Hyderabad: Self-examination and some turmoil is to be expected in any party after a bitter electoral defeat. It may be recalled that the BJP had gone into a shell in the wake of its terrible rout in the 1984 Lok Sabha election, when the party could win only two seats. By that reckoning, the Congress has not withdrawn into a shell.
But it is plausible to argue that too little of real debate has taken place in the Congress after the big debacle in the elections for the 16th Lok Sabha. There has been sniping here and there over the leadership of the campaign, and the partly enunciated proposition of senior leader A.K. Antony in Kerala recently, that raises the issue of “secularism”, and makes one reasonably ask: Did the Congress suffer from a surfeit of it, or from a lack of understanding what it means?
A key reason why a proper debate has not ensued is that the leadership is yet to provide a forum for a structured discussion, such as a session of the AICC. If Mr Antony’s formulation has attracted attention, it is because he has been charged with preparing a report on what has led to the massive defeat, greater than the one suffered by the Congress in the wake of the Emergency. But a report by a senior leader cannot be deemed a substitute for a comprehensive inner-party debate, which must not be viewed as a means of self-demoralisation.
The way the matter is shaping up, there could be temptation on the part of some to blame “secularism” for the party’s poor showing . If the Congress cannot guard against this, it will be reneging on the rudiments of its core thinking. That’s all the more reason that a proper debate be held at a representative forum, where self-reflection may find full play, including a responsible and renewed exploration of the meaning and nuances of secularism.
Individual Congress leaders did, indeed, seek to give the impression that they were desperate to woo the vote of the minority communities. It may be recalled that one of them once even spoke of “Osamaji”. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggested that the first claim on the government’s resources was that of the minorities. But such articulations have nothing to do with “secularism”. In fact, those who believe in secularism were appalled at instances such as these.
The crushing Congress defeat can be attributed to a complex set of causes, one of them being an invisible shift in the public mood to the right following multiple failings of the Congress-led government and the party’s leadership. “Secularism” in India has just one basic meaning — to guard against majoritarian policy impulses.
