Owning the reformer

Just under 20 years ago,the 73-year history of the Soviet Union was coming to an end,and with it whatever remained of the Cold War. Indias diplomatic response was surprisingly nimble,opening up to the possibility of a differently polar world most notably,by recognising Israel. Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had once,as foreign minister,steered Indias leadership of the non-aligned movement. Now,showing a reformers instinct,he steered a new path for India through tricky diplomatic waters. Tuesday would have been his 90th birth anniversary. And the Andhra Pradesh governments commemoration programme served,curiously,to highlight the Congress partys wilful ambiguity about his role in the economic and foreign-policy reforms that are still a work in progress.

The present-day Congresss uneasy,graceless relationship with Narasimha Rao has hurt it in many ways. It has left it in a bind,for example,in Uttar Pradesh,where the subtle blaming of Rao for the demolition of the Babri Masjid forced his party into years in the wilderness,which succeeded in completely eroding its support structure in the state. But,most of all,it prevents the Congress from wholeheartedly embracing the idea of itself as a reformist party,as the party that initiated reform,that upped its pace,and determined its nature. If it happened under Narasimha Rao,practically a

Soviet-style non-person in the Congresss conception of its

history,did it actually happen? And thus the party appears ideologically rudderless,incapable of mobilising,again,the constituencies for reform that Rao did.

The drift in the UPA government has a reason. It is acting at cross-purposes. Perhaps,before it knows where it must go,it should remember where it is coming from. And where the modern Congress is coming from is the Rao years,when it forced itself to face a future without a thumping mandate every five years,and when it was forced to reinvent itself as a party of reform,updating its old goals and shibboleths for a new India. Until it owns its own past history of reform,a past which includes Narasimha Rao,it will fail to check the policy drift that is undermining its rule.