A cautionary tale
Source: By Krishnan Srinivasan: The Statesman
At the height of the French Revolution in the 18th century, there were at one time three main groupings at odds with each other. The Jacobins were on the far left, but controlled a majority in the elected National Assembly which they dominated for two years. They were opposed in the assembly by the Girondins who were also originally leftists but became centrists, and supported the continuation of the Bourbon monarchy. And the third element was of course the dynasty itself, represented by Louis XVI, his much-maligned wife, and an infant son, the Dauphin.
No analogy in history is accurate, let alone perfect, and history never repeats itself even as farce. But in a flight of fancy, some liberties with history may be taken. The Aam Aadmi Party, like the Jacobin Party, was born as a civil society movement. A Jacobin was a member of the Jacobin Club, and the followers of the AAP were one-time followers of Anna Hazare’s movement. The frenzy of the AAP in Delhi, with its determination to set new rules of political conduct, its defiance of the law and custom and decorum, its appeal to the mob in the streets, and its provocation of disorder are reminiscent of the Jacobin tendency. The justification is the same; that having been elected to govern, the party represents the ultimate and unshakeable will of the people.
With no regard at all for the processes of justice, the Jacobins sent thousands of people to the scaffold after show trials or none at all. No one has suffered as much under the Aam Aadmi Party, but accusations against all and sundry emanating from ‘leaders’ of the party have flown thick and fast with never a thought of such a basic requirement as evidence or legal enquiry. And this same party demands control over the police force, in the same way as the Jacobins took charge of the National Guard, the vigilantes and motley self-appointed elements that were supposed to maintain order in the Paris streets of that time. Midnight raids were frequently led in person by high-ranked Jacobins. The Jacobins loved people’s committees and set up the notorious Committee of Public Safety that terrorized everyone that stood in the Jacobin path. The mob was encouraged to swarm into the National Assembly, government offices and the tribunals where alleged pro-monarchist saboteurs were being subject to ‘trials’ by kangaroo courts.
The situation in Delhi seemed to be teetering on the edge of mob rule ever since Kejriwal took office as chief minister. His main campaign agenda was to fight corruption, and his high-minded utterances of cleansing society and his invocation of God as his sole protector are reminiscent of the Jacobin supremo, Maximilian Robespierre, who regaled the Paris assembly with interminable lofty speeches extolling man’s inherent decency, virtue and invocations of the Supreme Being even while the killings were proceeding in full spate. Robespierre was an example of modest living and high thinking, and threatened to resign many times when thwarted or opposed. With a reputation for being personally scrupulously honest, Thomas Carlyle described Robespierre as the ‘sea-green incorruptible’.
The Girondins were not unlike the Congress party of today. Repeatedly outflanked by the Jacobins, the Girondin Party, mainly of the middle classes and above, had led the country for a while, but when the revolution lurched to the left, the Grondins were unable to keep pace, and were ruthlessly eliminated by the younger and more rabid lower classes. The growing apparent weakness of the Bourbon dynasty and the increasing strength of the mob undermined the group. The Congress in Delhi has suffered the same fate at the hands of the AAP. The lack of leadership and indecision of the Gandhi family and its attempts to give belated sops to the public are reminiscent of Queen Marie Antoinette’s cry when told there was no bread available in Paris: ‘But let them eat cake!’ But the nation could not afford to subsidize the bread, let alone the cake.
And how does this parable end? The Jacobin leader Robespierre fell by the same weapons that he had unleashed. The Assembly and mob had eventually grown tired of his endless sermonizing, the fervid accusations and blood bath that the Jacobins had deliberately encouraged in order to keep the rabble on its side and remain in power. The party fell in a heap, and was replaced in short order by a strong figure that sought central authority and would not brook any challenge to his authority.
The Bourbons lasted longer than their supporting faction, and came back in a restoration, not once but twice within 50 years, proved that they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, and the dynasty was removed from the French political scene forever. The supporters, who lavished support and sycophancy on the dynasty, disappeared without trace.
The strong individual who succeeded the Jacobins gained many triumphs, restored France’s pride and status, and his name is remembered by his countrymen with admiration and affection even today. But his ambitions, and one campaign too many, proved his undoing and he ended his life a lonely and abandoned figure. From ruling an empire, he was reduced to being a forgotten celebrity on a bleak rocky island in the Atlantic Ocean.
