‘Congress wins by opposition, loses by crushing it’: Mani Shankar Aiyar’s latest warning to the leadership

New Delhi: Veteran leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday fired a fresh salvo at the Congress leadership in the party’s history to warn that the party always thrives on internal dissent and suffers whenever it tries to suppress it.In a video clip he posted on his YouTube channel entitled “Is there no space for the opposition in Congress today?” The leader said ideological conflicts, leadership rivalries and rebellions go back to the party’s founding in 1885 to make clear that disagreement, not consensus, is the Congress’s defining strength. “There was only one time where there was a complete ban on any kind of dissent.

“It was during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency,” Aiyar said.

Read also: From ‘chaiwala’ to ‘Rahulian’ – Mani Shankar Aiyar is back and Congress is in hiding againAccording to him, the consequences of silencing the opposition during that period were disastrous. “Not only did the Congress lose, Indira Gandhi lost her Rae Bareli seat and Sanjay Gandhi lost his Amethi seat. This is what happens if you crush dissidents in the Congress,” he said.Aiyar said that internal disagreement had existed within Congress almost since its inception and had not been treated as an aberration. He cited the selection of Badr al-Din Tayyabji as president of the Congress in 1888 and the backlash he faced from sections of the Muslim elite, describing it as one of the earliest recorded episodes of dissent within the party.

He goes on to recount the ideological clashes between moderates and extremists in the early twentieth century, particularly the split between Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal on the one hand and leaders like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and M. G. Ranade on the other, culminating in the Surat split of 1907.Read also: “From Arsh to Farsh” – Mani Shankar Aiyar’s “Raholian” outburst and the “uncle” syndrome“The real strength of Congress lies in the diversity of opinions that Congress always accommodates,” Aiyar said.He noted that despite sharp differences, figures like Tilak eventually became Congress president, while Mahatma Gandhi publicly acknowledged Gokhale as his political mentor, underscoring the party’s ability to accommodate contradictions rather than eliminate them.Father, Son, and the Holy SpiritThe graphic refers to history from 1929 when Subhas Chandra Bose sarcastically noted that the Congress was run by “the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, and Aiyar said: “No one expelled Subhas Chandra Bose for what he said.” He described how Bose later withdrew from the Congress after fundamental disagreements with Mahatma Gandhi over nonviolence, and formed the Forward Bloc, but was never expelled. Ayyar stressed that he “left Congress. He was not expelled.”Aiyar also referred to the severe disagreements between Jawaharlal Nehru and his father Motilal Nehru, noting that “it became impossible to have dinner at Anand Bhavan because the father and son used to quarrel a lot among themselves.”“This is how you deal with dissidents in the Congress party,” Aiyar said.Aiyar said Indira Gandhi marked a decisive break from this tradition. He said that while differences with the Congress “syndicate” were initially ironed out, its decision to split the party and impose a state of emergency later represented fatal intolerance of the opposition.“She destroyed the party just because there were dissidents,” Aiyar said, adding that the state of emergency was “the only way she could remain prime minister.”He said the ruling came quickly. “Not only did Congress lose, Indira Gandhi lost her Raebareli seat and Sanjay Gandhi lost his Amethi seat,” he reiterated.He quoted two sentences said by Rajiv Gandhi in Lok Sabha on May 5, 1989:Rajiv Gandhi said: “Only a secular Bharat can survive.” “If India is not secular, perhaps it does not deserve to survive.”Turning these words into a challenge, Aiyar said: “I say to the senior leadership of the Congress party who excluded me from the working committee, which now has 60 members, do you have the courage to repeat the words in the mouth of Rajiv Gandhi’s son?”“If the current establishment cannot tolerate dissenters, then I fear this is the fate of the Congress,” Aiyar said, warning the current leadership.He added, “Congress survives because of dissidents. Congress grows because there are many opinions.”His final message was blunt: “If we do not have the courage to respond to a dissenter in polite but firm language, we do not deserve to govern.”The video comes amid a row over his recent comments on the party leadership and praise for the Kerala Chief Minister. The Congress Party officially distanced itself from Aiyar, saying it had no connection with the party.In a post on X, Khera said that Aiyar “has had no contact at all with Congress over the past few years. He speaks and writes in a purely personal capacity.”