As it happens, the weak successors of a mighty empire, to cling to the throne, break the consensus on which empires are built, leading to the very outcome which they wanted to avoid in the first place – that is the Downfall of the Empire.
Rahul Gandhi is no different. Scion of the first family, belonging to the mighty House of Motilal & Jawaharlal Nehru, Rahul, the successor to the dilapidated throne of Congress, is hell bent on breaking away from the Constitutional & Congressional consensus of 1947-50 built by his own partymen and forefather in the Constituent Assembly and its various committees and sub-committees. By doing so, he wants to salvage his position and party, but ironically leading the entourage towards biggest disaster.
The prince Rahul and her mother may believe that "India" is their inheritance. But they forget - this inheritance, even if we concede theoretically, is only in the form of a Trust, and as trustee in fiduciary capacity, going against the established consensus of the Trust Deed will nullify the entity itself.
The Constitutional consensus during Constituent Assembly debates, of which Congress was the leading voice, vehemently opposed any kind of special political rights to groups of people based on Religion. Separate Electorate, Reservations in services or Lok Sabha/Vidhan Sabha seats or proportional representation, based on Religion, was outrightly rejected. In doing so, the Congress Quartet: Nehru, Patel, Prasad, and Azad played most significant role.
Vallabh Bhai Patel was the head of the Minority Rights Sub-committee. This committee of 31 members, initially had only one Muslim member i.e., Maulana Azad, but after 3rd June Plan, when many Muslim League leaders decided to stay in India, three more Muslim heavyweights (Saadullah Khan, Chundrigar and Khaliquzzaman) were included. On 27th July 1947, this sub-committee took up the issue of Separate Electorate, Weightage system and Proportional representation for Minorities, and all of it were rejected by a vote of 28 to 3. The three dissenting votes, expectedly, were of 3 Muslim heavyweights. Maulana Azad and Dalit voices in the sub-committee were with Patel on this.
The same proposal was raised in the Advisory Committee to the Constituent Assembly, and there also the motion was defeated by 54 to 3, latter being Saadullah, Chundrigar and Khaliquzzaman. Not satisfied with Congress heavy handedness in Constituent Assembly and unable to push forward Separatist Muslim agenda, both Chundrigar and Khaliquzzaman left for Pakistan.
Though, these special Political rights for minorities in the name of Religion were rejected in Sub-committee and Advisory Committee and Maulana Azad sided with Patel, but Maulana was targeting for bigger gains. He was adamant on Reservation of services and seats for Muslims and other minorities on the lines of SCs and STs. This was the long game of Deobandis, as for this demand Maulana Azad was supported by Maulana Hifzur Rahman of Deobandi School.
According to K M Munshi, Patel then used different Muslim voices to counter the claim of Maulana, who was seeking his pound of flesh for being a Congress Show boy and not siding with the Idea of Pakistan. But Patel, Prasad and to an extent Nehru must have realized that the exceptional concessions and special political rights to communities based on Religion was acceptable cost for avoiding Partition in the name of Religion. But once Pakistan became a reality, giving away political rights in the name of Religion would again create breeding ground for Muslim separatism.
Thus, Patel pushed forward newly converted Congressis from Muslim League, Tajamul Hussain (Shia Landlord from Bihar) and Begum Aizaz Rasul (from Uttar Pradesh). This was a master stroke. Tajamul, in the Advisory Committee, hit back at so called “Nationalist Muslims” like Maulana Azad and his feverish speech asked them to forget about the Past and help build Secular India. Following the lead of Tajamul, Begum Aizaz Rasul said, “now that Pakistan had been formed, in the interest of Muslims who are left in India, it would be better not to isolate ourselves from the general community by asking for reservations”.
Thus, through the machination of politics and negotiations, it is very clear that the Constituent Assembly consensus on special political rights and Reservations to Minorities (Muslims) was set in stone. The Muslim separatism, Partition and the upcoming Secular state demanded that any reservation or political rights, based on Religion, would be antithetical to the Nation-building project of India. Also, as Patel believed, ‘a minority that could force the partition of the country is not a minority at all’, ensured that these rights cannot be handed over to the Muslims in the name of Minority safeguards.
This was the fine balance on which Congress Political empire was built in Post-1947 India, which saw Muslims as equal citizens of the country but without divulging to them any special politico-constitutional rights which may had sown the seeds of future separatism.
But, while navigating through the political journey of last 75 years, Congress has lost its weight and is no more a hegemon power it once was under Nehru and Indira. The Party has lost its sheen and many constituents i.e. Dalits, OBCs and Muslims have left its camp making this hegemonic party to taste the electoral dust throughout 1990s and early 2000s.
Desperate to salvage Congress, Sonia Gandhi (2004 & 2009) and her Son Rahul Gandhi (2019 & 2024) have reversed the Congress Vision and World view. They together have breached the consensus of their own Party in Constituent Assembly and therefore, just after 2004 electoral victory, Congress in UPA government initiated to breach this consensus at National level. They started the Reservations of Muslims on the basis of religion in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra at state level, but once in power at centre they made whole hearted effort towards replicating it at Delhi.
Thus, Sachar Committee was appointed, his reports of Muslim deprivation were widely circulated, so much so that when they instituted another Minority Rights commission (Rangnath Mishra Commission), similar to the one headed by Patel in 1947, they rolled back the Congressional consensus and awarded reservation quotas for Muslims on the basis of Religion.
The INDI Alliance of today are harping on each and every element of consensus built during the constituent assembly debates or the freedom movement. The Caste identities are weaponised by them, not to give benefits to those identities, but to divide the Hindu Votes. On the other hand, Muslims have now fixed the price of their votes in the quotas and reservations within OBCs and SCs. The so called secular parties are not only going against the established consensus of the Constituent Assembly, but essentially taking the rightful share of Bheem (OBC/SC/ST) to fatten the Meem (Muslims).
The prince Rahul and her mother may believe that India is their inheritance. But they forget that this inheritance, even if we concede theoretically, is only in the form of a Trust, and as trustee in fiduciary capacity, going against the established consensus of the Trust Deed will nullify the entity.
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