Rahul Gandhi - look who is talking

Someone without any credentials gets job in a particular company only because his parents are majority shareholders. Within three years of joining, he is straightaway made the general manager of the organization.  He is also given the responsibility to manage some of company’s subsidiaries. He fails miserably here, and is unable to get a single credible achievement under his belt.  In spite of this, when the company embarks on a very critical project later on, he is given full responsibility and authority to handle the same. Again he doesn’t deliver, and all the efforts fall flat on face. Instead of demanding accountability and doing a serious introspection, he is again directly promoted to the position of Vice Chairman. By this time everybody knows that he would be treated differently and would not be scrutinized by the same standards that are applicable to ordinary employees. As a vice chairman   he is not only unsuccessful in accomplishing anything substantial but also regularly defies top management including the CEO. Still the company entrusts him with another very critical assignment that could eventually determine its future. Consistent with past track record, this privileged vice chairman messes up with this one as well. At least now you would expect the company to take corrective measures. But defying all logic and common sense, the company almost nominates him for the CEO position.  To be continued….

If you replace company with the Congress party in above paragraph, the individual in context is certainly Rahul Gandhi. Without any grassroots experience, Rahul Gandhi got a Lok Sabha ticket from Congress in 2004 only because of his surname. Without any concrete contribution to either the UPA government or the Congress party he directly became party’s General Secretary in 2007. He was also given additional charge of Indian Youth Congress and student wing of NSUI. Till today his plans remain unfulfilled, and the entire process of organizing internal elections has fallen way short of building a formidable cadre or giving space to good leadership. For the pan India revival of Congress, it was necessary to regain lost ground in crucial Hindi heartland of UP and Bihar. So Rahul Gandhi was given full charge of assembly elections in these two states. After his hectic campaigning, Congress won just 4 out of 243 seats in Bihar. In UP state elections, he was in complete control of everything from campaigning to ticket allocation. He alone addressed more than 200 rallies. Result – Congress won just 28 out 403 seats, not even 10% of the total. Rather than holding him accountable this pathetic performance, they ironically made him the Vice President of Congress! In few months, the party faced crucial elections in four major states – Delhi, Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh. He was again given absolute authority to oversee the entire campaign. Result – Congress miserably lost in all four states. So what does Congress decide to do? They deliberated on making him the PM candidate, and finally asked him to lead the Congress campaign for general elections.

Message from the electorate is loud and clear. But sometimes political parties just don’t get it. Or in a mad scramble of sycophancy, they deliberately chose to ignore it. The message is that people are tired of UPA's misgovernance that has led to massive corruption, rising unemployment, and unchecked inflation. They are fed up of a Prime Minister who has only behaved like a stooge for the dynasty without showing any spine for courageous leadership. But instead of reading the writing on wall, the Congress party seems to be hell bent on imposing Rahul Gandhi on 1.2 billion people. His image is now being recast as an anti-corruption crusader, a rank outsider, a political reformer. Recently he has become more articulate on major issues, and has acquired an uncharacteristic aggression in an attempt to portray himself as India's angry young man. But his track record puts a big question mark on his ability to walk the talk beyond regular gimmicks and cameos.

Decade of hibernation

As the unchallenged leader of India’s single largest party and incontestable inheritor to India’s biggest political legacy, Rahul had a fantastic opportunity to outline his vision for India and get it executed through a government that was always ready to toe his line. Forget about Prime Minister’s post, Rahul could have  worked on his pet themes by at least taking up any relevant cabinet ministry – rural development, HRD, youth affairs, etc. But no, running a ministry takes much more than cosmetic pretentions and gimmickry. Why would he do this if he could simply enjoy limitless power without any responsibility? Power with accountability is certainly a poison. In past decade, he only played ‘hit and run’ politics without taking any of the issues to their logical conclusion. All his interventions have only been about playing to the gallery that can grab few eyeballs, get a mention in prime time news, and occupy front page of national newspapers - be it one night stay at Dalit houses, one time travel by local train, once in a while pillion ride in UP, and many more.  But he was conspicuous by absence when his government oscillated from one crisis to another – 2G scam, Lokpal agitation, coal gate, natural disaster in Uttarakhand, escalating tensions with Pakistan and China, spike in food prices, rupee depreciation, Delhi gang rape and what not. His party and his government are directly responsible for all these issues, and he has not uttered a single word on them.

The central theme of most of his speeches revolves around empowering India’s billion people.  But he and his mother did not even empower the one who mattered the most – India’s Prime Minister. It is because of dynastic culture of Congress that an eminent economist like Manmohan Singh will go down as the weakest PM India ever had.

Record as Parliamentarian

Your employer will certainly throw you out if you don’t attend office for more than 50% of working days. Your college will certainly not promote you to next semester if you don’t attend more than half of your lectures. But hold on, these rules are meant for ordinary individuals like you and me. They certainly don’t apply to our crown prince. Rahul’s attendance in Parliament has been mere 43%. Within the Parliament, he has not raised a single issue regarding Amethi nor has he moved any private member’s bill. An average MP has participated in 37 debates, while Rahul Gandhi has participated in just 2. An average MP has asked 292 questions, while Rahulji has asked not even one. So much about respecting the sanctity of Parliament and worshipping democracy!

Outsider?

Main thrust of Rahul’s speeches is about reforming the Congress party and government. So you often hear him venting anger against current system and model of politics. He talks about democratization of political process, holding internal elections within Congress and making it more accessible to general people especially the youth. This is a deliberate attempt to position himself as an outsider who is challenging the status quo and to conveniently delink himself from the system which is perceived as opaque, rigid and corrupt. But unfortunately, he cannot fight against the system because he is himself a product of the same system that thrives on mediocrity and nepotism. How can he have moral authority to talk about meritocracy within Congress when he himself gets elevated repeatedly without any internal polls? How can he talk about democracy when he openly embarrasses his Prime Minister by calling his decision ‘non sense’ and forces the entire Cabinet to fall in line?

Will, not Bill

Rahul has a formidable answer to every major challenge that India is facing today – pass a bill in Parliament. Even after ten years of political experience, he thinks that only making laws is panacea to everything. So if GDP is slowing down and resulting in large scale unemployment, pass a Rural Employment Guarantee Act and everything is solved. If the entire country is troubled by rising food prices, don’t address structural issues in agriculture but pass a Food Security Bill and no child in India will stay hungry! If mere passage of bills could resolve everything, then India would not have witnessed such widespread corruption even after RTI was passed way back in 2005. What we need more than anything else is effective governance and political will to govern.

Rahul Gandhi’s behavior is analogous to a child who does not study  for the entire year  and wakes  up only a week  before the exam. This guy was sleeping for all these  years and  suddenly few months before the  general elections he  realizes that much needs to be done. And that’s why you see this sudden ferocity, activity and aggression with projecting his image. If he had worked for past 5  years, he would  not have needed a media overdrive in last 5 months. But unfortunately, all attempts will fall short of washing away his sins of commission and omission in UPA-2.  A humiliating defeat  in next general elections is what he certainly  deserves.