Sonia Gandhi is perhaps more astute a politician than any currently in the Congress camp, let alone the ministers in the union cabinet anointed from the grand old party. The matriarch has underlined the voice of the nation and muffled the clamour from within the party to crown Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate, saying instead that Congress has a tradition of MPs choosing the Prime Minister and that cannot be compromised for one person. Clearly, the party chairperson has shown, once again, her bold stance in the matter and has accepted the bitter fact that not only is Rahul not ready to take on the baton from Manmohan Singh, even the country isn’t ready to accept the dynasty scion as the head of a future government, even though the chances of UPA coming to power for a third time is perfectly nil. Not only is Rahul no match for the political acumen of an Arvind Kejriwal or the governance abilities of a Narendra Modi, he is also singularly lacking in any originality of vision as far as party manifesto, policies or administration are concerned. As is evident from the 17 January AICC meeting, not only is Rahul still trying to bludgeon his way to tweak cabinet decisions and publicly put down ministers in the government, he’s throwing his weight around without backing up his proclamations with substantial achievements to boast of. Under Rahul’s disastrous stint as the campaign chief, Congress has already had a taste of loss in the 2013 assembly elections in four major states. His attempt at bringing in structural changes in the party have backfired, with the Congress now becoming a party without an ideological core and one with only a riff-raff election-oriented populist measures to speak of. All the good works of the UPA government, such as those including MGNREGA, RTI, Land Acquisition Act, Food Security Act among others, have been the projects close to Sonia Gandhi’s heart, with stiff opposition from the Gandhi scion.
Of course, Rahul has tried, and his attempts to modernise the party, including reviving its youth wing, have yielded good dividends. The clamour for Rahul to lead Congress came from this enthused section of young leaders, such Sachin Pilot, Jyotiradiya Scindia, among others, who connect better with the Gandhi scion and have a unified vision of a fast-growing India. However, it must be said that all the youthful enthusiasm notwithstanding, this section is extremely cut off from the ground realities in vast swathes of rural India, which still suffers from deep inequities and poverty. Hence, Sonia Gandhi’s decision to spare Rahul the ignominy of a terrible election defeat, as is obvious from the rising fortunes of AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and the still peaking demand for Modi version of ‘strong leadership,’ is understandable. Nevertheless, the Congress’ sycophantic dependence on the Gandhi family is evident from naming Rahul as the Lok Sabha poll campaign chief and following the tactic of saving a Gandhi from firing line.
Of course, Rahul has tried, and his attempts to modernise the party, including reviving its youth wing, have yielded good dividends. The clamour for Rahul to lead Congress came from this enthused section of young leaders, such Sachin Pilot, Jyotiradiya Scindia, among others, who connect better with the Gandhi scion and have a unified vision of a fast-growing India. However, it must be said that all the youthful enthusiasm notwithstanding, this section is extremely cut off from the ground realities in vast swathes of rural India, which still suffers from deep inequities and poverty. Hence, Sonia Gandhi’s decision to spare Rahul the ignominy of a terrible election defeat, as is obvious from the rising fortunes of AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and the still peaking demand for Modi version of ‘strong leadership,’ is understandable. Nevertheless, the Congress’ sycophantic dependence on the Gandhi family is evident from naming Rahul as the Lok Sabha poll campaign chief and following the tactic of saving a Gandhi from firing line.