Indiraji, Rahul baba and Matoshree’s father-son duo

    The great-grandson of the country’s first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and grandson of former Prime Minister Indiraji Gandhi who was known as one of the most shrewd, diplomatic and courageous politicians in the world – Rahul Gandhi is currently touring the country under his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. What has he exhorted or achieved from this yatra is yet to be known. But that is not what I am interested in at this juncture. What is interesting is the political objective that he has achieved from his yatra.

    Now in the last 10-12 years, people have seen the extent of Rahul baba’s political acumen. It may be recalled how this gentleman had, during a press conference, torn an ordinance of his own party’s government and had put his party’s Prime Minister’s position also at stake. He had thought that with this master stroke he will heighten his political image, but the voters had proved him wrong. The moment Modi’s government came to power, the expiry date of his political wisdom ran out.

    In July 2018, this gentleman hugged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha. At that time too his staunch followers had thought that it was his master stroke. Even during the Rafale deal his disciples had thought that Rahul Gandhi’s statement – ‘Chowkidar chor hai’ was the most effective stroke. However, for the common man, it was nothing but mere entertainment. Now, by targeting our freedom fighter Swatantryaveer Savarkar, Rahul baba’s disciples feel that he has made a big political move once again. Earlier also he had made similar statements about Savarkar. He had also passed remarks about the Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh. Some political experts feel that by targeting Savarkar, Rahulbaba will succeed in bringing back the votes of the minorities and the backward classes who had got distanced from Congress. I am bewildered by this argument.

    I feel there is no harm in revisiting and checking on the number of times the voters have rejected Rahulbaba. To cite a few, in 2012 the entire responsibility of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections was entrusted to Rahul baba. At that time, he had toured the whole of Uttar Pradesh. Despite striking an alliance with Ajit Singh’s Lok Dal, Congress had managed to get only 28 seats. And one need not reiterate what happened during both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well. Surprisingly, in 2017, many senior journalists had predicted that Rahul baba and Akhilesh’s alliance will create miracles. But at that time Congress did not lose one or two seats but had to let go of 21 seats and was left with a meagre 7 seats. Later, he had lost the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 as well. Congress’s failure in the elections in other states across the country held in the last 10 to 12 years was owing to the failure of leadership of both Rahul baba and his matriarch. There mustn’t be any leader across the globe who has been refused by the people on so many occasions.

    We all know and have also seen how Indian voters thoroughly scrutinise their leaders before casting their vote, the Indian voters are well-informed and they usually do not accept anyone easily. And the same Indian voters have categorically rejected Rahul baba’s leadership. Still when Rahul Gandhi criticises Savarkar and his move is called a masterstroke, one really does not know what and how to react to it.

    While taking stock of Rahul baba’s political success, one is without choice reminded of his grandmother late Indira Gandhi. Her decision to impose an Emergency was wrong and she also suffered consequences for it. But if we have to evaluate her performance on the sole criterion of politics, it must be admitted that Indiraji truly was the most shrewd and diplomatic politician of her time. She had a knack for making unexpected moves and trapping her opponents in a dilemma. But what was important was the fact that the common man somehow had great trust in the leadership qualities of this ‘woman’. Within the party, Rahul baba must have definitely heard stories of how his grandmom had hauled many ‘Bhishmacharyas’ within the party with her internal party tactics. Be it her decisions like the nationalization of banks or abolition of salaries of erstwhile princely state rulers, Indiraji had managed to erase the ‘Nehru’s daughter’ tag off her and had proved her leadership and political wisdom.

    Indiraji won the 1971 election on the ‘Garibi Hatao Desh Bachao’ (remove poverty and save the country) slogan. But somehow now the voters are not ready to put that kind of faith in Rahulbaba. After the Janata Party came to power in 1977, the Shah Commission was appointed to investigate into Indira Gandhi’s decisions taken by her during the Emergency. The then union home minister Charan Singh had decided to arrest Indira Gandhi. And when the police reached her residence to arrest her, Indiraji made sure that she did not get arrested until the journalists and the photographers had reached. This is called political wisdom. Of course, there is no point in telling Rahul baba any of this. Because political wisdom has to be inherent there by birth, it can neither be learnt nor taught. Rajiv Gandhi also did not have as much political acumen as his mother, but his political wisdom was never challenged in public.

    Now Aaditya Thackeray went to meet and greet Rahul baba. No one can challenge or even talk about the political acumen of the most revered Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb, who was vocal in the Riddle’s Controversy or the renaming of Marathwada University, had raised his voice against forces trying to create unrest in Bhendi Bazaar after Pakistan’s victory. And by doing this, he had carved out his rightful electorate. Unfortunately, Uddhavrao never dared to step into the footsteps of his patriarch by taking to the streets and thus carrying his father’s legacy ahead. In fact, Uddhavrao and his son have done nothing except enjoy what the Shiv Sena supremo had strived to earn. By hugging Rahulbaba, Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray have once again proved that they are not carrying the legacy of venerable Balasaheb’s political wisdom ahead.

 

(Article Pre-Published in Times of India Online – 21 NOV. 2022)

Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson