Congress resurrected

I salute outgoing Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for tendering his resignation to the President. It shows that the democratic system in India is functioning perfectly.

It is remarkable that Vajpayee, who advanced the date of election by a few months, because of the overall apparent favourable climate, and he personally had an envious position in the hearts and minds of people, should face such a debacle. Indeed elections in India is a complex affair, where states compared to the Centre play such an important role.

What great contrast are elections in India compared to those in Bangladesh! Whereas India was organising her 14th general elections, in Bangladesh with its 33 years of independent existence, we are still grappling with finding a suitable system. We have lived long under military rule. And our exercise at election has been regularly marred by accusations of cheating by the losing side. The great difference with India is that institutions like the Election Commission, the Judiciary, enjoy such trust and confidence there as not found in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh device of caretaker government, led by the freshly retired Chief Justice may not survive long. The truth is that institutions in Bangladesh are far too weak and have failed to inspire confidence.

For long much has been made of the 'foreign' origin of Sonia Gandhi. There is genuine uneasiness amongst mostly middle class of Indians about Sonia's 'foreign origin'. Indeed when Sonia was catapulted as the head of the Indian National Congress, the power brokers in Delhi wanted the name of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and nothing more. They were sure that Sonia would be unable to lift Congress from the long torpor that awaited her. In other words Sonia was placed at the head of the Congress party because there were no serious contenders for the job. Their calculations were vindicated as the Congress under Sonia fared very poorly in the elections of 1999, when Vajpayee triumphed.

Now the voters of India have handed down a lesson to all and sundry that they could not care less about the 'foreign' factor of Sonia Gandhi. This widow of 58 launched into a fiercely energetic campaign along with her attractive son Rahul and daughter Priyanka and Rahul has achieved a landslide victory in the traditional family seat of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. So has Sonia won in Rae Barely.. Those who raised a shrill voice against Sonia Gandhi for her legitimate post of Prime Minister because of her 'foreign origin' conveniently forgot that when India became independent on 15 August 1947, the Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten, became the first Governor General of free India.

However, Sonia has renounced her claim to the job of Prime Minister although relentless pressure was exerted upon her by the entire Congress leadership and thousands of supporters entreating her to change her decision of not accepting the Prime Minister's job. She stood firm without giving an inkling into her thoughts except the surprising declaration that she had received a message from within herself. This is pure Gandhian. She has nominated the veteran Congressman Dr. Manmohan Singh credited with instituting 13 years ago liberal economic reforms when the Indian market heaved a sigh of relief. The election results are such that the Congress, which will lead the coalition must lean heavily on the left, who have won more than 60 seats. When Sonia was about to be named Prime Minister, the share market went on a tail spin and it was the worst in its history. Is it possible that Sonia prefers Dr. Manmohan Singh to weather the storm that is brewing. Fortunately there is unanimity of view that the voters have given a mandate in favour of secularism. On the economic front the coalition ride may be full of pitfalls. As for Sonia, it is she who has won the victory and is calling all the shots. It is her nominee, who becomes the next Prime Minister and she remains the leader of the all powerful party. I salute Sonia for her selfless decision.

Resurrection of the Indian National Congress creates an interesting situation for Bangladesh. During the greatest event of Bangalee history, the War of Liberation of 1971, India under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, mother-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, played a pioneering role in the birth of Bangladesh. She campaigned energetically throughout the world castigating Pakistan for atrocities in Bangladesh and holding the undisputed leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Pakistani jail. The government in exile of Bangladesh was virtually in Kolkata while 10 million refugees from Bangladesh trekked into West Bengal, where they received shelter and succour. In a sense the Bangalees of West Bengal contributed mightily to our Liberation effort.

With the resurrection of the Congress party secularism in India has come on center stage. The BJP led government has been often accused of communal violence against Muslims and tragic events have taken place in Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Prime Minister Vajpayee managed to tread a delicate line and was never accused of communal bias. Yet he was unable to restrain some of his colleagues in the states. Thus an ambience of mistrust amongst the Muslim minorities was discernible. Thus since the Babri mosque episode, when Muslim voters deserted their traditional Congress fold, seem to have returned to the Congress.

Secularism in Bangladesh has an interesting history quite separate from India .The Bangalees in the then East Pakistan carried on a relentless campaign for joint electorate, that is voters were not to be separated on the basis of religion. This stems from the fact that there is perfect tolerance and harmony among people of different faiths. Thus the first Constitution of Bangladesh adopted unanimously by the nation in 1972, had secularism as one of its four pillars. Gen. Ziaur Rahman, who later succeeded in power changed the Constitution and removed secularism from its text But the rise of fundamentalism, which is causing periodic disturbance in Bangladesh society can be traced to the removal of secularism.

The victory of Congress in India is being seen as victory of secularism against fundamentalism represented by the BJP. There is no doubt truth in this. The Communists, who have ruled the important state of West Bengal for over two decades, are to provide powerful support to the new Indian Prime Minister.

The largest democracy of the world has voted in perfect peace. The result is a stunning reversal of fortune of 79-year old Atal Behari Vajpayee. The stand taken by his party and coalition partners regarding 'foreigner' Sonia Gandhi has left a bad taste in the mouth and taken the shine away from a remarkable election, where nearly 400 million voters exercised their franchise. But after the drama of the last three days in front of her residence we can see the emergence of a new star -- Sonia Gandhi.

Arshad-uz-Zaman is a former Ambassador.