Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Neerja Chowdhury, one of the great journalists of our time, in her recently published book ‘How Prime Ministers Decide’ has written an interesting piece about why Congress leader Sonia Gandhi did not become Prime Minister in 2004, when it was all but certain that she would.
Chowdhury writes, ‘She (Sonia) was sitting on the sofa ... Manmohan Singh and Priyanka. Suman Dubey came shortly thereafter. Sonia Gandhi was looking distraught ... Then Rahul came in and said in front of all of us, “I will not let you become the prime minister. My father was assassinated, my dadi was assassinated. In six months, you will be killed”.’ She writes further. ‘Rahul threatened to take an extreme step if Sonia did not listen to him.’
Chowdhury has quoted former foreign minister and Nehru-Gandhi loyalist Natwar Singh. “This was no ordinary threat,” recalled Natwar Singh, "Rahul is a strong-willed person. He gave Sonia 24 hours to decide.”
As the world knows, Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister. She nominated Manmohan Singh. Manmohan Singh was a member of the Congress, but he was no political heavyweight. Manmohan Singh, along with Prime Minister P V Narsimha Rao, is credited with having launched economic reforms and paving the way for the market economy to usher in economic growth. If India today is the fifth largest global economy, credit should be given to him.
Clarity and fortitude
This episode from the book is reflective of Rahul Gandhi’s personality, of his clear-headedness, and of his strong will. Rahul Gandhi was 19 years younger then, and at that age if he had insisted that his mother become Prime Minister, no one would have faulted him. To reject the chair of an all-powerful Prime Minister is not an easy thing for even great men, but he did. That he had the clarity and the fortitude to say that to stop her is extraordinary.
Barring a few, journalists and commentators ignore this aspect of Rahul Gandhi’s personality. He is dubbed as a weak and reluctant politician. Reluctant he might be, but not weak. After an initial hesitation, Rahul Gandhi now has the clarity in which direction the Congress must move, and what role the party can play in the fight against the Narendra Modi-led BJP.
When it came to the defamation case, for which he was disqualified and had to vacate his house, the easy way out for Rahul Gandhi would have been to apologise in court and escape the insults he had to endure. But he stood his ground, and was ready to face the backlash for doing so.
Sin and blasphemy
A fair assessment of Rahul Gandhi is one of the biggest casualties of our time. This is partly of his own making and party due to today’s propaganda-driven politics which manipulates a large section of the population and creates an echo system in which any positive assessment of the opposition parties and its leaders is considered a sin, and any criticism of Modi becomes blasphemous.
Rahul Gandhi has realised that the Congress is in a deep crisis, and it needs a long-term cure to re-vitalise and become healthy. To push the party on that road to recovery, the Nehru-Gandhi family needs to take a back seat and another leader must be given the responsibility to run the daily affairs of the party; the Nehru-Gandhi family acting as a unifying force and as an ideological fountain head.
Away from power
We must consider a few things to understand the context.
First, it was easy for Rahul Gandhi to become Congress’s prime ministerial candidate after the massive success of the Anna Hazare movement which had tarnished the image of the Manmohan Singh government. Those days there were rumours that the Congress could be saved by Rahul Gandhi replacing Manmohan Singh. Had Rahul Gandhi inherited a bit of his uncle Sanjay Gandhi’s ambitions, he would have been ensconced in the south block before 2014. But he refused to be drawn into that debate.
During Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi was in his twenties, and had become the second most powerful person in India. Some commentators have gone to the extent of saying that Indira Gandhi feared him. Though Rahul Gandhi was a Member of Parliament during the 10 years of the UPA government, he, unlike his uncle, did not show an inclination to revel in power.
Energising the Congress
Second, Rahul Gandhi was the party president when the Congress lost in the 2019 elections, and he resigned taking moral responsibility for the loss. Tremendous pressure was mounted on him to withdraw his resignation, but he did not budge. He also ensured that nobody from his family would become the party president. Had he been hungry for power, or insecure, he would not have resigned from the party president post.
Almost every political party is centred on a family, and it is uncommon for its leaders to pass on the baton once the party loses an election. Today, if the Congress looks in a better shape under Mallikarjun Kharge’s presidency, credit should be given to Rahul Gandhi too.
Third, Rahul Gandhi, who was rejected by many journalists and commentators, defied predictions and walked 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Today, if the brand power of the Congress is on the ascendence, it is because of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which energised the dormant party cadre.
You cannot ignore him
Now back as Wayanad’s MP, the rumour mills are working overtime claiming that Rahul Gandhi is a serious contender for I.N.D.I.A’s prime ministerial candidate. Such a malicious campaign is expected to create fissures in the Opposition camp. Kharge has made it clear that the Congress is not hankering for the top post, and its priority is to defeat the BJP. Most likely Kharge would have consulted Rahul Gandhi before making such a statement.
Rahul Gandhi has just re-entered Parliament. This is just the beginning of the walk to the general elections of 2024. It is difficult to gauge the mood of the people now and how the campaign will turn out in the next few months; but, Rahul Gandhi is a different person and cannot be ignored. It is no wonder the BJP and the government have sharpened their attack on him.
(Ashutosh is Editor, Satyahindi, and author of Hindu Rashtra.)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.