THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS PARTY AFTER the DYNASTY by CSABA NIKOLENYI B.A., Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1993
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THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS PARTY AFTER THE DYNASTY by CSABA NIKOLENYI B.A., Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1993 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Political Science) We accept this thesis as conforming "to the requj,xg^ standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September 1994 (c) Csaba Nikolenyi, 1994 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. (Signature) Department of ?o(Vfl"c^l ^C.i<i-^C^ The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date S^^t^kf !^,l^^h 11 ABSTRACT Rajiv Gandhi's violent death in May 1991 signalled the end of an entire era for the Congress Party: the long-lasting rule of the dynasty was over. Subsequent developments in the party have raised the question of change versus continuity. Has the end of the dynasty led to the birth of a new Congress, or will the dynastic party structures and organizational features continue into the post-Gandhi period? The argument that I will be advancing throughout the thesis is that structural continuity has characterized the organizational order of the party in its post- dynastic period. The most obvious indicators of this continuity are that the party continues to be a deinstitutionalized, loosely structured coglomerate of political bosses with varying bases of support; the party remains paralyzed by factionalism at all levels, yet it escapes splits and schisms; and the Congress Prime Minister continues to be at the apex of the decision-making pyramid. The important question for political scientists to answer is why continuity has taken precedence over drastic change. I shall maintain that structural continuity in the party's organizational order has come about primarily as a result of environmental pressures exerted by the turbulence in the party system that was undergoing a fundamental transformation. The Indian party system changed from a predominant into a more competitive one in the late Ill 1980s and early 1990s as the election results for 1989-91 period suggest. Under this environmental condition, it has been the requirement of organizational survival amidst external change that both necessitated and facilitated the continuation of the old order in the party. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 11 Table of Contents iv Acknowledgement V INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter One A Theoretical-Conceptual Framework 7 The Party And Its Environment 7 The Internal Dynamics Of The Party Organization 15 "The Party From Within" 21 Synthesis: An Explanatory Model of Structural Continuity In The Post-Dynastic Indian National Congress 27 Chapter Two Succession 1991 29 Lok Sabha Elections 1991 39 The Power Struggle In The Party After The Elections 44 Chapter Three Narasimha Rao's Congress 49 Establishing Control In The Legislative Arena 53 Establishing Control Over The Party 62 1992-1993: Challenges To Rao's Rule 69 Chapter Four Structural Continuity And The Indian National Congress Party 78 The Organization And Its Environment 78 Organizational Dynamics 88 Sub-Party Dynamics 97 Conclusion 100 Bibliography 103 Tables 107 V ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work is dedicated to my dear wife, Andrea, without whose support, encouragement and sacrifice I would not have achieved even the little that I have in my life so far. I also want to extend my gratitude for my mentors in the field of Political Science who have all taught me a lot. I want to thank especially John Wood and Alan Siaroff at the University of British Columbia, who never failed to make suggestions and help me in the timely completion of this piece. Intellectually I owe a lot to Steven Wolinetz, my former instructor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, who introduced me to the fascinating world of studying politics. INTRODUCTION Rajiv Gandhi's violent death during the campaign period of the tenth Indian general elections in May 1991 signalled the end of an entire era, both for Indian politics in general and for the Congress Party in particular: the long-lasting rule of the Nehru- Gandhi dynasty was over. The party, however, managed to recover from the loss, survived the finding of a non-dynastic successor in Narasimha Rao and won the elections to return to government. The succession crisis, as well as subsequent developments in the ensuing three years, has raised the question of change versus continuity in the party. Has the end of the dynasty led to the birth of a new Congress, or will the dynastic party structures and organizational features continue into the post-Gandhi period? Whichever is the case, it is too early at this stage to offer any definite characterization of the post-Gandhi Congress Party. Rather, the task is to outline and explain the most likely trend of the party' s development in the future on the basis of the processes that have taken place since 1991. Political parties exist in an environment that structures their behaviour. Therefore, the inquiry into change versus continuity within a party as such cannot be conducted in isolation from certain environmental factors. Internal and external processes work simultaneously and exert their twin pressures on the organization. With this in mind, the parameters of the ensuing investigation will 2 incorporate internal organizational and external environmental factors. With regard to internal factors, the problem boils down to two salient issues. The first concerns factions within the party. Obviously, under the dynasty it was not just one person but a whole faction of his/her confidants or coterie that dominated the commanding posts of the party. The question was whether the balance of power would shift away from these power holders and if so why and in what directions. The second issue is that of institutionalization. During the Gandhi years, deinstitutionalization of the organizational structures of the party allowed the coterie and the dynasty to maintain their centralized personal rule. Local party structures were dismantled. Political chieftains with direct constituency support were oppressed and eliminated from the political competition. All party activity was directed from the centre by the dynastic inner circle. With regard to this problem, the question is whether the post- dynastic Congress is evolving towards a reinstitutionalization of its structures and what factors may account for such processes. In other words, the problem I shall investigate is if the organizational order of the party under Narasimha Rao's leadership continues to be characterized by the dynastic pattern of personalization and centralization of authority. Concerning the external environment, the most pronounced factor is the development of an increasingly competitive party system. The question that begs an answer is how and why competitiveness for Congress in the 3 changing environment requires either the dismantling or the continuation of the dynastic organizational order. The argument that I will be advancing throughout the thesis is that structural continuity has characterized the organization of the post-dynastic Indian National Congress(I) party. With the disappearance of the last dynastic successor, a process of routinization of the personal-, leader-centered organizational order maintained by the Gandhis seems to be taking place. In this context, to argue that the party has been undergoing a routinization of its dead leaders' charisma is not to say that Narasimha Rao's power emanates from receiving the Gandhis' mantle or from a claim to continue their ideals. Such processes of charismatic routinization have characterized Communist political parties. In the context of the Indian National Congress, by such routinization I refer to the fact that the rules of the game, that is, the ways of maintaining the power equilibria within the party's dominant coalition, have persisted even in spite of changes in the personnel of the ruling elite. In this perspective, a tentative model of the post-dynastic Congress Party would explain that once the institutional prerogatives of leadership in both the party and the government were vested in Rao, he became a power holder on his own and the rules of the game reequilibrated to the dynastic pattern. To mention but the most obvious indicators of this pattern: the party continues to be a deinstitutionalized, loosely structured conglomerate of political bosses with varying bases of support. As 4 a consequence, Congress continues to be paralysed by factionalism at all levels yet the party escapes splits and schisms, and the Congress Prime Minister continues to be at the apex of the decision-making pyramid of both the party and the government. The important question for political scientists to answer is why continuity has taken precedence over drastic change. To be sure, the dominant coalition could have been fundamentally altered by electing any of several powerful aspirants for leadership after the assassination. As I have noted, it was their resorting to a compromise that ultimately resulted in the maintenance of the status quo. In this regard, I maintain that structural continuity in the party's organizational order has come about primarily as a result of the pressure of external/environmental challenges. India's binary ninth and tenth general elections in 1989-1991, coupled with the assembly elections in the same period, proved to be critical both for Congress and the political system at large. These elections were a culmination and a confirmation of a long realignment process among the electorate which resulted in ending the predominant party system.