Who's real Rahul?

Aware of its plunging stock with the people and fast eroding vote base, the Congress has predictability turned to ‘The Family’ for answers. Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as vice-president and number 2 in the party may be intended to give a ‘youthful face’ to the party, but everyone knows that it is nothing but formalising the existing power structure.

Rahul’s nomination may boost the sagging morale of Congressmen, but whether it can enthuse India’s voters is another matter. Many Indians are familiar with his face and family name but little is known of his views on key issues of governance.  Rahul has been reluctant to speak his mind on contentious issues such as corruption, economic reforms, caste reservations or the development versus environment debate. He was holidaying abroad when the whole country burned for over a month over the Delhi rape case recently. He will have to end this reticence to engage with ordinary Indians if he is keen to emerge a mass leader with substance.

The Congress’ Chintan Shivir at Jaipur was to prepare a battle-planfor General Elections-2014. The entire ‘thinking’ seemed to be focused on singing praise of Rahul and little else. It shows how out of touch the Congress is with the prevailing mood in India. While party president Sonia Gandhi did draw attention to peoples’ weariness with corruption and crime, she provided no pointers to what the Congress proposed to do on these matters. Instead of brainstorming on how to tackle price rise, corruption and the agrarian crisis, all that one saw and heard through much of the meeting was sycophancy and sloganeering calling for Rahul’s elevation.

Rahul’s elevation is being touted as a generational change in the leadership of the Congress. It will require more youth to being inducted at all levels for this change to have meaning. Congressmen have hailed Rahul’s elevation as a game changer. This perception stems from an underestimation of the Indian voter, from a belief that family names rather than governance and performance determine who people vote for. It is as though Rahul at the steering wheel of the Congress is a cure-all for all the ills of the party and the shortcomings of the government it heads. A more realistic appraisal of what individuals can and cannot do, an honest assessment of the government’s performance and a robust battle plan to improve governance may provide the Congress a better starting point in the run-up to the general elections.