What dynasty rules the Congress party?

There is a narrative that Indira Gandhi created the dynastic rule in congress but in reality Nehru created this dynastic rule. Nehru in a famous BBC interview claimed that he cannot create a dynastic rule because he cannot rule from his graves. But the reality is different as many politicians say good things for public but do the opposite.

In 1937 K Kamaraj was elected to the provincial assembly. After independence, he became a member of the Constituent Assembly. He also served as President of the Madras Pradesh Congress Committee from 1946 to 1952. In 1952, he was elected to the Lok Sabha. Just two years later, in 1954, he was appointed CM of the then Madras State (now Tamil Nadu). He held this position until 1963. His long tenure as CM will always be remembered as good growth in education, social sector improvement and industrial development where Tamil Nadu is even today a leading state. Free mid-day govt school means, large technical higher education colleges foundation was laid by him. Due to his efforts, the literacy rate in the state increased from 7% to 37% during Kamaraj's tenure.

On 2nd October 1963, he suddenly resigned from the post of CM. Along with him, six other central ministers (Morarji Desai, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram, SK Patil, Gopala Reddi, KL Shrimali) and the CMs of six states (K Kamraj, Biju Patnaik, CB Gupta, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, Binodanand Jha, BA Mandloi) were also forced to resign. But who forced them to resign? And why did K Kamaraj suddenly do this? Let's go back a bit to understand this.

In 1946, an interim government was formed in India to transfer power from the British, and Nehru was selected (by Gandhi ji and not elected) congress leader and future PM. At the time of India's independence, Nehru's popularity was unmatched and also there was no opposition leaders. Nehru as PM made many political mistakes, the cost of which the country continues to pay to this day. 1948 Jeep scam by VK Krishna Menon who was later rewarded as defence minister, 1959 LIC scam and finaly 1962 China border war tarnished Nehru's government. The Finance Minister and Finance Secretary also had to resign following LIC scam and defence minister after 1962 war.

While Nehru had escaped all previous criticisms including Pakistan capturing a big chunk of area now called PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir), such a humiliating 1962 defeat difficult for him to regain popularity. Congress also lost three by-elections that same year. Nehru was now very old, and his health was deteriorating. The question of who would succeed Nehru as Prime Minister also began to arise. Many senior congress leaders also harboured ambitions for the PM, leading to infighting among them. Nehru knew that his popularity was steadily declining and that he would no longer be able to remain active. He desired that his daughter Indira inherit the throne and succeed him as PM. But with so many senior contenders within the party, how would this be possible?

To discuss this, Nehru called Kamaraj to meet him. He believed that only an experienced leader like Kamaraj could help find a way to achieve this. Upon learning of Nehru's desire to crown his daughter, Kamaraj explained that Indira was too young and lacked experience, so no one would agree to her becoming PM. However, Nehru insisted that he wanted to entrust India's future to someone he trusted, and that power ran in Indira's blood, and therefore she should be Prime Minister. Here it is clear that Nehru wanted a dynastic and not a democratic leader. Nehru wanted a trusted leader and not the leader whom the country trusts. Nehru already paid the price for putting a trusted Army chief and ‘yes men’ in the 1962 war but no lesson was learnt.

K Kamaraj faced the question of how to eliminate other senior contenders from the government. To this end, he formulated a plan known as the ‘Kamaraj Plan’. Accordingly, on October 2, 1963, Kamaraj suddenly announced his resignation as CM, stating that all senior party leaders should resign from the government and work to strengthen the party, thereby increasing youth participation in the government. Just a week later, on 9th October 1963, K Kamaraj was appointed the National President of the congress.

Kamaraj was a very honest politician. Despite being TN CM, he did not enjoy any special privileges. He never married, and when he died in 1975, he possessed only 130 rupees, two pairs of slippers, four pairs of clothes, and a few books. When such an honest and senior leader resigned in the name of serving the party, it put moral pressure on other leaders. Nehru and Kamaraj trapped other senior congress leaders into the plan, because if they don’t resigned, they would be considered power hungry and may be punished.

As a result, six senior Union Ministers and six Chief Ministers of states were forced to resign. Nehru died the following year, but Indira Gandhi could not become PM. Morarji Desai, due to his seniority, staked his claim to the post. Kamaraj also had ambitions, but he was a practical man. He knew that, due to his inability to speak either English or Hindi, he would never become PM. Suddenly side-lining a senior leader like Morarji Desai and making Indira PM was impossible for anyone. Many senior leaders were themselves in the running for the post, so they also opposed Morarji. Now, to resolve this dispute, everyone turned to Kamaraj. Kamaraj suddenly put forward the name of Lal Bahadur Shastri for the post. This shocked everyone, as Shastri was nowhere in the race. Indira Gandhi also disliked him at all. Senior journalist Kuldip Nayar, who was Shastri's assistant, provides numerous examples of this in his book. But why did Kamaraj do this? It is believed that Kamaraj probably chose Shastri, believing he would prove to be a weak and unsuccessful PM. His personality and popularity were nothing compared to Nehru's. He believed that proving him incompetent and bringing Indira Gandhi to the forefront would be easy.

But after becoming Prime Minister, Shastri proved his critics and opponents completely wrong. He was highly influential and worked swiftly to correct many of the Nehru government's flawed policies. Left-wing historian Ramachandra Guha has also written that Shastri was taking significant steps to increase competition in industry and improve India's economy. Had he remained PM for five or ten years, the course of the country's politics would have been completely changed. Perhaps no one from Indira Gandhi's generation after her would have ever become Prime Minister.

But unfortunately, Shastri only held the position for two years. In 1965, the Indo-Pak war broke out, and in 1966, he went to Tashkent to negotiate a truce. He died there suddenly under mysterious circumstances. Lot of conspiracy theories are going on since then about Shastri’s sudden death as post mortem was never done! Nehru family has good relation with USSR and KGB and one theory is future PM Indira Gandhi may be involved in this tragic event using KGB help. A Muslim cook who was present with Shastri during his Tashkent visit subsequently migrated to Pakistan and Indira Gandhi government paid him pension for life. If this Muslim cook story is true, the suspect of unnatural death increases as few people in New Delhi claimed that Shastri’s body was blue due to possible poisoning.

Indira Gandhi was made PM as per Nehru’s dynastic wish after death of Shastri. Meanwhile other senior congress leaders like Morarji Desai and Bijiu Patnaik left congress to form separate party. K Kamraj got taste of his own medicine when Indira Gandhi proclaimed emergency in 1975. K. Kamaraj strongly opposed the imposition of the Emergency in 1975 and criticized the mass arrest of opposition leaders. Kamaraj spoke at a public meeting in Sholingur and stated, ‘I was shocked to hear that leaders have been arrested throughout the country. This state of affairs is not good for the nation’. Within short period of time, Indira Gandhi transformed herself from ‘gungi gudiya’ (dumb lady) to lady dictator! At a later stage of his life, Kamraj tried to merge various congress factions.

Congress today is also a family run party where every members want to see a dynastic rule because only under a dynastic rule the useless deadwood sycophant (chamcha or slaves or yes men) congress leaders will get plum posts. On the other hand, capable, headstrong congress leaders keep leaving congress at regular intervals.