Comparing Rahul with Rajiv Gandhi

0
207

Ajay N Jha

ENARADA, New Delhi,

By AJAY N JHA

The hallmark of a leader is his own sense of confidence and conviction in whatever says and does, uniformity and continuity in his words and actions and the impact he leaves on his viewers and well-wishers. That way his interview with Arnab Goswami of Times Now was a great opportunity to showcase his talent, exhibit his sense of perception and understanding of his party and the nation and argue in a cogent, coherent and intelligent fashion to the set of questions lobbed at him.

That way, this interview was a great platform and opportunity to clear air on so many things and banish the haze of hopelessness surrounding around him. He should have come fully prepared and established himself and dictate the agenda by putting the Anchor on defensive through his oratory and articulation. At the end however, he appeared to be far from prepared and was grappling over a few difficult questions as he had been lured into defend the indefensible.

When Arnab Goswami declared right in the beginning that he wanted ‘specific’ answers to his questions, Rahul Gandhi should have realized that the Nation did not want to know about the Gandhis from him. On the contrary, they wanted to know his candid view on a few subjects that had confronted his party in last few years. In the traditional political narrative of our country, hubris is often read as confidence and Rahul Gandhi missed a chance to dig in his heels at a leader who commands attention.

Mr Gandhi emphasized on the ‘system’ more than 13 times and he vowed to change it. He wanted to ‘open’ the existing system. He strongly advocated the ‘overhaul’ of the system. Yet the fact remains that if the system is the political establishment that runs governments in the country, the Congress party while not being responsible for the whole of it, is certainly responsible for the biggest section of it.

Slide1 - Copy

Given the fact of earlier initiatives to make the party more inclusive, Rahul Gandhi’s anti-system assertions lacked the thrust of a concrete action plan. Not much has been heard about his initiative to have aspiring legislators fill-up a 5 page application form for the purpose of transparent nomination. Yet no one knows who compiles these forms, who screens them and what exactly is the process involved in the elimination of candidates.

During the interview, Rahul Gandhi seemed in a great hurry to distance himself from every scam the Congress has been caught in. His passing the buck on the Prime Minister reveals another pathological problem that is his refusal to take responsibility or his expertise to shoulder it alone.

Perhaps his mentors have not told him that the attempt to disassociate a political narrative from selected phases of its own development can only produce a discordant and desperate appeal to look into the future regardless of the past and that also runs the risk of being read as a disregard for the past, lack of penitence and evident absence of humility.

The primary weapon in a political party’s arsenal is strong defence—a mix of denial, refusal and counter-allegation. Rahul Gandhi seems to be keen on defending and promoting just those aspects of the party’s activities he has participated in and leave the rest to their own devices. It can be read a selfish, it can be described as ineptitude and it would most certainly, be counted as a big leadership drawback.

 Dichotomy

Rahul Gandhi clearly lacked continuity and sustenance in his arguments. For example, with regards to AAP, he said “What I felt that we can learn from them is that they reached out to people in a particular way that was good. There are things that we don’t think we should take away from them”. At the same time, he emphasized that the real power of the Congress is the depth of the Organization and you cannot make changes by destroying this.

On the comparison between 1984 Anti-Sikh riots and the Gujarat riots of 2002, he was equally scattered. He blamed Modi for being a part of it and yet he said “It is not me. It is a large number of people who saw actively the government of Gujarat being involved in the riots.” He also justified   Dr Manmohan Singh’s attack saying “What the Prime minister is saying about Gujarat riot is a fact”.  On the question of anti-Sikh Riots in 1984, his defence was “I was not involved in the riots at all. It wasn’t that I was a part of it” At the same time, he admitted that “some Congressmen were probably involved in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and they have been punished for it”.

Rahul Gandhi said he believed in the opening of the system. Yet he avoided giving a direct reply to the question on whether political parties should be brought under the purview of the RTI and said the parliament should decide on it if political parties are unanimous on this.

He was equally evasive on the question of Ashok Chavan and Virbhadra Singh and yet he claimed that he was fighting against Corruption. He advocated for a ‘clean politics’ and yet he said that Congress party was going to have an electoral alliance with Lalu Yadav who has already been convicted and served jail term.

He also carefully avoided the question when he was asked if he would participate in a national debate with the contenders for the Prime Minister’s post.

Inferences

While Rahul Gandhi is not exactly the quintessential outsider, a part of his image building exercise leaned heavily on this stance- that of an insider who is almost an outside in the way he is critical of the established traditions of politics and governance. His answers clearly revealed that instead of defending himself and his party on key questions, he tried to avoid talking about them.

While he looked sincere in what he thought to be, he also revealed that neither he has a concrete plan nor a clear agenda on the  governance and how he would like to cleanse the ‘system’. His deeply worried look was more like a school kid suddenly facing a particularly difficult trigonometry tangle or an algebra sum.

