Perils Of Political Speculation

With a comfortable majority for the Congress in the Punjab Assembly, the professional political speculator is getting busy again. How many of the old Assembly have been returned? Have the Sikhs secured representation In excess of their population strength? Will Sardar Pratap Singh be Chief Minister? Will Lala Jagat Narain be content without a ministership? Now that Satyapal is back will Sachar have a group to support him? Will X agree to work under Y or Y under X? If both are disinclined would it not be better if Z were made Chief Minister? Would it not be wise to put troublesome Q away in the Speaker's chair? And so on. Such speculation is the breath of the nostril of the professional political speculator. If we give ear to him, before we know where we are we shall find ourselves in the middle of a signature campaign. Each prominent Congress leader will have a group lined up behind him and the buying and selling of support will be well under way.

Click here for full image of Editorial on February 17, 1952

 We prefer not to suggest who should be Chief Minister, whether he should be elected by the party or imposed from the Centre. Fortunately, most of the speculation hitherto has been based on old preconceptions rather than on new factors. No leader has made any claims. No one has said that anyone else is going to be difficult and may have to be appeased. It is not unusual that there should be in a party four or even five prominent members. There may be others who are nearer one or other of the five. They need not necessarily constitute a group and there is no reason why the party should not act and express itself as a whole. We have no doubt that the Congress as a party is grateful to the electorate for having affirmed its faith in its policies and promises. We may briefly recount public reaction in the past to Congress stewardship of the State.

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 The attitude at the outset was one of expectation of constructive achievement in promoting the welfare of the people and harmonious relations among the various sections of them. The difficulties were not underrated. The first changes in the Ministry were looked upon as a necessary process of readjustment. As they grew more frequent and unintelligible public suspicion grew in proportion. Soon it was realised that something was going on at the top which had little relevance to the people's well-being. There were many warning signals but they were passed unheeded. The public had lost all interest in the frequent ministry-making and breaking and it was felt at one time that both Punjab Congress legislators and the Congress High Command thought that what they did was no concern of the people of the Punjab. These were the darkest days of the past four years for the State. No glimmer of hope showed through the total blackout. Everything seemed to go wrong. Everything wrong seemed right.

 Suddenly the Congress High Command changed its course. The Ministry was put out of action. Public approbation was unequivocal. There was no complaint that the Punjab had been singled out for the ignominy of being deprived of representative government. The people were content, even happy. By a series of fortuitous developments which the High Command did its best to prevent, the Congress in the State was relieved of having to answer for the actions of the Congress Ministry in the Punjab. The onus of cleansing the Punjab was thrown on the people. The electorate accepted the responsibility; it has carried out the spring cleaning which the Congress High Command should have done. Everything possible was done to confuse the public mind right to the last day for filing nomination papers. The People's verdict is clear of all confusion.

We believe that the Congress as it has emerged from the elections is keenly aware of the significance of the people's verdict. The leaders who have been returned have stood against communalism and corruption and against groupings and factions. The people of the State want a Congress which will function as one party pledged to advance the cause of the people and a government which will bring strength to the people and derive strength from them. The electorate has voted narrow and restricted- interest out of power. There is no stature to which a Congressman cannot rise, no distinction to which he may not aspire if he will cast thought of himself out of his mind; for if he does not think exclusively of himself he will not think-in terms of a group. Whatever the decision that is taken, whether it is the decision of the State Congress Assembly party or it is a decision taken for them or a combination of the two, let all Congress M.L.A.s accept it as the people have accepted that the Congress shall man the Government for another five years.

 So much depends upon Congressmen working together in the next five years in the Punjab, so much more than the future of the Congress itself that we cannot conceive of any Congressman being oblivious of the great responsibility that has been entrusted to them and the great opportunity which is now theirs. We are confident that they will rise equal to the great tasks ahead and merit by their actions the unstinted cooperation of the people. The next five years, given this cooperation, will see a complete transformation of the Punjab. No longer will there be need for us to look wistfully at the past; for the promising vista of the future will draw us from achievement to achievement. All that is needed is that the people and their leaders should rise equal to the opportunity.