Fixation with a family name : Elevated to number 2
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 22, 2013 -
Clear and confusing as well. Number two in the party.
This is officially clear now that Rahul Gandhi has been elevated to the post of Vice President of the All India Congress Committee. But then who was number two before ? Not clear here.
If Rahul Gandhi was not number two earlier then what was his position within the party earlier ? A general secretary but who had the ears and eyes of the party's boss, Sonia Gandhi ?
The Jaipur conclave of the Congress, christened 'Chintan Shivir' has been significant in many ways. With general election scheduled sometime next year, the Congress did ring out the message that it has started the spadework, the crowning of the Gandhi scion as its vice president being the most vocal and publicised.
So is it going to be Modi versus Rahul or will the Congress come out with a different strategy in which such a 'show down' will be neatly sidestepped ?
A million dollar question at the moment, but with Manmohan Singh not getting any younger and with no one else being promoted or perceived to wield the pan India appeal which only the name Gandhi can guarantee, within the Congress, the official elevation of Rahul Gandhi to the number two position within the party can be read against the backdrop of the upcoming Parliamentary election.
Says something significant about the party which gave Tilak, Gokhale, Nehru, Patel and others equally mentionable to the Nation.
The Congress is yet to come out with a winning formula, not yet. Much the same thing may be said of the BJP, the main rival of the Congress.
However what can be said with a degree of certainty is the point that not everything is hunky dory for the Congress.
Its abysmal position in Uttar Pradesh continues. It is a minor player in Bihar and its position in West Bengal is anything but clear, with Mamta Banerjee walking out of the UPA Government sometime back.
The manner in which Narendra Modi stormed back to power for the third consecutive term in Gujarat says something about its position in that State.
It is against this backdrop that the Jaipur conclave was held and while the Congress did not commit itself on the question of whether Rahul Gandhi would be trumped as its Prime Ministerial candidate in the election, what is perceptibly clear is the fact that as far as leadership goes, the oldest political party in the country cannot look beyond the name Gandhi.
Loyalty to a name or lack of imagination and ideas to accommodate others ?
This is not to take away the immense appeal of the young Rahul Gandhi, but in 'solely' banking on the charisma and appeal of a single family, the Congress is not doing itself any favour.
The pan India appeal of the name Gandhi or a failure of the party as a whole to fire the imagination of the country, is a question which the newly anointed leader of the Congress will be hard pressed to answer or find an answer to in the years ahead.
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