From the India Today archives (1991) | Sonia Gandhi and the Congress vortex

Delegations of Congress(I) MPs and politicians who now regularly visit Sonia Gandhi at 10, Janpath every evening are warned by her secretary Vincent George or the party bosses who arrange the meetings that they should strictly avoid talking politics. But what is now being played out at Number 10 is politics all the way. And Sonia is caught in its vortex. Whether Rajiv's widow likes it or not she has become the focal point in a power struggle within the ruling party in which party bosses through a series of interlocking alliances and rival groupings are jockeying for influence and control.

The organised visits are not innocuous condolence meetings but rather part of a well-orchestrated strategy that includes: keeping Sonia in the public limelight while at the same time enhancing her mystique; claiming importance according to the number of partymen that a boss or faction succeeds in getting appointments with her; using emotional blackmail on partymen to fall in line behind a particular faction or leader; keeping the prime minister off-balance by signalling that Sonia is an alternative if not higher point of loyalty; and keeping the pressure on her to join active politics.

The common political logic undergirding the playing of the Sonia card is that with the leadership issue within Congress(I) still unsettled, only she - as an inheritor of the Nehru-Gandhi legacy - can be acceptable to all Congressmen and probably emerge as a national-level vote-catcher on a continuing sympathy wave in a new general election.

The key groups in this game consist of the "coterie" of Health Minister M.L. Fotedar, party General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Treasurer Sitaram Kesari; the "orphans" - Rajiv loyalists like R.K. Dhawan and Satish Sharma who hold no party or government posts; the "chorus boys" of the Rajya Sabha led by S.S. Ahluwalia and Ratnakar Pandey who express vocal opposition to the prime minister.

In their common aim to bring Sonia into politics and latch on to her saree pallu for their own political survival or to use her name in order to achieve their own ambitions, they are seriously impeding the party's functioning as a cohesive unit.

The so-called "family loyalists" remain undeterred by Sonia's reluctance to enter politics. They are unhappy with P.V. Narasimha Rao for showing independence and try at every opportunity to wield their own influence for appointments to the PMO and other government posts. Junior ministers complain about phone calls from "an assistant in No. 10" even for the appointment of a typist; Rajya Sabha member Rudra Pratap Singh refuses to be sworn in as a minister for state insisting that Sonia should first agree to contest from Amethi; a meeting is arranged between Vayudoot officials and Sonia at which they seek her help in saving the losing airline from closing down.

In palace politics Sharma continues to play a low-key but dominant role. Even though he is without a power base of his own, he is a perfect example of the clout that even a lightweight politician can wield within the party as well as create management problems because of the Sonia factor. Consider, for example, his role in the controversial Rs 100 crore grant to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation that embarrassed the Government and even threatened to pull it down.

In mid-June close friends of the Gandhi family held several meetings with Sonia to discuss establishing a foundation in Rajiv's memory as well as its funding. In the final meeting held at Vice-President Shankar Dayal Sharma's house on June 21, it was decided that Sharma, a trustee, should issue a fund-raising appeal worded: "We appeal to all those who believe in Rajiv Gandhi and his vision of India to come forward and support this endeavour generously." A trustee explained: "Sonia never had any objections raising money through donations and appeals, and she would have liked to keep it that way." But others saw in the foundation a device not only for keeping Sonia - as chairman - in the limelight but also a powerful vehicle for patronage if the funding was right.

According to insiders, Sharma sent word to his old friend Rameshwar Thakur, minister of state for finance, that the Government was really doing nothing for the foundation, indicating unhappiness over this in the Gandhi household. That was enough for the Government to panic. Rao and Manmohan Singh, despite their own serious reservations, pushed the Rs 100-crore grant as a budget proposal.

When the Opposition created a stink in Parliament over giving a government grant to a private trust, Sharma and his allies in Parliament turned the issue around and used it as a stick with which to beat the Government. Some cabinet ministers blamed the Government for "mishandling" the issue. And Pandey and Ahluwalia, who take their cue from Sharma and Dhawan, openly criticised the Rao Government for "letting down Rajiv Gandhi's name".

