While
Rahul Shows Neither Interest Nor Talent, Cousin Varun Shows Both
Saeed Naqvi
Rahul Gandhi’s photos adorn the
shoulders of mainstream newspapers but he is in Aspen, Colorado, apparently to
attend a conference. BJP spokesman, Sambit Patra made a valid point: Rahul has
never attended such intellectually challenging seminars in India. Why such
enthusiasm for an event at Aspen?
The election campaign in Bihar
is in full swing. It must be a little embarrassing that his two rallies in
Bihar made no impression whatsoever. Neither Nitish Kumar nor Lalu Prasad Yadav
are comfortable with Rahul in their vicinity during a serious campaign. Far
from winning votes, he loses votes for any combination he joins. That is the
perception.
If he has chosen to disappear
from the scene to keep his self respect, well, this would be the first time he
has demonstrated a diminishing value called sensitivity, a thin skin.
The Aspen conference, if there
is one, may not be his only engagement. Congress President Sonia Gandhi is New
York bound for medical checks. Why would the family, which values its privacy,
congregate in New York at a time when the entire Indian establishment, media et
al, are all over the city for the UN General Assembly? It would be malicious to
suggest that the deadline for foreign asset disclosure is approaching.
The family is, by now, quite
used to scraping the bottom of the electoral barrel. Another humiliation in
Bihar (for the Congress) will not cause much sleep for Sonia, Rahul or the
cotrie which survives by looking at them with cow eyes.
And yet the media will not give
up on Rahul. There he is on front pages, his escapades, if not his politics,
the subject of heated debate on prime time TV.
The media’s obsession with Rahul
is clearly not because of some intrinsic worth it sees in him. It could be in
pursuit of TRP ratings because in a feudal society a family name is a valuable asset
even though the family is in free fall.
In fact the Gandhi family, in
abject decline, for past few years, were a powerful negative force which
brought Narendra Modi to power in May 2014. The world’s most expensive media
campaign would have remained unrewarded had Modi not harvested the voters’
total disgust with mother, son and Manmohan Singh.
It is possible that the formula
which brought Modi to power in 2014 is being given another try in Bihar. The
face of the BJP’s campaign in the state is Prime Minister Modi who is unlikely
to double up as Chief Minister in the event of a BJP victory.
Regional leaders Nitish and Lalu
are the faces of the RJD-JDU campaign. There is no regional BJP leader
impressive enough to face the duet. Not fielding a Chief Ministerial candidate
has the advantage of aspirants from diverse castes having their eyes riveted on
the top job and therefore under some discipline.
There is a flaw in the game
plan. An incumbent Prime Minister fighting state level leaders does not look
logical. Modi, the aspiring Prime Minister, riding the crest of an expensive
campaign, battered an incumbent, Manmohan Singh, who looked helpless on a short
leash held by Sonia Gandhi.
Within six months of coming to
power, Modi was trounced in Delhi. In other words he did not ride to power on
some extraordinary magnetism he possessed. He won because of the media hype
plus the dismal trio in opposition. So, Modi needs a foil like Rahul against whom
he looks a winner. To that extent Rahul is a requirement of the BJP.
There is an overriding factor. The
Indian ruling class the Corporates included, has nursed an unrealistic dream
that India has somehow become a two party system.
Two parties carrying carbon
copies of the same economic policy is for the Corporates a dream scenario,
accustomed as they have become to crony capitalism of differing shades. Rahul
as Modi’s foil creates the illusion of an alternative. This is supposed to work
as a deterrent for third and fourth fronts.
Sooner or later a fatigue factor
will set in and it would be extremely unfair to Rahul not to prepare him for
that eventuality.
Nitish still looks like a
political animal, at home in the rough and tumble of an electoral fray. But the
rustic charm of Lalu has now begun to pall. The trend began with Raj Narayan
who provided a homespun contrast to the polish of Hiren Mukherjee, Nath Pai and
H.V. Kamath. Lalu today begins to look like a continuation of sustained
boorishness on both sides of the aisle.
Whenever I ask Congressmen why
are they flogging an obstinate horse that will not budge. They answer
listlessly “For the time being there is no alternative to the Gandhi family”.
Talking of the Gandhi family,
has anyone noticed the evolution of Rahul’s first cousin Varun Gandhi from an
intemperate rabble rouser to a writer of thoughtful columns? Channels in search
of TRPs may consider a Rahul-Varun showdown.
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