The editorial “Remembering Rao” (July 5) makes a strong case for awarding Bharat Ratna to Narasimha Rao but the ruling family is unlikely to oblige. It has been the strategy of the Nehru-Gandhi family, since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, to neglect, denigrate and, if necessary, decimate the highly talented party persons perceived as too independent or potential threat.
When Morarji Desai appeared to challenge his ascendancy, Nehru used the subterfuge of the Kamraj Plan to get rid of him and some others. Both Purushottam Das Tandon and Dwarka Prasad Mishra were grounded for showing resistance. Indira Gandhi systematically purged the party of talented dissenters and popular partymen, thus causing several splits there. The victims included illustrious leaders like N Sanjeeva Reddy, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, P C Sethi, etc. The same strategy is being pursued by Sonia Gandhi with the result that the Congress party, once the repository of the most capable members, is now reduced to a party in which sycophancy of the family is regarded as the only core competency. The choice of Manmohan Singh as prime minister has much to do with his self-effacing submission to the supremacy of the heir apparent of the family.
Y G Chouksey, Pune
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