The grand old party of India has come a long way, riding along the waves of splits, mergers, elections, riots, and everything that India witnessed post-INC’s inception in 1885. The party had a great contribution to the freedom struggle of India and hence achieved a majority once India became a sovereign nation. India after independence has been an interesting tale with several politicians as characters. The Prime Minister, though the lead character in history, often has someone who pushed them to the position.
India’s tale after Independence can be best told through the saga of Prime Ministers. The first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru was selected, as the father of the nation supported him. 12 out of 15 Provincial Congress Committees had supported the future deputy Prime Minister for the post of the Prime Minister and Gandhi intervened. He came to know that his choice for the PM would not accept the 2nd post, so he asked Patel to withdraw. Maulana Azad, in his autobiography, states that Patel would have been the first de facto Premier of India, had Gandhi not intervened. Nehru’s rule continued till 1964, however in 1963, a Chief Minister met him in Hyderabad and said he wanted to resign and become the party, President. Nehru found the offer unusual, however, he liked the plan once the Chief Minister said that he wanted to connect the party back to the roots. Nehru liked the plan and when implemented at a national level, it caused resignations of 6 Chief Ministers and 6 Cabinet Ministers. No one would have probably guessed that the man behind the plan would become the kingmaker of the Congress after Nehru’s death.
The Chief Minister was none other than K Kamaraj, who had led the Congress to three consecutive victories in Tamil Nadu. He is the one credited with starting mid-day meals during his stint as Chief Minister. After Nehru’s death, the question of the next Prime Minister remained. Although Kamaraj was the President of the Congress, he chose not to become PM and as per Nehru’s wishes, Indira was to become PM after some time. The tussle remained between two, Shashtri and Morarji Desai. Kamaraj and his group of leaders, referred to as the Syndicate, supported Shashtri, who led the country for the next two years. The next time though, Morarji was bent on a parliamentary board election to select the candidate between Indira and him. Voting was conducted and Indira won. Morarji was made Finance Minister to keep Indira in control. It is said that Kamaraj had put a slip of paper with a number written before the vote was conducted and when the results came out, the difference was just one vote.
However, Indira had her ways. With the appointment of P.N. Haksar, our next Kingmaker and one of India’s most famous bureaucrats, the influence of the syndicate went on a decline. Effectively, this strain between Indira and the Syndicate went to a climax with the Presidential elections of 1969 when V.V. Giri defeated Neelam Sanjiv Reddy. Later that year, Indira was removed from her party. The Kamaraj faction of the Congress performed poorly in the 1971 elections and the next year, Kamaraj breathed his last on 2nd October.
India saw Indira rule and the Emergency for the next few years. She has followed Morarji’s short-lived Janata party government. Indira came back to power in 1980, continued ruling till 1984 when she was assassinated. Then, elections were to come up next year and as Pranab Mukherjee stated in his book, everyone agreed on Rajiv. Indira’s death was announced after the swearing-in of Rajiv as Prime Minister. This was followed by Rajiv’s rule and short-lived governments led by V.P. Singh and Chandrashekhar. Rajiv called for elections after Chandrashekhar resigned and was assassinated while campaigning for the third phase of polls. Congress leaders urged Sonia Gandhi to take a decision, who consulted P.N. Haksar. The first offer was made to the then Vice-President Shankar Dayal Sharma, who declined and the party moved to Haksar’s 2nd choice of a senior leader, who had packed to move back to Hyderabad because of age, P.V. Narsimha Rao. Rao led the minority government for a complete term.
After the 1996 elections, three short-lived governments led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, HD Dewe Gowda, and I.K. Gujral came to power and subsequently lost the majority. The BJP came to power after the 1998 elections with the help of its coalition partners. The government completed its term but lost the next elections.
The Congress with the UPA secured a majority, however, Sonia chose not to be the Prime Minister. A mutual consensus on the name of Dr. Manmohan Singh was reached, however, there was a man behind the coalition who kept it working all through UPA I and UPA II. The man was none other than one of Rajiv’s parliamentary secretaries and Sonia’s second political secretary, Ahmed Patel. He not only designed Manmohan’s cabinet but also yielded power in both terms. The events range from making Shibu Soren resign to getting the Mulayam Singh led Samajwadi party to support the nuclear deal and from striking coalitions in Maharashtra to persuading Karunanidhi for portfolios. Even though he wasn’t a minister, he met politicians, who may have been rivals, at the same time. Working till the wee hours of the morning, Patel also had good relations with the media. An-eight time Member of Parliament, Patel succumbed to Covid-19 in 2020.
Currently, left behind by all these is a void, probably to be filled by someone by 2024. Who would it be is the question, someone from the CWC or maybe one of those who talked about democratic elections for the party President? One name, which pops up as the future President is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the daughter of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. Priyanka formally entered politics in 2019 when she was appointed as General Secretary. She hasn’t contested an election, however, has managed campaigns for her mother and brother. The faction that proposes a democratic election for President, often referred to as the G23, has faces both new and old who could move in as kingmakers if not President. The dissent between certain leaders reminds us of Kamaraj and Indira, while there is no Ahmed Patel to keep them together. Whatever the case may be, we’ll come to know when the party comes to power, all of which lies in the hands of the people of India.