Sonia is said to be sensitive about anything besmirching her husband's memory. And one of the tactics used by those pressurising her to join politics is to prey on this sentiment, the argument being: if Sonia does not enter politics there will be no one willing to protect Rajiv's name. In the wake of the foundation controversy, a whispering campaign was started by the inner circle at No. 10. George told several Congressmen that Rao was "ungrateful" to the Gandhi family.

But unlike this group of self-proclaimed Rajiv loyalists which has a vested interest in sowing disaffection against Rao in the name of Sonia, she has herself shown no inclination to embarrass the Government. In fact, she bailed it out of a major crisis in finally turning down the grant.

On the contrary, the various "pro-Sonia" lobbies including the voice brigade have no such compunctions. And even when their actions have caused injury to the party they have escaped party discipline because they are protected by the aura of being "Sonia loyalists" by articulately championing her entry into politics.

On August 4, for example, the Rao Government suffered one of its worst embarrassments when Ahluwalia's statutory resolution disapproving a bill passed by the previous government was defeated in the Upper House on a day when Opposition MPs were in a majority in the House. Ahluwalia's legislative tomfoolery includes proposing amendments to the Government's vote of thanks on the President's address, seeking Special Protection Group security for Sonia and her family, and attempting to broaden the scope of the J.S. Verma Commission of Inquiry. But nobody in the Congress(I) dared even to issue a show-cause notice to Ahluwalia who is considered to be close to Dhawan and is popularly known as the "Mr 10, Janpath Man of the Rajya Sabha".

In another embarrassment to Rao and the party on August 5, Congress(I) MPs started receiving telephone calls from the party parliamentary office. "Soniaji has agreed to meet MPs this evening. You please reach 10, Janpath before 6.30 p.m.," said the caller who claimed he was speaking from the office of Congress(I) Parliamentary Party Secretary T. Chandrashekhar Reddy. As MPs began to gather for the tryst, they were told that the appointment was cancelled.

The idea was to smear egg on Rao's face. As one angry minister explained: "It was to demonstrate that at a time when the controversial budget was under discussion even a phone call from 10, Janpath's puppets can make them run to see Sonia." Again, it was Sonia who helped retrieve the situation. When she was informed about the political machination behind this seemingly innocent meeting, she immediately cancelled the appointment to avoid embarrassment to the Rao Government. But Sonia's repeatedly "bailing out" the Government also sends convenient signals that Rao survives at her mercy.

The tactics pursued by those playing the Sonia card have common elements: first create problems for Rao, blame him for them and then rally disgruntled elements to their side. The ultimate purpose is to pressurise Rao to succumb to their demands or face Sonia as a rival power centre. In the Cauvery dispute, for example, Dhawan and Fotedar pushed the Centre to force Karnataka Chief Minister S. Bangarappa to issue the infamous ordinance. But when party MPs from Tamil Nadu revolted, the coterie immediately ganged up with them to criticise the Government.

It was significant, during this crisis, that when minister of state for labour V.K. Ramamurthy, who is also Tamil Nadu PCC(I) chief, resigned without informing Rao, his first statement called for Sonia's entry into politics. In the old days such conduct would have invited harsh disciplinary action. But as a senior minister explained: "Since Ramamurthy immediately branded himself a Sonia loyalist, disciplining him would be considered an insult to the Gandhi family. This puts Rao in a tight spot in terms of managing the party."

But people like Ahluwalia remain unrepentant about this kind of behaviour. "What will happen to the 80 crore people of this country if Soniaji does not lead us," wonders Ahluwalia. He perhaps is not as much concerned about 80 crore people as he is worried about his own political career. His Rajya Sabha term is coming to an end in March next year. He will have trouble getting renomination without the Gandhi backing in the party. Other Rajya Sabha members like Pandey, Vishwajeet Prithvijeet Singh and Jayanti Natarajan are in the same boat for the same reasons.

A fourth group of Congressmen - the "state rejects" - wanting to push Sonia into politics comes from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the two states where the Congress(I) was routed in the last elections. In Bihar the party has been virtually decimated. Now it is seeking to revive the Gandhi charisma to rescue it. The state party chief Jagannath Mishra recently led a delegation to meet Sonia. Says Uttar Pradesh PCC(I) chief Mahabir Prasad: "I will be meeting Soniaji to request her to contest the Amethi election and accept the Congress presidentship." Interestingly, Prasad is under pressure to step down following the party's debacle and, like the Orphans, he too sees Sonia as the last refuge.

