A panel of eminent scholars and senior journalists on Tuesday observed that there has not been much studies on India’s largest political party, the Indian National Congress, which has served the longest time in the Indian government since Independence. Releasing the book, Congress After Indira, authored by scholar Zoya Hasan, the experts said that the political and organisational transition of the Congress party has a great bearing on our country as well as its people.
“There are not many books on political parties (in India) and not any book on Congress recently with scholarly depth,” said political theorist Rajeev Bhargava. The other speakers in the panel — senior journalist and former media advisor to the Prime Minister Harish Khare and well-known political commentator Paranjoy Guha Thakurta — agreed to it.
While Mr Khare described the Congress as a “difficult subject for any scholar”, Mr Thakurta compared the party with the “elephant in the dark room” which was understood in different ways by different people. Mr Khare said that the archives of the Congress have been long neglected ever since its headquarters shifted from Jantar Mantar to the new building at Ashoka Road.
Dr Bahrgava classified the history of Congress in five phases while asserting that the party had many incarnations in the past. He explained that the Congress party in the first phase underwent a transition from a party that was single mindedly focused on social transformation to achieving the status of one-party dominance. Later it faced a kind of collapse where the other parties shattered its dominance. Though the party then proved a kind of revival mainly due to the efforts by Sonia Gandhi, it has recently lost its moral vision and became directionless, he noted.
Dr Hasan on her part commented that her book, which deals with the history of Congress from 1984 to 2009, was meant to help for better understanding and perceptions of Indian politics.