NEW DELHI: The Congress(I) has split, Despite hesitancy from the leaders as well as strong disclaimers to the contrary, party workers al the rebel convention here virtually forced the end of the dissident leadership to announce the formation of a parallel party organization with N.D. Tiwari as its president.
This expected climax to the five month old dissident challenge did not come before the enactment of a high: voltage drama, While the leaders appeared (o teeter on the brink, apparently undecided whether they should take the plunge, a restive crowd of workers threatened to take matters into their own hands, shouting slogans and surging towards the dias.
They demanded that their sentiments be honored.
Eventually, a visibly harassed Arjun Singh read out the resolution “I purpose the following in the presence of workers, The Congress(I) leadership has failed to carry out its responsibilities, We do not want to split the party. ‘Therefore, we take up the responsibility to fulfill the task which the leader ship has failed to carry out. Without splitting the party and, while accepting the Indian National Congress (I) as our party, we elect Shri Narain Dutt Tiwani as the party president.”
In effect, this means that there will be two Congress(I)s. The dissidents will now claim that they are the real Congress (I) while the one led by Narasimha Rao is a fake and viceyersa. The development is reminiscent of the 1969 split when Indira Gandhi broke away from the party and claimed that her outfit was the real Congress, But whether the dissidents will succeed in replicating history or whether they will end up as a rump, remains to be seen,
The launch of the new outfit virtually got aborted when Arjun Singh Left the venue in the afternoon, in the ‘company of M.L, Fotedar, for consultations with Ms. Sonia Gandhi which is said to have lasted for 90 minutes. ‘While what exactly transpired at this meeting is not known, the very fact that Arjun Singh appeared to be dithering lends credence to the opinion that Mrs, Gandhi advised them not to do anything precipitate.
Asked about the hesitancy of the leaders in announcing a parallel organizational setup, the rebel leader from Tamil Nadu, V. Ramamurthy, said, “It was nothing. The workers were growing impatient, that’s all.” But another dissident _leader, P.R.Kumaramangalam, said that “there were pressures from to, Janpath.” He did not elaborate any further, but what he said only could mean that Ms, Gandhi was not in favor of a split. Well placed political sources said that Ms, Gandhi endeavored to narrow the differences between the two camps in order to prevent split. But it was difficult to bridge them in a day. ‘Apparently, the prime minister told her that he should not expect to do anything before the end of the Parliament session, as concessions given right away would be embarrassing. On their part, the dissidents were insistent that Rao should step down as party president, Even if the dissident leaders wanted to be accommodative they could not because of the pressure from below.
The mood of the workers was apparent right from the beginning. Each derogatory reference to Narasimha Rao and the demand for his ouster as party president was greeted with loud cheers. The crowd empathized most with the sentiment that the party did not have an electoral future under the leadership of Rao. The tussle now will be over the legacy of the 110yearold party. The new faction has drawn attention to the deviations from party policies and has claimed they will put the party back on the right rails. Whether the claim will have takers, the coming months will tell.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 26, 1995