The prolonged confusion and criticism about his role in the congress party partially stems from the fact that his public relations have been patchy at the best. He needs to re-discover and re-invent himself on this count.

Congress party media managers have tried depict him in  glazy posters as anti-corruption Ninja, as Superman with his ‘Karyaniti’ or a ‘I’m going to fix the world’ smile . Yet the fact remains that he has a go a long way to catch up Modi on these counts.

Diagnosis

1 His eye contact was miserable, and he was looking all over the place, and very rarely eye-to-eye with Arnab

2 Body language is a vital thing that displays confidence, and inner resolve and determination. He just missed this – and often I felt he was just trying to impress viewers with jargons and “unfelt emotions”

3 Due to his shifty and edgy body language, his credibility was at stake to those of us who can see through

4 While Arnab maintained a very surprising composure, RG was wavering in his answers and was side tracking

5 There were no ‘real promises’ or resolve for ‘what I will do for India’

6.  This is the vital difference between Modi & RG / Congress

7 The 60 years and 60 Months mantra is an important one to tackle

Comparing son with father

This invariable prompts one to go into flash back and start seeing Rahul Gandhi from the prism of his father late Rajiv Gandhi and his tenure as the Prime Minister and  then, as leader of Opposition in parliament. Rahul appears to be making most of the mistakes his father made in the early years of his career. Since Rahul has not held a position of responsibility, his performance with Rajiv as an administrator can’t be compared. But their political trajectories converge at many points. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul has his father’s flaws as a public speaker, an identical coterie of advisors and is considered equally naïve and inept for Indian politics. The only difference is that Rajiv had started his career with a lot of hope and he delivered a lot before the Bofors bomb exploded.  On the other hand, a lot of people already seem to have lost all hope in Rahul even before he has begun.

Rajiv was pitch-forked into the political arena much against his wishes and more as a compulsion after the tragic death of Sanjay Gandhi. Yet he proved to be a fast learner. He had his ‘own dream of India’ and the people of this country are still repeating the fruits of those policies which Rajiv enunciated in the first two years as the Prime Ministrer. Things went arwy at the advent of VP Singh as the Brutus.

It is not mere coincidence that Rahul too has become famous as Pappu, a moniker firebrand speaker Ritambhara had bestowed on Rajiv at the peak of the Ayodhya agitation. Rahul has been subjected to unprecedented derision and ridicule after his first interview on TV. His plight is a tragic reminder of the scorn that was heaped on Rajiv every time he appeared on Doordarshan in the late 80s. Rajiv became the favoutite whipping boy of both public and press for his monopolizing Doordarshan prime time during the latter part of his tenure (1984-89) with his trite, banal speeches and monologues.

The problem with Rajiv then was his fascination for dull platitudes about his concerns and future plans he rolled out with irritating regularity. His style during those days was summed up by the immortal line Hume Dekhna Hai, Hum Dekhenge that became a subject of mirth among everyone.

Rajiv too was famous also for his public bouts of revulsion against the existing system, (remember his famous speech against power brokers or the statement that 85 percent money meant for development never reached the masses); and reminding people of the ‘sacrifices made by Indiraji’. His statement that “the earth shakes after a big tree falls” and “UNKI NAANI YAAD KARA DENGE” became a subject of ridicule and revulsion.

Like his father, Rahul too seems to be fond of these themes. His speeches, and his maiden interview, so far have suffered from the Hum-Dekhenge syndrome, manifest in his litany of clichés on what he plans to do with the Congress and the nation without the slightest evidence of a convincing track record, shades of faux rebellion against the existing system and his constant references to the sacrifices made by his ancestors.  He seems to be very fond of the word “Bhaiya” and sometimes, comes out with totally out of context and outlandish statements which get lapped up by the social media and magnified a thousand times.

It is well known that Rahul has had no experience of an aam aadmi’s life. It can be safely presumed that Rahul has had limited, even negligible, opportunities to interact with people who did not have a vested interest in him. His interlocutors, his companions must have been either security guards or obsequious politicians eager to please him for their own benefit. They must have told him what he wanted to hear, applauded when he should have been jeered and remained acquiescent when Rahul’s words should have been debated or debunked. Since his experience of ordinary, daily life is insignificant, Rahul’s thoughts are largely based on what he has learnt sitting at home or in his office with the help of his friends and advisers.

The problem with living on borrowed wisdom is that unless you put it to test in the rough and tumble of real life, it remains just a theoretical concept. Rahul’s public appearances have proved that his untested, vague thoughts and scrounged ideas can’t stand even the politest of cross examination.

In spite of his shortcomings, Rahul could have evolved into a wise, seasoned politician if he had chosen his advisors well. But, on the basis of evidence at hand, he is relying on cronies, again like his father. Like his father who trusted his Doon School brigade, Rahul too has preferred loyalty, royalty and pedigree over experience and political maturity. His Man Friday and political aide Kanishka Singh, son of former Rajasthan governor and career diplomat SK Singh, has no experience of electoral politics.

