As India heads toward a crucial general election, the country’s grand old party, the Congress, finds itself in a quandary over leadership issue. The outcome of Congress’ special session held last Friday clearly reflects the party’s bewilderment.
Why else will Rahul Gandhi be anointed as the lead poll campaigner despite his pathetic track record in past elections? Besides, internal surveys have clearly revealed that the party will lose relevance under his leadership post 2014 election. With credible information of souring of relation between Rahul and the old guards emanating from within the organization, the Congress is indeed in search of a magician. And Rahul certainly is no wizard who can lend adequate support to see the party through this political crisis.
Surely, he has lost the plot midway after a flying start to his political career. A man who was followed keenly by one and all for his disquiet and rebellion against the political status quo, suddenly found himself isolated from the masses. Unfortunately, the Congress vice president has lost sight of the fact that his political conduct must conform to the country’s sociocultural ethos. Like his father Rajiv Gandhi, he too has been led up the garden path by elements far removed from the ground realities. A weak political instinct proved to be Rahul’s nemesis as he struggled to adapt to Indian politics’ unique features and identities, which varies according to the myriad local customs and traditions. That precisely is the reason why Rahul’s political fortunes plummeted while his party suffered huge blows in successive elections.
As he went about reforming the Congress’ approach to politics by altering the party’s conventional value system and discarding traditional modes of communication with the people and workers on the ground, the organization’s structured machinery spread across India was put into doldrums. Moreover, deliberately choosing to be ringed by a coterie of politically naïve managers was a big blunder as it hastened the Nehru-Gandhi scion’s alienation from the ground. When even senior colleagues do not enjoy direct access to Rahul, it is natural that the commoners will find it difficult to identify with him or his version of high-tech politics. Party insiders close to Rahul have also been privately critical of his functioning and the resolve to permanently re-fashion the Congress even if it means a complete decimation of this historic institution.
Rahul’s frequent outburst, unilateral decision-making and the habit of acting like a rebel within the party structure did not have any impact on the voters. Rather, positioning himself as somebody who is at odds with his own establishment to fetch electoral dividend will ultimately contribute to the creation of an escapist political culture in India. To reinvent himself, Rahul urgently needs a recess. The Congress vice president must use this period to develop political acuity so that sometime in the future he can be once again projected as a prime ministerial material capable of rewriting the script when the going gets tough. Though it is still too early to come to the conclusion that politics is beyond Rahul’s ken, undoubtedly the Congress vice president has failed to display the desired political astuteness so far. Had Rahul been a deft politician, he would have avoided developing a corporate style identity for himself and the party. By doing so he has failed to endear himself to the populace who wanted to see an ebullient and mature politician in him who can measure the pulse of the people. But alas, Indira Gandhi’s grandson showed more interest in boardroom politics instead of making repeated forays deep into rural and urban pockets for cultivating the electorate. In politics, there is no shortcut to leadership. Even a formidable Indira had to embark upon a cross-country tour after the electoral debacle in 1977 to regain peoples’ faith.
Since, the Indian electorate is nowadays willing to experiment with unique ideas and fresh faces as evident from Aam Aadmi Party’s magical rise, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remains Congress’ best bet for restoring its lost glory. With the highflying opposition prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi gradually losing steam after being effectively grounded by a political novice like Arvind Kejriwal, Priyanka can add a new dimension to the 2014 general election. She not only has a favorable public presence due to her amiable persona but also closely resemble her grandmother Indira Gandhi in appearance. Like Indira — one of India’s most powerful politicians ever — Priyanka too is gifted with a magnetic appeal, which will ensure that nothing negative can tarnish her enigmatic personality easily. Instead, the vast majority of people who are yearning for a personalized and emotive style of leadership that Modi offers will discover the same features encapsulated within Priyanka and a lot more that the sexagenarian opposition Prime Ministerial candidate cannot provide. In Priyanka, India will find a daughter, sister, wife, mother and above all a compassionate and levelheaded political personality capable of providing a decisive and dynamic leadership. Those who have had the opportunity to closely watch Priyanka will acknowledge candidly that she is gifted with an amazing organizational prowess and a no-nonsense persona that Modi will find difficult to match. Besides, she can connect instantly with the womenfolk and young generation who make up the majority of the electorate in today’s India. At the end of the day, to a corruption-fatigued country seeking accountability from its politicians, Priyanka’s presence will be like a whiff of fresh air. A beleaguered Congress leadership can ignore this reality only at their peril.
- Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.
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