Balanced: K Kamaraj with Nehru and Shastri
R Krishna Das
With the rumour in air about the possibility of Sonia Gandhi stepping down as Congress President on Monday, the Kamaraj plan to bail out party from crises is back in conversation.
Each time the Congress faces a crisis, it looks for solutions in the past. Kamaraj Plan, which was proposed by the then Chief Minister of Madras about six decades ago, is one such.
Kumaraswami Kamaraj proposed the plan to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a blueprint to re-energise the Congress and the government. Of all the points, the most highlighted was proposal to ask top leaders to quit the government and take up organisational work.
The proposal came up for discussion in the Congress Working Committee, where a large number of members, among them Chief Ministers and Nehru’s Cabinet colleagues, supported it
But the Congress leaders shy in discussion the other important initiatives of Kamaraj, a school dropout who bailed out the party from crises. It was his emphasis on collective leadership that prevented putting entire organisation burden on any individual dynasty or family.
After Nehru’s passing away on May 27, 1964, an astute Kamaraj knew that Nehru was irreplaceable, and the party needed a new leadership model to manage both power and its ambitious leaders. His first task was to ensure a smooth transition in the Prime Minister’s Office, which he meticulously managed by rallying the party behind his choice for PM, the non-controversial Lal Bahadur Shastri.
It was Kamaraj’s collective leadership approach that helped the Congress to navigate a tough time when it lost Nehru and Shastri in quick succession. Kamaraj was instrumental in the Congress opting for Indira Gandhi as Shastri’s successor instead of a more experienced Morarji Desai.
Under Indira Gandhi, the Congress moved away from Kamaraj’s vision of collective leadership and consensus-building, and moved towards a leader-centric high command. It led to friction between Indira’s supporters and the Old Guard or Syndicate, leading to the split in the party in 1969.
