Forgetting the Stalwarts

The Congress seems to be afflicted with amnesia about some of its past stalwarts like GB Pant. Even Lal Bahadur Shastri, the simple and honest man who led the nation in war and died for it.

THE Congress party is extremely jealous about claiming the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, though the Father of the Nation belongs to the whole of India. In fact, the legacy of the apostle of peace, the wonder of the modern world, transcends national borders.

But for the Congress party, the Mahatma is its own icon. Under the modern day Gandhi’s, it is afflicted with an infantile mindset regarding its claim over its past leaders and heritage.

First it forgets and ignores its own stalwarts in the freedom movement, particularly those who are outside the so-called Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Its degree of amnesia is directly proportional to its obsession with the current leadership of Sonia Rahul-Priyanka and even extending to Robert Vadra at times. But when others, specially its political rivals, choose to celebrate forgotten heroes, the Congress cries foul – “Look, they are hijacking our leaders!”

This has happened in the case of Sardar Patel and then Dr B R Ambedkar. The party accuses BJP and BSP of ‘usurping’ Congress heritage for electoral gains. This is typical childish mentality.

The Congress suffers memory loss also regarding scores of others like Jaya Prakash Narayan, Jagjivan Ram and K Kamaraj. But you can trust the party to come running to claim ‘ownership’ over these leaders if it politically suits them anytime in the future.

The party’s latest instance of amnesia, surprisingly, was over Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant on his 128th birth anniversary that fell on September 10. It is surprising because, Pant was the strongman of undivided, now pollbound Uttar Pradesh and a close associate of Nehru. And to think Rahul Gandhi was in the state too in the thick of his campaign to shore up the sagging Congress prospects! Did the thought of Pant ever cross his mind?