Though the Congress High Command under both Mr. Nehru and Mrs. Gandhi was in a position to make its writ run, it is difficult to recall an instance of its having served a show cause notice to any one of its chief ministers and state party bosses. It recognised that even if a top functionary had acted against the interests of the party, it would be undesirable to reprimand him publicly. For, that would undermine his position and make it difficult for him to contain factional infighting in the organisation. Thus, if a chief minister attracted the displeasure of the high command to the point where it felt it necessary to replace him, he would be told to accept a gubernatorial assignment, as in the case of Mr. Sukhadia, or seek a fresh mandate from the legislative party, as in the case of Mr. Sampurnanand. Indeed, there were not many instances of even this kind in the party’s 30-year-rule in most of the states. Two Bihar ministers had worked against each other in elections and got each other defeated. There was an inquiry into their conduct and both were found guilty. But no disciplinary action was taken against them.
The Janata party leadership accepts no such restraint on its powers. Only recently it asked the chief ministers of UP, Bihar, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh to seek a vote of confidence from their respective legislature parties. As a result two chief ministers have lost office, the struggle between the constituents has become more intense, and UP and Bihar have got governments which may not last for long. Apparently, this sad experience has not had a sobering effect on the Janata leadership. Else, it would not have been in such a hurry to issue show cause notices to the Haryana state chief minister, Mr. Devi Lal, and the state party boss, Mrs. Chandrawati.
All this is shocking but not surprising. Shocking because it speaks of the poverty of political skill in the top echelons of the ruling party. Things are not allowed to go that far in reasonably well managed parties and wise leaders do not undermine the prestige of their own chief ministers and destabilise their own governments. Not surprising because the top Janata leaders think and act as much in terms of their old constituents as any ordinary member. If anything, they are even less concerned than the rank and file about the consequences of their actions in the form of instability and loss of prestige. In the present case of the show cause notices to Mr. Devi Lal and Mrs. Chandrawati, it is self-evident that the move is aimed as much at their patron in New Delhi, Mr. Charan Singh, as at them. The divisions are not always sharp and clear-cut. In this instance, Mr. George Fernandes has pressed for disciplinary action against the two Haryana leaders because in his view they worked against the Janata nominee in a recent by-election in the state who had been picked by him. The same Mr. Fernandes had a fortnight earlier tried to mobilize support for Mr. Charan Singh’s protégé in Bihar, Mr. Karpoori Thakur. But the Jana Sangh is currently angry with Mr. Charan Singh and will spare no effort to embarrass him. Surely, this can go on only at the cost of the future of the party as a whole. It has already lost a great deal of its credibility on account of the endless fights in it.
The Times of India, 4 May 1979