in any front. Except the fact that he has been able to inject poison of hate and divisiveness. That poison has to be taken out, mainly from the middle class.

Maharashtra is the epicentre of the middle class mind. It has the largest urban population, more number of cities than any other, a huge commercial base with large number of people in trade and industry, vastly industrial with modern working class and hi-tech professionals. Congress cannot afford to ignore or rather neglect Maharashtra.

But that is precisely what has happened. Maharashtra is the second  largest state in terms of sending MPs to the Lower House of Parliament—48, after 80 from Uttar Pradesh. If Congress wins and retains Maharashtra, it gets power or share of power at centre. If Maharashtra is not with Congress, power is far away. Yet for the past 25 years, the party has not paid much political attention to Maharashtra. Rahul must connect with this state and its large middle class. He has to do it personally and politically. There is time to recover, but not the luxury of a long period.

Adversity is a grand opportunity and recognition of the problem is the beginning of the solution—to re-paraphrase Mao while explaining Fredrick Engels to his cadre.

The author is a senior journalist and Congress Member of the Rajya Sabha

*This article was updated at 5.44 pm on June 19, 2018 to correct the photo caption