Tragedy of two freedom parties
Neither the Congress nor the ANC has been able to live up to expectations in India or South Africa
January 8, 1912, is a historic date for South Africa. The African National Congress (ANC) was born on this day. Over 100 years ago, the town of Bloemfontein, set deep in the heart of the veldt, the very soul of the Afrikaner community, was ironically the birthplace of Africa’s most celebrated liberation movement.
Imagine the scene, to the singing of Nkosi Siskelel i-afrika (God Bless Africa) by a group of blacks in a Methodist Church, a few citizens strolling by can barely hear these distinctly eerie sounds wafting across to them, they pause for a few minutes and then resume their leisurely stroll; unaware that they are witness to a movement that would morph into a juggernaut to up-end their world completely.
As an Indian, my mind casts back to this tableaux and I can picture Gandhi in that backdrop. His struggles in South Africa and the extraordinary similarities between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the ANC come alive; South Africa was the laboratory for many of Gandhi’s moral stratagems, specifically satyagraha, literally meaning holding fast to truth. Many Indians are only partially aware of the pivotal role South Africa has played in Gandhi’s, INC’S and India’s fight for independence.
Most associate Gandhi’s stay in South Africa with that moment of epiphany, when the Mahatma is tossed out of that train at Pietermaritzburg, unfamiliar with the fact that he lived in that country for almost 23 years perfecting his weapons to defeat British imperialism. It was a slow process, as he refined his tactics, criss-crossing from coastal Durban in Natal to Tolstoy Farm in Transvaal. His famed campaign of civil disobedience was tempered in South Africa.
The lack of a powerful alternative voice to shake these freedom parties out of their complacency and an air of entitlement that clings to them compound their difficulties
The ANC acknowledges its debt to Gandhi and the INC and many of us soak it in forgetting that we are equally indebted to South Africa. It would be no exaggeration to say, no Gandhi, no independence or at least no India, the way we all know it. The Mahatma cut his teeth battling imperialists like General Jan Smuts and all that he did in South Africa was to steel him for the bigger battles looming in India. This gratitude to South Africa has a sub-text to it which is brilliantly brought up by Joseph Lelyveld in his book Great Soul.
Gandhi’s exertions were primarily focused on getting Indians in South Africa a better deal; he was not overly involved with the blacks or their plight which incidentally was much worse than that of his fellow country-men. This is a matter of much controversy but suffice it to say, that we may never have got our Mahatma without a South Africa.
The connections are umbilical; the African soil nurtured the noble ideals of achieving revolutionary goals by non-violent means. Until Gandhi’s arrival back in India in January 9, 1915, the Congress Party was hardly an instrument of radical change and minus a Gandhi, the party, would never have worsted the might of the British Empire. In sum, India’s gain was of epic proportions, South Africa’s marginal.
Fall from grace
Fast forward and we see similarities, albeit in negatives; the rampant corruption, a fall from those high ideals and unchecked cronyism are evident in the INC and ANC. An Inconvenient Youth by Fiona Forde on Julius Malema and the New ANC capture for us the ugly face of the ANC youth wing, a far cry from the hallowed traditions set by the triumvirate of Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela.
The Congress party fell from grace a long time ago and has worthies to match the likes of Malema. There would be many in the INC who would totally agree with Malema’s extraordinary retort when questioned if he is a better businessman or a politician, ‘ do the two have to be mutually exclusive’? His quip, an honest one, finds an echo in the 2G scandal and the many other fiddles engulfing the ruling party and many within it thinning the line between business and politics unaware that while both can be vocations, one enters the latter because it is a calling, and not for pelf.
The tragedy of INC and the ANC is similar; neither has been able to live up to the exalted expectations of their founding fathers. The lack of a powerful alternative voice to shake these freedom parties out of their complacency and an air of entitlement that clings to them compound their difficulties. The halo bedevils both. And the challenges ahead for the ANC are bigger, much bigger.
The Congress has been out of power and learned humility the hard way, ANC is yet to encounter that. Gandhi wanted the party disbanded after gaining independence. He was opposed by Nehru and Patel and after 1935, the great man hardly involved himself in Congress affairs. He devoted more time on social issues and so his wishes were politely listened to but not acted upon.
Mandela did something similar in retiring after his one term but unfortunately there was no visionary to step up. India was lucky to have a Nehru after Gandhi, South Africa not so. Ergo, the rainbow coalition that Mandela and others dreamt of will remain a mirage unless one of history’s great liberation movements goes back to its roots. Ravi Menon is a Dubai-based writer working on a series of essays on India and on a public service initiative called India Talks.