Rahul’s other close lieutenant are Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Sandeep Dikshit and Randeep Hooda. All of them are either from royal families or heirs to political dynasties. Replace them with the likes of Arun Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, Arun Nehru and the other Doon School pals and Rahul’s kitchen cabinet resembles that of his father’s in the early 80s.

Not one members of Rahul’s Babalog Brigade, like his father’s, struggled his way up the political ladder. Success had come easy to all of them, and they too, like Rahul, have had limited exposure to the aam aadmi’s life. Some of them may have sharp brains, but when it comes to experience gained from the grind of life, they can’t stake claim to a lot. Rahul’s think-tank, which should have ideally comprised people from different backgrounds, is almost similar to him in both upbringing and inexperience.

No wonder, Rahul sounds naïve, impractical and theoretical. Rajiv too had many disadvantages. In comparison with Rahul, who has been around for more than a decade, Rajiv had just three years of political experience before the prime minister’s job was thrust upon him. He didn’t have the benefit of learning on the job from an experienced mother.

And he was betrayed by most of the men he trusted. But after the setback in 89, he had started showing signs of political maturity. Rahul could have turned his biggest flaw—the tag of being a beneficiary of dynastic politics—into an advantage by learning from the travails and triumphs of his predecessors. That he hasn’t so far only adds to his tragedy.

Rahul still thinks that the old timers in his party are a bunch of jerks and junk and he keeps snubbing them as and when he wants. No wonder then, he has been bereft of solid advice of those people which would have helped him in emerging as a mature politician.

Above all, Rahul is pitted against Narendra Modi whose expertise in pincer attack and taking the battle down the street exceptional.

Karnataka Syndrome

One may call it the organizational prowess or otherwise, yet the fact remains that no other BJP leader in the last 25 years has been able to  get that much of crowd swell in Manipur, West Benagal and Odisha that  Narendra Modi has been drawing.  Even Stalwarts like Vajpayee and LK Advani could not have dreamt of that mush crowd presence in these areas as Modi has proved.

That should be a warning signals for Congress party managers in Karnataka because that is the only State where the Congress high command is anxiously looking towards some solace and salvation in terms of seats.

With so many State Chieftains like Dharam Singh, Veerappa Moily, Mallikarjun Kharge and even second rung  chatraps like TB Jayachandra, R.V.Deshpande and a few others pushing the candidature of their kith and kin for the  parliamentary tickets, days are not far off when the sobriquet of ‘Tande- makkala’ (Father- Son) party which had been hitherto monopolized by HD Deve Gowda, would be transferred to the Congress party.

Karnataka is the only State where the Congress party could expect a large number of seats given that it is likely to draw nothing in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh imbroglio is going to explode on its face in the form of Telangana bomb and the kerala ‘Kathakali’ syndrome already seems to be in splinters all over again because of the tug of war between Chief Minister Ommen Chandy and KPCC President and Vice President, VM Sudheeran and VD Satheesan respectively.

The Congress party in Karnataka has not been able to put its acts together on many front and the image of Chief Minister Sidharamaih too has started taking a beating for various reasons.

Under these circumstances, it remains to be seen if the efforts of Congress vice Presdent Rahul Gandhi would really help in saving the Congress ship from sinking.

The most interesting part is that even a handful of senior Congressmen have started telling in private conversation that  some senior Congress leaders have themselves started pulling the party down to ensure that Rahul Gandhi’s political  plane does not take off at all. Consider this:-

1.     They bemoan that the Congress party would have won both Madhaya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh but for the machinations of a few Congress leaders themselves. The defeat in Delhi too would not have been so glaring.

2.      The price of onion shot up to Rs 100 per kg apart from other vegetables and for that, a section of Congressmen were making all efforts not to let it come down. The central government could have intervened and taken effective steps to check the price spiral but nothing happened till elections and there was huge slump immediately after the State Assembly results were declared. Was that a part of their agenda?

3.      The price of diesel was increased a night before the polling day in Rajasthan. What was the hurry? Couldn’t they have waited for a few days?

4.      Now comes the purchase of CNG from Reliance at four time more than normal price so that they become all the more costly on the eve of Lok Sabha polls and the Congress party gets hit on its face.

Said a member of the Rahul Gandhi team “we are aware of this game and we could see a clear method in this madness”.

Yet Rahul Gandhi and his managers are not in a position to confront the seniors and taken them head on. In such a situation, why would the Congress party need enemies from outside anyway…??

(Posted on February 12, 2013 @ 1pm)

(Ajay N Jha is a veteran journalist from both Print and Electronic media.  He is Advisor to Prasar Bharti. The views expressed are his personal. His email id is Ajay N Jha <ajayjha30@gmail.com> )

The views expressed on the website are those of the Columnists/ Authors/Journalists / Correspondents and do not necessarily reflect the views of ENARADA.

 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

*

code