The "Toil" of Congressmen 'after' August 1947 | 3 mins.

The one great problem, apart from many other political and economic issues of a very complicated nature is the moral degradation into which the men in the Congress circles have fallen. I cannot say much about the other provinces, but in my province, conditions are very deplorable. The taste of political power has turned their heads... The factions in the Congress circles, the money-making activities of several of the MLAs and MLCs and the weakness of the ministers have been creating a rebellious spirit among the people at large. The people have begun to say that the British government was much better and they are even cursing Congress.

Given above is an excerpt from a letter received by Mahatma Gandhi from a veteran Andhra Congressman Konda Venkatappayya. The times when the Congressmen who were expected to be the torchbearers for our nascent nation, turned their heads at the conceit of power and retarded the growth of our motherland, is indeed a dark phase in the history of Bharatavarsha. Here I would share with you an article, written by eminent author and former IAS officer late V.Sundaram:

The Congress Crucifixion of Mahatma Gandhi

Soon after our independence on 15 August 1947, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that the Congress party must be wound up in the larger interest of our nation. He had come to the definite conclusion that the Indian National Congress had outlived its utility. He was anguished by the corrupt deeds and doings of the Congress Ministers in New Delhi and all the States of India. This happened within five months (150 days!) of we getting independence.

A few days before his assassination, Mahatma Gandhi received a letter from an aged and outspoken Congressman from Andhra called Konda Venkatappayya who was over 80 years old at that time. He was a tried and tested Congress worker and had been a member of the Congress party from 1900. He was known throughout India for his outstanding qualities as a freedom fighter and follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Konda Venkatappayya wrote to Gandhi as follows: 

"Swaraj was the only absorbing passion which goaded men and women to follow your leadership. But now that the goal has been reached, all moral restrictions have lost their power on most of the fighters in the great struggle. The situation is growing intolerable everyday. The people have begun to say that the British Govt. was much better. They are even cursing the Congress".

Mahatma Gandhi felt that he had to pay immediate attention to this letter because of the unimpeachable source from which it came. But Mahatma Gandhi died soon after and no one has referred to that letter again. Gandhi was greatly disturbed by the following sharp observations of Konda Venkatappayya contained in the same letter referred to above: 

"But with freedom on 15 August 1947, the condition of our people has unquestionably deteriorated. 

While the Congress-in-opposition fought against British opposition, the Congress-in-power has turned out to be worse oppressors. The British denied us political freedom to protect their vested interests. BUT THE CONGRESS HAS DESTROYED EVERY SHRED OF FREEDOM, KILLED EVEN THE FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN SOUL. It has become blandly apparent that the morality upheld by Mahatma Gandhi is far from the Congress' motive. Every other Congressman in office is proving himself completely oblivious of all sense of morality. They are corrupt. 

They indulge openly in bribery, nepotism and jobbery, always with the sanction of their corrupt brethren in power. Every Congressman in office or in power has received a bribe or has black-marketed a commodity when the money involved has changed hands in 100 rupee notes, of which there is no record, and the only machinery which can bring him to book, the police and the anti-corruption squad are well within the influence of the Congress party. The proof is that well- known Congressmen, who have had no ostensible means of income, who have paid little or no income-tax are seen today driving about in huge limousines, and living like Maharajas!!"

In the district administration, Konda Venkatappayya went on to say: 

"Even the district Collectors and revenue officials do not feel free in the discharge of their duties on account of the frequent interference by the Congress MLAs and MLCs on behalf of their partisans.A strict and honest officer cannot hold his position because false and politically- motivated reports are carried against him to the Congress Ministers who easily lend their ears to these unprincipled self-seekers".

We should not imagine that all this happened 25 years after our independence on 15 August 1947. This happened within four months of our independence and Konda Venkatappayya sent the above letter to Mahatma Gandhi in December 1947! I am again and again repeating the name of Mahatma Gandhi only because there is tremendous confusion amongst the public in India today about the cheaply competitive worship of too many dubious GANDHIS in our midst.

After the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948, the Congress party became a private party of Nehru, by Nehru for a close circle in the Nehru family. In other words, the Indian National Congress of Dadabhai Naoroji, and Surendra Nath Banerjee, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Ghokhale, Rajendra Prasad and Rajaji became a valuable private property of the Nehru family conferring positions of unlimited power, endless prestige, unlimited income and boundless opportunities. Sonia Gandhi has inherited this invaluable booty and property through her marriage to one of the scions of the Nehru family. God save India and her mute millions. It is not just a question of "Garibi Hatao". No less important and vital than this objective is the issue of "Congress Hatao". Perhaps the last words that Mahatma Gandhi addressed to the people through professor Malkhani are now available. In the course of his message to the Hindus of Sind which he gave to professor Malkhani at 3.30 pm on that fateful Friday, 30 January 1948, Mahatmaji said: 

"I now say things which do not go home. I know that I am a back number or these things would not have happened. But I yet go on saying what I believe to be true".

Sources:

1. Crisis into Chaos: Political India 1981, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Orient Longman  Ltd. 1981, PN5.
2. iVarta.com

Read more about V Sundaram IAS here: Jagruti.