Top job for a loyal servant.

At last we know that our most revered Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee is the Congress choice for the post of President of India. But should he be celebrating? The present incumbent, Ms Patil is alleged to have been chosen for her absolute loyalty to The Family which is an absolute prerequisite for anyone to advance in the Congress Party. Mr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed the papers for the Emergency, the most shameful period after independence, when Indira Gandhi met him at midnight on 26 June 1975. Mr Zail Singh said of Indira Gandhi," If my leader had said I should pick up a broom and be a sweeper, I would have done that. She chose me to be President." That is not to say that Mr Mukherjee has been cleaning 10 Janpath or that our present Prime Minister will be declaring emergency but it is most likely to be for loyal service over many decades. He is said to have been banished from the Congress for a short while by Mr Rajiv Gandhi and even formed his own party, Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, which is a definite black mark, but made up with the boss after a short time and merged with the Congress, which would deserve a pat on the head. This is what makes the Congress the most formidable political party in India. Other parties such as DMK, AIADMK, TDP, SP, BSP and the Akali Dal are confined to their states. The Trinamul Congress and the YSR Congress are merely breakaway parties and would probably like to be invited back. The Janata Dal has presence in a few states but is too fragmented to offer any worthwhile challenge. The BJP is the only other party which can offer an alternative to the Congress at the center and was in power for 6 years from 1998-2004 but it is not united as various people fight to be its candidate for prime minister. They could easily hold an internal ballot to decide who the rank and file would prefer but will not because others fear that Narendra Modi would win easily. They do not seem to understand that by fighting among each other they will ensure that they no one becomes prime minister because the Congress will win again in 2014. Many pundits are discounting the Congress to win in 2014 because of its dismal performance in recent state elections, especially its trouncing in UP, which sends the largest number of MPs to parliament. But the main strength of the Congress is the unity of its members in genuflecting to The Family. To be in the Congress is to be a totally spineless creepy-crawly and to make tea, sweep floor or kill on the say so of The Family. Indeed, so powerful is The Family that no politician dares to question or criticise its activities. The BJP did not dare to investigate Bofors in spite of being the government for 6 years. As long as The Family lasts Congress members will coalesce around it and that is its biggest strength. The Eurozone crisis might help the Congress wriggle out of the economic crisis that it has created. More of that anon.