Rich tributes paid by multiple Congress leaders to the late Sanjay Gandhi on his 76th birth anniversary on Wednesday is a clear indication Indira Gandhi’s younger son’s legacy lives on in the grand old party. Sanjay died more than 42 years ago and during the short span was at one stage held responsible for the Congress debacle in the 1977 Parliamentary polls but was subsequently credited with the party’s victory in 1980. The supreme irony is that the Congress that has faced many ups and downs since his death, has survived largely because leaders chosen by him helped the party at its most critical periods. Although it is difficult for a mother to choose between her children, Indira Gandhi had always demonstrated a soft corner for Sanjay and allowed him to do many things even if they sometimes bordered on transgressions. Rajiv Gandhi joined politics following his brother’s tragic death in a plane crash. He was a thorough gentleman and was regarded very highly by his colleagues. However, he brought in many of his close friends into politics and one by one they deserted him by pursuing their own ambitions instead of the objectives set by the party. By the time, Rajiv Gandhi started getting a good grasp over politics, he too was brutally assassinated by a human bomb in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. But Sanjay’s trusted lieutenants stood by the party. The list is long and it includes the late Pranab Mukherjee, who owed his political career to him to a large extent, Kamal Nath, his man Friday during the struggle days, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, and a host of others. However, the contribution of this youth icon was never publicly acknowledged by the Gandhis who control the organization and they have chosen to only follow their own agenda. Consequently, no attempt has been made to bring back to the party Sanjay’s widow, Maneka Gandhi and son, Feroze Varun, who are both BJP’s Members of Parliament. There have been occasional demands in muted voices to at least bring back Varun, but no initiative in this direction seems to have been taken and the Gandhi family remains divided, politically as well as emotionally. Sanjay Gandhi was a leader who was far ahead of his times. He spoke about ecology when no one else did, he supported the small family norm and favoured people who were educated to help teach those who were uneducated. He was targeted when the Janata Party came to power but had the tenacity and determination to fight back. His two school time buddies, Kamal Nath and Akbar Ahmed were always by his side.
The first signs of a Congress comeback were visible when Youth Congress workers led by late Lalit Maken and Prem Swarup Nayyar, whose contribution has never been recognized, staged a massive demonstration outside the All India Radio. Sanjay also plotted the fall of the Morarji Desai government with the help of Socialist icon, Raj Narain, the man who defeated his mother from Rae Bareilly in 1977. There is no leader whose political standing exceeds 42 years in the Congress who can admit that he was never helped by Sanjay Gandhi or his policies at some stage or the other. Like always, there was a prayer meeting to offer tributes to the late leader but none of the Congress Gandhis attended.