At the height of the French Revolution in the 18th century, there were at one time three main groupings at odds with each other. The Jacobins were on the far left, but controlled a majority in the elected National Assembly which they dominated for two years. They were opposed in the assembly by the Girondins who were also originally leftists but became centrists, and supported the continuation of the Bourbon monarchy. And the third element was of course the dynasty itself, represented by Louis XVI, his much-maligned wife, and an infant son, the Dauphin.
No analogy in history is accurate, let alone perfect, and history never repeats itself even as farce. But in a flight of fancy, some liberties with history may be taken. The Aam Aadmi Party, like the Jacobin Party, was born as a civil society movement. A Jacobin was a member of the Jacobin Club, and the followers of the AAP were one-time followers of Anna Hazare’s movement. The frenzy of the AAP in Delhi, with its determination to set new rules of political conduct, its defiance of the law and custom and decorum, its appeal to the mob in the streets, and its provocation of disorder are reminiscent of the Jacobin tendency. The justification is the same; that having been elected to govern, the party represents the ultimate and unshakeable will of the people.
With no regard at all for the processes of justice, the Jacobins sent thousands of people to the scaffold after show trials or none at all. No one has suffered as much under the Aam Aadmi Party, but accusations against all and sundry emanating from ‘leaders’ of the party have flown thick and fast with never a thought of such a basic requirement as evidence or legal enquiry. And this same party demands control over the police force, in the same way as the Jacobins took charge of the National Guard, the vigilantes and motley self-appointed elements that were supposed to maintain order in the Paris streets of that time. Midnight raids were frequently led in person by high-ranked Jacobins. The Jacobins loved people’s committees and set up the notorious Committee of Public Safety that terrorized everyone that stood in the Jacobin path. The mob was encouraged to swarm into the National Assembly, government offices and the tribunals where alleged pro-monarchist saboteurs were being subject to ‘trials’ by kangaroo courts.
The situation in Delhi seemed to be teetering on the edge of mob rule ever since Kejriwal took office as chief minister. His main campaign agenda was to fight corruption, and his high-minded utterances of cleansing society and his invocation of God as his sole protector are reminiscent of the Jacobin supremo, Maximilian Robespierre, who regaled the Paris assembly with interminable lofty speeches extolling man’s inherent decency, virtue and invocations of the Supreme Being even while the killings were proceeding in full spate. Robespierre was an example of modest living and high thinking, and threatened to resign many times when thwarted or opposed. With a reputation for being personally scrupulously honest, Thomas Carlyle described Robespierre as the ‘sea-green incorruptible’.
The Girondins were not unlike the Congress party of today. Repeatedly outflanked by the Jacobins, the Girondin Party, mainly of the middle classes and above, had led the country for a while, but when the revolution lurched to the left, the Grondins were unable to keep pace, and were ruthlessly eliminated by the younger and more rabid lower classes. The growing apparent weakness of the Bourbon dynasty and the increasing strength of the mob undermined the group. The Congress in Delhi has suffered the same fate at the hands of the AAP. The lack of leadership and indecision of the Gandhi family and its attempts to give belated sops to the public are reminiscent of Queen Marie Antoinette’s cry when told there was no bread available in Paris: ‘But let them eat cake!’ But the nation could not afford to subsidize the bread, let alone the cake.
And how does this parable end? The Jacobin leader Robespierre fell by the same weapons that he had unleashed. The Assembly and mob had eventually grown tired of his endless sermonizing, the fervid accusations and blood bath that the Jacobins had deliberately encouraged in order to keep the rabble on its side and remain in power. The party fell in a heap, and was replaced in short order by a strong figure that sought central authority and would not brook any challenge to his authority.
The Bourbons lasted longer than their supporting faction, and came back in a restoration, not once but twice within 50 years, proved that they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, and the dynasty was removed from the French political scene forever. The supporters, who lavished support and sycophancy on the dynasty, disappeared without trace.
The strong individual who succeeded the Jacobins gained many triumphs, restored France’s pride and status, and his name is remembered by his countrymen with admiration and affection even today. But his ambitions, and one campaign too many, proved his undoing and he ended his life a lonely and abandoned figure. From ruling an empire, he was reduced to being a forgotten celebrity on a bleak rocky island in the Atlantic Ocean.
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