Educating Rahul
By Vijaya Pushkarna
Rahul
Gandhi carries an enormous burden. The biggest among them is his family’s
political legacy , and the expectations from multitudes of Indians
that he or his sister Priyanka carry that forward.
“The Congress is not a political party like
the BJP. It is a collective of people
individually feeling a direct connect with the family of Jawahar Lal Nehru. If
you take that family away, what will happen to the party? I shudder to think of
it”, a Congress leader and former MLA from Uttar Pradesh told me a couple of
years ago.
It seemed pointless arguing with him that the
Grand Old Party has been nurtured by so many others. The party may not want to
pull them out of history(not history books) and dust and bring them into
contemporary political discourse , making them relevant—the way the BJP is
doing with their leaders.That gives Rahul the TINA factor.
Rare
flashes of brightness notwithstanding, hear Rahul’s many comments and speeches,
and one gets the feeling the role has been thrust upon him. Congress President
Sonia Gandhi entered that space very reluctantly. In a very rare interview she
recalled what made her change her mind about taking the plunge. She was in her
library, surrounded by books as well as portraits of the great leaders whose
descendent her husband Rajiv Gandhi , also a prime minister and a martyr, was.
In a very emotional tone, Sonia said she felt “they” would never have forgiven her if
she let the Congress disintegrate. Possibly, Rahul could not articulate it this
way, but feels no different.
When
Sonia Gandhi made that infamous “Maut Ke Saudagar” she was reading out from a
Hindi speech written by someone in the party. It could have been brushed aside
because even though president of the Congress, she may not have known what she
was saying—somewhat like the Bidar school kid who recited anti-CAA lines that
have landed the mother in jail on sedition charges. Sonia’s words are still
recalled , and not in a positive way.
But
look at Sonia ! How she has traversed the political path from then .It is for this that many in the
Congress know which Gandhi they will
pick if they could choose.
The
most enduring image of Rahul Gandhi is
he appearing unannounced at the Press Club of India where a party leader
was hosting a press conference, and tearing to shreds—literally—an ordinance to
save convicted legislators from disqualification in 2013. He called it
“complete nonsense”. While his stand was welcomed, his method of articulating
it was an embarrassment to the Congress leadership as well as then Prime
Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who was on a foreign visit.
And
when he referred to the incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi as “woh Narendra
Modi…” a couple of days ago, he outdid himself, and diffused the real issues he
charged the Prime Minister with ignoring: the economy.
Such
habits tend to stay.
All
is not lost for Rahul though. For that he has to work hard at overcoming his
second biggest challenge. He lacks substantial and deep knowledge across the
subjects. Political spins have to be
embedded with this to make the right impact.
The
phrase “taking to it like a duck to water” is no more than that, just a phrase.
Modern day business families send their gen next to the best of business
schools, top lawyers have their law graduate kids work in the chambers of other good lawyers. Rahul
cannot be sent to a good school to learn some liberal arts or another political party
to intern. But why not learn from his own illustrious predecessors? Why not
spend time watching the late prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s speeches ?
If he does this and a little more under good mentors, Rahul can come of age
politically, raise relevant issues in a way that there is light and not
frivolousness.
An
Anurag Thakur or a Paresh Varma or even
an Amit Shah are not to influence the
style or tone or thoughts of Rahul Gandhi. On the contrary, he can learn some
of the good things that Prime Minister Modi unarguably has –extreme hard work being one. For, the truth is Rahul is pitted against
Modi.
Educating
Rahul is important because democracy needs a good opposition party.
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