Sunita Vakil in Delhi
Rahul’s outburst at a press conference and the manner in which the Congress manoeuvred a U-turn looked like scenes from a reality television comedy show.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s leaders and admirers are welcome to believe that his daring caper a few days back when he gate-crashed a press conference being held by colleague Ajay Maken denouncing the ordinance seeking to nullify Supreme Court judgement on convicted legislators was a political master stroke. But the reality is that the sudden awakening of Rahul Gandhi’s conscience while rebuking the ordinance that his government passed looked rehearsed and scripted.
Heir apparent
The common man has been treated to another drama to distract his attention from serious failure of governance. This script is now all too familiar, wherein the heir apparent takes the credit for everything positive that happens in the UPA government. The end of the story is along predictable lines—-the emergence of Rahul Gandhi as a no nonsense hero of young India standing up against the old order. But this is not politics but cheap fun. More than anything else, Mr Gandhi with such juvenile antics is proving to be the enfant terrible of the Congress. His act has only raised eyebrows besides landing his party in the soup.
Rahul’s outburst at the press conference and his “non sense” remark were indeed nothing but a drama. The angry young man image act was directed by the Congress event managers to project him as the saviour who has an old head on young shoulders. One really wonders if the Congress scion’s belated but blistering attack on the ordinance was a well orchestrated political stunt, as alleged by the opposition to salvage the party and the government’s image. It is definitely a gimmick orchestrated to win peoples confidence in the wake of national outrage against the ordinance.
One doubts the genuineness of his rebellion since the Congress Vice President is too big a person to be kept out of deliberations on such an important issue. Mr Gandhi knew that the ordinance was aimed at protecting tainted MPs and MLAs. He should have opposed it at the initial stage when it was discussed in the union cabinet. Or else he should have vented his views when the Bill was tabled in Parliament.
Why such a public condemnation of the ordinance by him after the President sought certain clarifications and the stiff opposition by the BJP and the Left? There have been many occasions when the government has gone haywire but Mr Gandhi preferred to stay silent. If he was really interested in ending corruption in the corridors of power, he would have supported Anna Hazare’s agitation for a strong Lok Pal Bill. It is possible that alarmed by the sharp media and public criticism and the President’s reservations on the ordinance the Congress devised this strategy. What happened last week is a carefully crafted act that seeks to portray Mr Gandhi as a hero and an epitome of morality.
Congress in a state of embarrassment
Rahul’s politics has left the Congress in a state of embarrassment. If he was genuinely against the ordinance he could have done a far better job than storming into a press conference and blazing all guns at the government. Mr Gandhi could have worked behind the scenes to tackle the ordinance. Nobody in the Congress would have gone against the party high command. There was no need for drama. Does Rahul expect the nation to believe that he publicly slammed the ordinance and his party’s government without the consent of Congress President Sonia Gandhi? The Congress Vice President may be calculating that by distancing himself form his party’s government in this manner, he would align himself with the current public sentiment.
Rahuls’ intention might have been noble but the manner in which he expressed his views and the timing are quite interesting. No one can disagree with what he said about the ordinance. But the timing, when the PM is out of the country, and the harsh language are in bad taste. Rahul Gandhi and the embarrassment he caused to the Congress party simply refuses to die down, with the All India Congress Committee Vice President now making amends for his harsh words and admitting that he was wrong in his choice of words but not in the sentiments. Worse, his public denunciation of the ordinance undermined not only the authority of the party leadership but also the entire cabinet. Perhaps this is a ploy hatched by Mr Gandhi and his sycophants to make him look like the emerging leader who can cock a snook at the PM in full media glare and get away with it.
Mr Gandhi’s action raises several questions. If the ordinance is “nonsense” do the PM, the union cabinet and Congress make any sense? One wonders whether the Congress Vice President thinks the cabinet ministers of his government are so unworthy that they deal with important matters in nonsensical manner. He has provided an opportunity to the opposition to criticise the government and the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the opposition parties instead of seeking the PM’s resignation must question Mr Gandhi’s political judgement and style.
He read the writing on the wall
Many of Rahul’s defenders say that he read the writing on the wall and expressed people’s sentiments. It has thus been proved beyond doubt that the rest of the Congress leaders neither see the writing on the wall nor respond to people’s sentiments. It is now an axiom that there is no coordination between the UPA government and the Congress high command. The rift between them is widening with each passing day. Apart form having far reaching consquences, Mr Gandhi’s response exposes the communication gap between his party and the government in New Delhi.
Further, Mr Gandhi’s recommendations to the government have far more weight than the recommendations of any other Congress leader because he shines in the reflected glory of his mother. The Gandhi scion is projected as Congress’s future and party boss as well as Prime Ministerial candidate. Yet he still comes across as a reluctant politician. Given his unpredictable moves and moods, he may prefer the present arrangement where the party supremo holds all power without accountability.
Though this Gandhi jayanti marked a historical coronation of the heir apparent we have to wait and see whether he will be forthright on other issues as well and assume the mantle of the party’s leadership as a mature Prime Ministerial candidate.
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The writer is a Delhi based senior journalist and can be reached at:sunitavakil@ yahoo.co.in
Source: Weekly Holiday
