The loyal dog and the cruel master

S.Gurumurthy

In one cartoon, a dog, described as Congress, is whining around Sonia Gandhi and licking her shoes; Sitaram Kesri tucks himself under the pallu of Sonia's sari, in another.

This is how the once great Congress Party of Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhais, Nehrus and Rajajis is being portrayed today.

Its condition is so pathetic that even its nominal owner and `maimsahib', Sonia Gandhi does not know what to do with it. The immediate link in the long sequence that led to this condition of the party, is the Jain Probe Report.

Justice Milap Chand Jain whose capacity to doubt seems to be far superior to the Thakkar Commission-fame Justice Thakkar's, produced a 5000 page literature, full of doubts and suspicion about everyone - from Chandrasekhar, to V.P.Singh, to Chidambaram to Karunanidhi. Karunanidhi who really allowed the LTTE gunmen to go around with impunity in Tamil Nadu during his previous reign, became the obvious target of Jain. This is notwithstanding that, in the year 1994, LTTE, which specialises in treachery, betrayed its benefactor Karunanidhi who himself became the target of its guns. The disclosure that the LTTE wanted to finish off Karunanidhi led to a split in the DMK with V.Gopalaswamy, who was obsessed with LTTE then, being expelled from the party.

If Milap Chand Jain had given his 5000 page volumes to the Government and the Government had placed it before Parliament nothing as untoward might have happened. But, for the first time in Indian history, a Commission presented its report directly to a Journalist and Justice Jain even posed for a photo session with the Journalist ! It is the pointed publication of the explosive suspicions of Jain, two weeks ahead of the winter session of Parliament, that lighted the match to gun powder.Why did it explode like it did ? Is it because that it brought any startling truth out ? No. That the DMK encouraged the LTTE and whinked at the brutal murder of the EPRLF leader Padmanabha by the LTTE, was all well-known. The real and the only reason why it exploded was Sonia Gandhi. Imagine, after Rajiv Gandhi's death, she had left India for good, finding this country unsafe to reside. Would anyone, Arjun Singhs or Kesris, have cared to know what did the 5000 page Jain literature contain ? Obviously not; for, by resurrecting Rajiv Gandhi, Kesris cannot benefit; only Sonia can. In fact only she can resurrect Rajiv Gandhi. Again by no other method she can remain in the reckoning. She has to resurrect Rajiv's memory. Here came Milap Chand Jain's voluminous literature, as godsend for Sonia.

If the Jain report on Rajiv's assassination does not produce thunder and fury, and were allowed to be quietly dealt with, that would be the end of the dynasty. Sonia cannot afford to do that. If she, a `foreigner' in the mind of the average Indian, is not acceptable outside her party, atleast a Priyanka Wadhera or a Rahul Gandhi may be acceptable in future. So she had to generate heat and sound. So the Sonia loyalists understandably go for DMK's jugular.

But it is not as if the Congressmen are merely serving Sonia; they are as much serving themselves. If Sonia needs the Jain literature, the shameless Congress needs Sonia. In its search for relevance in national life, the Congress sees Sonia as its saviour. So Kesri begs her to stop her "tapas" and come and lead the Congress. Rightly the newspapers including the "secular" ones describe the Congress in unflattering terms even as it looks to Sonia Gandhi for survival.

But in this dog and master politics, the Congress Party, Kesris, Arjunsinghs, Jitendra Prasads are all, but, naked. First, these gentlemen thought that Sonia would campaign for the party if Rajiv assassination became a poll issue. So they raised a war cry, `Sack the DMK Ministers, dismiss Karunanidhi, act against V.P.Singh, punish Chidambaram'.

These were not the slogans raised in any Congress members procession in streets, but, demands contained in the draft resolution for the CWC authored by Pranab Mukherjee.

Everyone of these paper leaders, none of whom can get even sufficient votes, on their own, even to save deposits in an election, were in competition with one another to please Sonia. They all began dreaming of power under her grace, if elections were held. So the Congressmen began to press for elections.

But, Sonia seems to be as inscrutable as ever. When everyone thought that, after the Jain revelations, her active participation in the Congress was a foregone conclusion, the Italian-born lady remains as elusive as she always was. She has not uttered a single word on the Jain report; or on what the UF government should do - sack or not sack the DMK. The question again is not why she has not, but, why she has to. When you hold a dog in your hands, you don't bark - it is the dog which does. Its throat parched by barking, the Congress expected its master to respond, atleast pat the pet for the loyal work. But the `maimsahib' is as stony as ever. She does not even show up at the Party office. The `leaders' panic and send the UPCC President Narayan Dutt Tiwari to her; she keeps him waiting at her door for over half-an-hour for no reason and then sees him and sends him back without speaking much. Everyone is guessing as to what she will do or will not.

Result, Jitendra Prasada's statement yesterday virtually pleading that `the country should not be plunged into another election'.

However faithful and loyal like a dog the Congress is, Sonia remains what she is. Her theme is clear: "the Congress for her and she for herself". The poor dog is silently suffering a heartless, cruel master. Is there no Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to help the Congress ?