Commentary/T V R Shenoy

Crying for momma

"Listen carefully to the notes of Bismillah Khan's shehnai," Sitaram Kesri told the AICC, "for they mark the beginning of our baraat to Delhi!"

It was a remarkable metaphor. First, a general election -- the only proper route to power -- is scarcely a baraat, but a battle. And in Indian tradition, it is the war-drum and the conch that are the summons to war, not a shehnai.

Second, the milling Congressmen whom I saw in Calcutta didn't really resemble bridegrooms. With all due respect, I came back to Delhi with the impression that I had seen a bunch of scared, little boys crying out for their mother!

Or, to be precise, mothers. "Save us, Sonia!" was the general chorus, "You alone may steer us to victory!" But I also heard a significant section crying out, "Where are you, Rabri Devi? Give us your hand!"

After almost 75 hours in Calcutta, that is the only really clear political direction I made out from the jumble of conflicting statements. Sitaram Kesri is bent upon getting both Sonia Gandhi and Rabri Devi on the same platform. And to tell the truth, I don't blame him.

The sheer indifference of the AICC delegates had to be seen to be believed. On the first day of the meet, most seemed interested in nothing more than sampling Calcutta's famous rosgollas. (The shops ran out by the time they left!)

Nobody appeared impressed that Kesri had achieved something quite remarkable. For the first time since Independence, a Congress that is out of power succeeded in holding polls (however unfair the procedure) and arranging an AICC meet. But the bulk of the Congressmen were sunk in a sullen torpor.

It took the entry of Sonia Gandhi for the conference to come alive. I have no idea who choreographed it all, but let me say that it was a beautifully rehearsed piece of stage-management.

Sonia Gandhi entered to wild cheers just as Kesri was about to speak. Oddly enough, she first took her seat in the section for foreign delegates. (Perhaps it was a genuine mistake; after all, she forgot to renounce her Italian citizenship for over 15 years after marrying Rajiv Gandhi.)

But the delegates were having none of this false modesty. They refused to allow their president to speak until she was on the dais. As she did so, the closed-circuit cameras left poor Kesri to focus on her. And the Congress president took care to request a speech.

This really gave the game away. The bulk of Sonia Gandhi's address was a repetition of her husband in 1985. Please don't tell me that she has such an excellent memory that she could repeat it verbatim, down to the last comma.

Once Sonia Gandhi returned to Delhi, the electricity was gone. Nobody seemed particularly interested in their president. So much so that Sharad Pawar, a well-known Kesri-baiter, found it possible to be elected to the Congress Working Committee. The message went out loud and clear: Kesri doesn't have the charisma to lead the party back to power.

This, of course, is why I insist that the Congress president has no choice but to manoeuvre for Sonia Gandhi and Rabri Devi to openly back his bid for the top job. The Gandhi element is understandable. But some may wonder where Rabri Devi enters the equation.

The answer is that the Gandhi name counts for nothing in Bihar, the state from which Kesri needs to win an election. Here, the only forces that count are the Bharatiya Janata Party-Samata Party on the one hand, and Laloo Prasad Yadav on the other. And the Rashtriya Janata Dal boss is willing to take his support where he finds it.

Sitaram Kesri is gambling that a combination of Sonia Gandhi and Rabri Devi (standing in for her husband) will do the trick. The Gandhi name will pull in votes in south India, while the Yadav family whips up support in the Gangetic plain.

But all these are projections for the future. What did the AICC meet actually achieve? Nothing much, really.

It elected a Working Committee that doesn't include a single dalit or woman, and just one South Indian. It alienated Mamata Bannerjee, thereby delighting the Left Front who had already noted that A K Antony was conspicuously absent.

The Congress went to Calcutta to challenge the Communists on home turf. It succeeded in exposing only its own weaknesses in Kerala and West Bengal, and in showing the rest of India that they are like small children clinging to their mothers' pallu.

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