All this has made Rao uncomfortable. But he has so far been unwilling to change his independent style of functioning or to make any large concessions such as giving ministerial or party posts to the various groups aligned against him. The more intransigent he remains the greater the pressure on Sonia from orphaned state and central politicians.

Sonia so far has resisted. She declined the CWC 'unanimously' nominating her as Congress(I) president. When her name was dragged into the CPP leadership tussle between Rao and Sharad Pawar, she set the record straight through a statement that she was not backing any one.

Inquiries from people close to Sonia confirm that she has still not changed her stance. "She seems determined not to enter politics,'' a foundation member said on condition of anonymity. Another added: "Do you think she is not aware of the tragedy that's befallen three members of her family?" Though her friends do not go on record on the subject, the impression is that Amitabh Bachchan, Suman Dubey, Mani Shankar Aiyar and M.J. Akbar would like to see Sonia continue with her private life rather than enter the cesspool of Indian politics.

Her weakness, however, is Amethi. In her years of working in her husband's constituency, she has developed a genuine love for its people for many of whom she and her daughter Priyanka have a warm attachment. And it is this Achilles' heel that the Rajiv loyalists are trying to exploit. According to one of her friends, the only reason she has not yet issued a public denial about abjuring all politics is "because she is uncertain about whether or not to stand as an MP from Amethi. It is something too personal with her."

But the "loyalists" are going ahead with plans as if Sonia is contesting. Even the Amethi-to-Sriperumbudur padayatra being organised by Sonia loyalists to mark Rajiv's 48th birth anniversary on August 20, has been given a Rao-versus-Sonia political twist by them. The organisers claim that even though the event has "Soniaji's blessings", senior AICC(I) members loyal to Rao have been trying to thwart it.

Her supporters say that even if Sonia fights elections from Amethi she will not take an active interest in the internal affairs of the party. But the reality is that once she takes the plunge she will become the focus of national attention and opposition leaders will take their gloves off. Jokes such as "Congress-I - I for Italian" and "Rome raj" will once again make the rounds. The Bofors connection, Snam Progetti, the Quattrocchi connection will be revived again. And the BJP will be at its xenophobic best in attracting anti-Congress(I) votes. Sonia's friends also fear that she and her children will face an even greater threat to their security.

And neither will things be rosy in her own party. A new power struggle within the party will be unleashed into which the Opposition could well be dragged. "If she now joins politics, she would be taken as a factional leader instead of an unquestioned leader like her late husband," a senior Congress(I) leader pointed out.

A large number of MPs now enjoying a newly-found freedom in the party will not welcome the return of the "coterie raj". And with her mystique waning, she will face open opposition even from within her own party. And the infighting could even result in a party split.

But there's an even larger issue at stake. Many independent observers believe that a party bringing in an unqualified person as a de facto leader purely because of dynastic compulsions or selfish reasons shows the disastrous bankruptcy of the political system. Says M. Farooqi, CPI national council member, throwing up his hands: "If they want to accept as the party leader someone who has had hardly anything to do with politics what can one do, who can prevent them?"

Congress-watchers predict that once Sonia takes the plunge, the behind-the-scene operatives will push her to become party president, perhaps even to go for the top job. Says BJP leader K.R. Malkani: "If they try to make Sonia Congress(I) president the party will split. The country too won't accept her as the prime minister since she is seen as a foreigner."

Senior Janata Dal leader Madhu Dandavate laments: "In the post-Independence era there seems to be a premium on inexperience. It began with Rajiv, he came into politics straight from the airport. With Sonia it is worse." But these arguments mean nothing to power-brokers and influence-peddlers who have known nothing in their lives but intrigue, manipulation, machinations and the lust for office. For them, short-term gain, even at the expense of long-term disaster, is like a narcotic compulsion.

But for Sonia it must be a painful dilemma: even though she is out of politics she is very much in it and hurtling along a path that she always loathed and unsuccessfully tried to prevent her husband from taking.

(The article was published in the INDIA TODAY edition dated August 31, 1991)

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