CPC, a new INC and RSS, were all born within five years of each other

Efficiency and equity in a political system cannot be simultaneously achieved in the short run, writes TCA Srinivasa Raghavan.

The five years from 1920 to 1925 were extraordinary for the people of India and China who, together, number nearly 3 billion now. World population is just over 7 billion. 

The currently mighty Communist Party of China (CPC) was born on this day, July 1, 100 years ago.

On 4 September 1920, Gandhi ji announced the non-cooperation movement and a brand new Indian National Congress (INC) was born.  

And, on 27 September 1925, exactly five years later, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was formed, not as a political organisation but as purely a Hindu cultural renaissance body. The collateral objective was, however, political, to provide an alternative to the INC and to rid India of the British. 

The INC fought openly against colonial rule and won independence in 1947. The CPC fought its own government and grabbed power in 1949. The RSS stayed aloof from such overt activities. 

Today, the CPC runs China with an iron hand, fist and feet. It’s a dictatorship of the worst kind, especially since 2018 when Xi Jingping declared himself ruler for life. 

But China has also become a major regional power that is now challenging the US. 

The INC after 20 years of unchallenged rule, entered a long but punctuated period of decline in 1967. But its constitutional legacy has been excellent. Very few political parties anywhere in the world have done better. 

It’s economic legacy has been terrible, however. Growth has always taken second place to distribution. 

As to the RSS, for the last seven years, it has been the power behind the Indian throne, which is occupied by its political arm, the BJP, born in 1953. 

Different choices

The INC’s members and leaders were intellectually very sophisticated. They chose to make the Indian state the servant of the Indian people, who were to be sovereign. The emphasis was on rights. 

But the Indian state is today an object of derision, both at home and abroad. 

The CPC’s members and leaders, in contrast, were intellectually quite the opposite. They chose to make the Chinese people the servants of the Chinese state and the Party became the sovereign. 

It is an object of admiration now. 

The RSS has been stuck somewhere in-between. After all, it can’t espouse the cause of Hinduism which has so many gods and then covertly prefer a China-like model of authoritarian government which pursues only a single idea. 

That’s why it is an object of ridicule now. 

The results

Over the last 70 years, the total enslavement of the Chinese population has allowed the CPC to remain hugely focused. What the party wants, it gets. Always. Eventually. 

For the CPC only the military and economic objectives matter, not individuals and their preferences. Unlike in India, politics and society are not germane to any issue. 

The INC, having kindly made the people sovereign, was spectacularly unfocused, stumbling between economic, social and political objectives, in that order. The price has been paid by the economy and the military. This is the exact opposite of China. 

The RSS has been largely oblivious to all these issues. Of the three, it’s the most confused organisation. 

It’s offspring, the BJP, is only slightly less confused. It has been unable to achieve a sensible approach to balancing efficiency and equity. 

Lessons at 100

What lessons can we infer from this very brief history of these three organisations and mass movements?

One is that when money speaks, no one criticises the accent (China after 1978) and power comes out of the barrel of the gun (Mao+Xi). This has been tested and proved nearly right. 

The other is that efficiency and equity cannot be simultaneously achieved in the short run. The long run, however, is a different story.  

China is the hare and India the tortoise.