The reports regarding Rahul Gandhi’s latest visit abroad, probably to Italy, where his maternal grandmother stays, has raised serious doubts regarding the former Congress president’s commitment to politics. In fact, he has been overseas multiple times this year and even Trinamool Congress Supremo, Mamata Banerjee, recently pointed out that Rahul had become a non-resident politician. The comment was in the context of whether Congress had the capacity to lead a united opposition front against the BJP in the next Parliamentary elections. Several top opposition leaders while conceding that an alternative to the BJP could not be formed without the Congress as its nucleus, have serious apprehensions regarding Rahul’s capacity to deliver. In a political theatre where both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are 24X7 politicians, anyone who takes them on in the electoral arena needs to be fully prepared to take command of the Opposition narrative. Rahul’s acceptance as a leader even within his own party is because his family virtually controls the decision-making process.
In the past few years, especially during the last two Parliamentary polls, the Congress performance has been dismal and below par. Therefore, to claim the leadership of the collective Opposition, Congress needs to put its house in order first. This implies, strengthening the non-existent organisational base and setting the agenda for the political class to follow. The main grouse against Rahul, in particular, and the Gandhis in general, is that they do not seem to be getting their priorities right, and perhaps are waiting for a huge negative vote to push the BJP out of power. This is purely wishful thinking and even if the people were to vote out the BJP, they may not necessarily endorse the Congress for leading a coalition government.
Politics is a game of ifs and buts where the Gandhis do not seem to realise that those whom they have chosen to act on their behalf also lack both experience, political wisdom, and vision to handle tricky matters. Most of those who are in good books are looking for a lease of life so far as their political innings go and by practicing the politics of sycophancy are attempting to position themselves for a Rajya Sabha at the earliest. Rahul’s greatest failing is that he refuses to learn from his mistakes and remains adamant about what gets into his mind at a particular juncture. At the Congress rally in Jaipur on price rise, he chose to speak about Hindutva and Hinduism. Unfortunately, he came out as a person, who did not seem well versed in whatever he was trying to communicate.
His frequent foreign trips have invited sarcastic and caustic comments from his BJP rivals, who often accuse him of travelling overseas to manage his wealth there. True the charge may be totally baseless, but it provides a handle to the Saffron Brigade to cast further aspersions on the Gandhis. His present excursion to Italy or wherever has come when the candidates and strategy for the Assembly polls have to be finalized. He should have been on hand to take the final decisions since his aides have the propensity of messing up things even when they are going the Congress way. In Karnataka, the manner in which, KC Venugopal hurt Congress is a well-documented fact. Rahul should understand the importance of being available when politics on the ground is crystalising.
The Congress had paid a heavy price when there was a delay in the declaration of Punjab Assembly tickets way back in 2007 since Captain Amarinder Singh was on a holiday in Rajasthan. Rahul must make this clear to the Nation as well as to his party whether he wants to continue his political journey in a similar fashion of being elusive and inconsistent or wants to portray himself as a future leader of the country. A lot of sacrifice and discipline is needed for this and unless he has other plans, he should resolve in the New Year to be an accessible Congress leader.