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* VivekaJyoti *: Why does the Congress party remain constantly under the wings of the Nehru dynasty?
- Maulana Abul Kalam Azad said, “Now a situation had arisen where we were becoming greater supporters of partition than Jinnah. I warned Jawaharlal that history would never forgive us if we agreed to partition. The verdict would be that India was divided not by the Muslim League but by Congress” (ibid p 202).
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- In the absence of Jinnah, opportunism gained momentum in the Congress. In the 1935 Provincial Assembly elections, the INC under the leadership of Nariman got a thumbing majority in the Bombay Presidency. Nariman’s candidature as CM was genuine. Sardar Patel and his equals could not stomach a Parsee as CM of Bombay. Patel and his colleagues “could not reconcile themselves to such a position and felt that it would be unfair to the Hindu supporters of the Congress to deprive them of this honour” (Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India Wins Freedom, p 16).
Thus B.G. Kher was made CM. Nariman was heart-broken and his public life came to an end. Nehru was then the president of INC. But to Nehru, for the realization of his goal, Patel’s friendship was essential.
A like situation developed in Bihar also. Here Dr. Rajendra Prasad played the game. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad evaluates that, “the Congress did not live up to its professed ideals” (ibid p18). No doubt, inside the Congress certain venomous developments evolved. The first victim may have been Jinnah; others were subsequent additions. But behind the charisma of Gandhi, all these stains were not noticed by the rest of the world. One cannot acquit the conclave evolved under Nehru behind the magnetism of Gandhian era. Really the rudiments of communalism were inherent in the propositions of the INC. -
The author is a retired Professor of History, and lives in Trivandrum
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Thursday, October 15, 2009
* VivekaJyoti *: Why does the Congress party remain constantly under the wings of the Nehru dynasty?
