After months of backroom planning at his office cum residence at 12 Tughlaq Lane in the heart of Lutyen’s Delhi, Rahul Gandhi is becoming his own man. Always the reticent politician, much like his father Rajiv, Rahul has been missing for long gaps in the crucial UPA 2 regime beginning 2009.
Rahul was not around when Anna Hazare and later Arvind Kejriwal launched their comprehensive anti-corruption campaigns in New Delhi a couple of years ago; he was invisible when the UPA government was rocked by a series of corruption scams, mainly 2G spectrum allocation and Commonwealth Games a little earlier. When the Uttarakhand natural disaster hit the country, he was out of the country and barely managed to reach in time to express his condolences and flag off the symbolic relief truck going to Dehradun. In fact, he has barely been around whenever the time to assume what could be a natural leadership, presented itself.
Now suddenly, the Gandhi family scion is all over the place. What began with an ‘intervention’ at the Delhi Press Club leading to the recall of the controversial ordinance on convicted criminals and politicians – not without much theatre and drama – has now turned into a full scale broadside against the leading opposition party and the BJP, sounding the election bugle before the four important assembly elections a few weeks from now.
After withdrawal of the ordinance, showing just how much clout Rahul has in the current UPA dispensation, the potential prime minister from the Congress party hit a new high. He told a rally in Bhopal that Pakistani intelligence agencies had approached young Muslim men who had lost members of their family in the Muzaffarnagar riots for purposes of jehadi recruitment.
The obvious attempt to put the saffron leadership on the back foot has led to a huge flap; a flap which involved not just the BJP but UPA allies like the SP and JD (U) as well. For BJP’s star campaigner Narendra Modi, it was a godsend. ‘‘We would like the shehzada (prince ahul) to name those who have been approached by the ISI. It is happening right under the nose of the central government. Who is briefing him because there has to be an oath of secrecy before such briefing is given,’’ he mocked Congress’s star campaigner.
A couple of days earlier, during the course of two meetings at Churu and Alwar in Rajasthan, Rahul had invoked his family’s sacrifices to make the point that Congress remained the best bet for people. But Modi was in an unforgiving mood. He branded the Gandhi scion’s attempts as ‘‘Spinning family serials’’ to grab sympathy and went even further: the young shehzada’s speech was incomprehensible not just to the people but the Congress party as well, he alleged.
The usually calm Congress – never too disturbed by uproars knowing that all of them finally peter out – issued an uncharacteristic statement. Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi warned the BJP to stop using the term shehzada to address the Congress vice-president otherwise party workers would ‘‘Not tolerate use of such language against its vice-president. They are not acting out of respect to the election code of conduct and laws of the country and are thus quiet.’’ The threat could not have been more implicit.
Says Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi: ‘‘Everyone knows Rahul Gandhi’s ability to deliver on his promises. It is the BJP which is getting jittery because the young Congress leader is making his mark. His remarks on Muzaffarnagar have been blown out of proportions. He is merely wanting to restore communal peace in UP, which is a victim of bad governance.’’
Others too in the Congress have risen up to defend Rahul stoutly. Points out Madhya Pradesh leader Satyabrat Chaturvedi: ‘‘Modi is being malicious when he says that a family drama is being spun by Rahul. There is no other political family in the country which has made as many sacrifices as the Gandhi-Nehru family and history is witness to it. Rahul is just reiterating that point. Why is the BJP getting rattled?’’ he queries.
While the Congress is solidly behind Rahul, the same cannot be said of UPA allies. NCP leader and veteran politician Sharad Pawar did not pull his punches when he said that Rahul would have done better to do a stint in the government. ‘‘It always helps to have undertaken some responsibility. It would have gone in Rahul’s favour,’’ the wily Maharashtra strongman said.
Such back handed compliments can be expected if Rahul does not do as well as he is supposed to do, at least by the Congress. His somewhat abrupt ending at the Delhi Press Club conference have made some allies uneasy. Says NCP’s DP Tripathi: ‘‘Rahul must remember that this is not a Congress government but a UPA government. The decision to recall the controversial ordinance was taken by the UPA cabinet and not the Congress party.’’
The point is whether Rahul’s repeated references to his mother and family are likely to cut ice with the electorate? According to one senior party leader, his speech writers and advisers are the crème da la crème of the Congress: Jairam Ramesh, Digvijay Singh, Salman Khurshid and a string of youngsters like Sandeep Dixit, Milin Deora, Rajesh Pilot and others. ‘‘There is a general feeling that Indians being emotional voters, they are more likely to respond to such family references. After all, most political parties in India are now family-run affairs and they count for a lot,’’ he explains. There is a point there.
The coming weeks, as the election pitch become shriller, louder and dirtier, is certain to turn out into a fascinating thrust and parry between Rahul and Modi. Rahul may not have Modi’s chutzpah but the Congress scion is clearly banking on his famous family and surname.
