Two explanations are possible for the timing of Mrs. Gandhi’s appeal for unity of the two Congress parties. First, she could have been waiting to get elected to the Lok Sabha because she could have been keen to avoid creating the impression that her desire for unity was in any way the result of nervousness regarding her own future. Secondly, she could have calculated that the time had come to offer a credible alternative to the Janata which she would certainly be better placed to do as leader of a reunited Congress than as that of the Congress (I). Since there is no conflict between these possible explanations, we may not be too wide off the mark if we were to infer that Mrs. Gandhi is earnest about unity. From her point of view she has nothing to lose and much to gain from the success of the renewed unity efforts. While she has demonstrated her hold on a sizeable section of the population and thereby proved that she remains perhaps the most popular leader in the country despite the excesses of the emergency and their relentless exposure by the media in the past 20 months, the credibility of the other Congress as a viable political force outside Maharashtra has steadily declined since last February when it fared very badly in vidhan sabha elections in various states. In other words, she can now hope to reunite the two parties under her leadership without having to fear that those belonging to the other Congress would wish to embarrass her and undermine her power from within. Also the merger of the two parties will bring her a considerable asset in the form of seasoned and skilled politicians who enjoy considerable respect even if they are unable to match her charisma and the resources of the Janata. But what about the other side?
It can be said straightaway without the slightest hesitation that on its own the Congress cannot survive as a significant political force – it can at best be another Praja Socialist Party -and that all talk of its retaining its identity and serving as a kind of haven of democratic virtue against forces of authoritarianism as allegedly represented by Mrs. Gandhi and communalism and reaction as allegedly embodied in the Janata is so much nonsense. It can also be said with a considerable measure of assurance that the concept of a third force can make sense only in a very different political context, that is when one fairly right-wing party and another fairly left-wing one have been firmly established for long and the electorate is reasonably homogeneous. In India the two major parties, the Janata and the Congress (I), do not possess such sharply defined personalities, the former is in flux and rapidly losing support and the electorate is divided on the basis of community, caste and language. As it happens, the loudest advocates of the third force are left-inclined and want the Congress to make common cause with the CPI and the CPM. This makes it an even more ridiculous proposition smacking of textbook politics. For while the CPI is divided on the question of a proper attitude towards Mrs. Gandhi, the CPM is wholly opposed to her and the two cannot possibly come together. And what if they do? What will they amount to in most states? And how many in the Congress will in any case wish to enter into a long-term alliance with the two communist parties? Essentially the Congress has had a choice between gravitating either towards the Congress (1) or the Janata and its options have not increased as its prestige has slumped. Only with the passage of time the idea of a realignment of forces, a euphemism for Congressmen and former Congressmen in the Janata coming together, has lost some of its shine. Thus while it may hurt their pride to acknowledge that the choice now is between acceptance of Mrs. Gandhi’s leadership and oblivion, Congressmen as a group have no other option. Mrs. Gandhi is offering at least a face saver. They should take it unless they have such high self-regard that they are prepared to fade away. Those who are should not make it more difficult than it is already for the others to make the adjustment.