Ignorance,” Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in the 1930s, “is always afraid of change”. The truth of that observation was on depressingly vivid display nearly a century later at Mallikarjun Kharge’s inauguration as the Congress Party’s 98th president. The purpose of the investiture ceremony was not to consecrate a democratic change of guard: it was to canonise the extra-constitutional reign of the Gandhis. Kharge was handed the title of “president” and the duties of a town crier. His message was pithy—long live the queen, the prince, the princess—and his performance impeccable.
Kharge and his co-worshippers were, on one level, sad to behold. Their obeisances and encomiums hinted at the tolls of long decades of self-degrading servitude. Ajay Maken, the party’s General Secretary, instructed his fellow sycophants to stand up and endorse a proposal effectively anointing Sonia Gandhi—“the personification of sacrifice”—as the party’s deity. Kharge was one of the first to come to his feet, raise his arms in the air, and recite “long live Sonia Gandhi” three times at the top of his lungs. Congress may no longer be able to win elections against Narendra Modi, but it delivered a devastating message to the Prime Minister: when it comes to personality cults, he is a mere mimic.
Devoted to the Gandhis
In his own speech, Kharge, rather than set out a distinct vision to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party, pledged to serve as a devoted evangelist for Rahul Gandhi’s transformative revelation: “do not fear.” Since it is the fate of prophets to be spurned before their message is accepted, all those who quibble that the voters twice rejected Rahul Gandhi must be denounced as heretics—or fascists in the pay of the Modi government. Only Kharge and a small band of unelected clergy in Congress are sufficiently exalted to appreciate that Rahul Gandhi was sent as the saviour of India. And knowing this, they cannot afford to indulge the infidels preoccupied with such mundane trivialities as the upcoming general election and the immediate future of India to notice the messiah who walks in their midst.
This is one reason why the name of Shashi Tharoor, the supreme kāfir, did not find a single mention in any of the sermons at Akbar Road. Speaker after speaker acclaimed the Congress Party for its “internal democracy” without once naming the figure who ensured a contest by standing in the election. Kharge, lest we forget, did not want a contest. He craved a coronation in the Congress tradition. And that is what he would have got had Tharoor not resisted the intense pressure brought to bear upon him to make himself scarce. The cardinals of the Congress Party in the end lavished praise on themselves for participating in an election for which Tharoor was responsible—then stigmatised and ostracised Tharoor for subjecting them to the election. Nothing about their conduct suggested that the irony had even occurred to them. The ceremony was as graceless as it was farcical.
By approaching the process with seriousness, by managing his campaign in accordance with Mahatma Gandhi’s precept (“It’s the action, not the fruit of action, that is important”), by loudly reiterating his respect for a rival whose contemptible conduct did not deserve any, by conceding defeat and offering congratulations to the “winner”, Tharoor had sought to endow the spurious exercise with a grown-up democratic standard and spirit it never possessed and to which it was hostile. His reward for all this was to be treated, first, as Typhoid Mary at Kharge’s inauguration—and then to be excluded from the incoming president’s 47-member cabinet.
There must be skeletons in the Scottish graveyards of Kolkata that are fresher, livelier, and abler than the cadavers convened by Kharge to serve on his so-called steering committee. Of course, the committee features self-made individuals of merit and excellence, such as the grassroots worker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Kharge can no doubt cite the exclusion of Priyanka’s equally outstanding spouse, the anti-corruption activist Robert Vadra, as proof of his determination not to allow families to crowd out new talent. Still, I’m willing to wager that Modi is not quaking in his boots at what has happened in Congress.
Also read: India is an election away from becoming Hindu Pakistan. But Kharge wants Congress status quo
The consequences of blind commitment
Kharge is delivering exactly what was expected of him. And so complete is his commitment to his task that he is not even conscious of the conspicuous contradictions in his speech and conduct. “A leader should have the trait of listening to people. Listening is a sign of willingness to learn and adapt which @RahulGandhi ji is doing with great aplomb,” Kharge tweeted on the morning of 28 October. Two hours after that worshipful post about Rahul Gandhi, Kharge published another tweet, this time quoting BR Ambedkar without a hint of self-awareness: “‘Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.’ Visited Dr B. R. Ambedkar Memorial in Delhi today and paid floral tributes to Babasaheb.”
What awaits our country in the years ahead—particularly if Modi should secure a third term in office—should induce terror in the hearts of all Indians who haven’t lost their minds. Consider only the 84th amendment to the Constitution, made by another BJP-led government in 2002, which effectively froze the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies until 2026. Modi, bereft of wisdom and animated by a baser lust for power, is unlikely to extend this delicate arrangement if he wins a third election. Picture the consequences for our national unity if and when the North is gifted disproportionate political power over the rest of India. It is chilling evento contemplate.
It is scarcely an exaggeration to state that defeating Modi in 2024 may be imperative to the survival of the Indian Union. If Kharge and colleagues are to be measured by their actions since the results of the election to Congress’s presidency were unsealed, it is abundantly clear that what matters most to them is not the future of India—it is the fate of the Gandhis. Steeped in an admixture of ignorance and venality, they will smilingly facilitate the destruction of India to propitiate their gods.
Kapil Komireddi is the author of Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India. He tweets @kapskom. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)