Schismatic Octopus

For all its inefficiency and sloth, India's dominant Congress Party has played a vital role in nurturing the growth of democracy in a diverse and desperately poor land. In the 22 years of India's independence from Britain, the party has been the stabilizing factor of Indian political life. A benign octopus that embraced both doctrinaire socialists and free-enterprising rightists, it provided the framework within which India's many sects and nationalities could work together for common political goals. During the past several years, though, the Congress Party has been increasingly riven by internal strife. Last week it was on the verge of breaking up altogether.

After a bitter internecine quarrel, the party's executive committee was split into two warring factions, the process of government was all but paralyzed, and a few unhappy chieftains even threatened to expel Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party. Even if a complete schism is somehow averted, which looks doubtful, the Congress Party already has lost much of its old unity. Dissension within the party is certain to jar India's volatile and increasingly fragmented political scene.

Election Fears. Founded originally in 1885, the party led the crusade to cast off British rule. Congress thrived under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. But in recent years, the party has lost much of its broad appeal, and other parties have sprung up to challenge it. In the 1967 elections, the Congress Party lost heavily. In Parliament, its once massive majority fell to a bare 24 seats. Fearful that her party would suffer further losses in the 1972 elections, Mrs. Gandhi began trying to attract more voters by nationalizing the banks and promising to accelerate India's pace toward socialism. Her plan brought her into direct conflict with the party's conservative kingmakers, known collectively as the Syndicate, who put her into power four years ago.

The lady proved to be a determined and skilled political tactician. Suspecting that Deputy Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who is now a leading Syndicate member, would thwart her socialistic policies, Indira dismissed him from the Cabinet. Last July, in a direct test of strength, she nominated her own candidate, V. V. Giri, to run against the Syndicate's choice for the presidency of India. He won by a narrow margin.

Even Split. After the defeat, the Syndicate made a truce with Indira. But the rivalry flared up again in September after Congress Strategist Kunaeaswami Kamaraj maneuvered one of Indira's supporters out of the presidency of a state Congress organization. In retaliation, Indira opened a drive to fire Congress President Siddavanahalli Nijalingappa, who is a Syndicate member.

Sensing a showdown, the Syndicate summoned a meeting of the 21-member working committee, the party's highest executive body, to consider Indira's actions against Nijalingappa. Indira defiantly summoned her supporters on the working committee to meet at the same time but at a different place. The result: an even split. Ten members went to the Syndicate's session and ten to Indira's, while the 21st member shuttled between the two groups in hopes of patching up the quarrel.

His efforts were in vain. To make the break clear, she fired the last of the Syndicate men in her Cabinet, then moved to convene her own session of the All-India Congress Committee later this month. Nijalingappa ruled that her action is illegal, and if she goes through with the rival meeting, the split will probably be irreparable.

Late last week Indira lunched with Party Boss Nijalingappa in an attempt to avert the breakup of the Congress. Clad in what she considers to be her lucky costume--a pale yellow sari and a string of large black beads--she suggested that her deposed backers be reinstated. She refused, however, to reinstate the Syndicate members whom she had dropped from the Cabinet. "Not much was done at this meeting." admitted Nijalingappa. "No formula for unity has emerged."

The Syndicate is threatening to use its control over the party machinery to force through a censure motion against Indira. Some Syndicate members favor the more drastic step of trying to expel her from the party. The looming schism poses many questions about what might happen next in Indian politics. One possibility: Indira could form a coalition between her wing of the party and the Communists and thus remain Prime

Minister. An alternative would be to call new parliamentary elections in which the competing factions of Congress would run against each other.

The very gravity of the situation may cause Indira and her foes to overcome their differences, but the split has already caused damage. Even if they once more patch up their quarrel, the spectacle of the public spats can only weaken the party's appeal to India's voters.

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