Rahul Gandhi: Scion of the times to come

In the aftermath of its rout in the Lok Sabha elections this year, a group of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders met to conduct a post-mortem. When the Rahul Gandhi factor was being derisively dismissed as “babalog” (green horn) politics by two of the leaders, party chief LK Advani quickly cautioned his colleagues. “It will be a mistake to dismiss him,” he said.  Last week, too, he repeated this advice to other BJP leaders. “We made the mistake of underestimating the mother, don’t do the same with him,” he said.

True to the concerns of his stalwart adversary, Rahul, who played a critical role in fashioning the UPA’s return to power, spearheaded an impressive showing in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls, a state in which the Congress had slipped to the fourth position behind the Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and even the BJP. He is also winning the grudging admiration of rivals and is increasingly being viewed as the face of the Congress for the foreseeable future as well as the leader of the next central government.

Right-wing columnist and journalist Swapan Dasgupta admits, “Given the state that the BJP is in, unless he (Rahul) makes some monumental blunders the next elections are his for the taking.”

His electoral successes can be attributed to his understated leadership style too which seems to have a tremendous influence on the youth. “He has been hugely successful by making them believe that there is scope for lateral entry into the party,” says a senior Congress leader. For others like Dr Puspesh Pant, political commentator and former dean of international studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, what stands out about Rahul is that “he has refrained from exclusively wooing a particular section and has remained with the broadest spectrum of society”.

Needless to say, he has his critics too. Former Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra believes Rahul is getting “undue credit without doing anything spectacular or brilliant”. There are others who believe that, so far, he has shown no evidence that he has a macro view of the complexities of India or a larger vision of governance. “You cannot understand the country merely by spending a night in a Dalit home,” says a JD(U) leader.

Within the Congress, there are not too many who are willing to offer an objective assessment of their leader, at least not in public. Privately, however, some feel he is as yet untested in the role that he is going to discharge (prime minister). “Perhaps the time to judge him has not come because he is untested. It would have been better had he done a stint as an ordinary minister,” says a veteran Congressmen.

Supporting cast
Rahul’s thinktank is significantly different from that of his grandmother’s and father’s, who relied largely on trusted aides and political leaders for advice. The young Gandhi scion has a varied group of advisors, including close friend Kanishka Singh, an MBA from Wharton who functions as a key functionary of his team; Sachin Rao, an MBA from Michigan Business School; and Jitendar Singh, Member of Parliament from Alwar.

He also leans on specialists for specific support. For instance, Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria will get a call on foreign policy-related matters and Dalit affairs expert Dr Sudha Pai of the JNU on issues connected to her area of expertise. He has even renewed some of the relationships close to his father’s heart. Like Sam Pitroda, who ushered in Rajiv Gandhi’s telecom revolution and is now chairman of the National Knowledge Commission.

The advisor-in-chief, however, continues to be his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The two are each other’s first port-of-call in both good times and bad. Priyanka admitted as much to DNA in an interview. “Its probably true that in case we are allowed only one distress call, it will be to each other,” she had said.

But it isn’t as if senior party leaders have been totally shunned either. He frequently consults Digvijay Singh, the party general secretary in charge of UP, on issues and strategy relating to the state, and discusses ideas about to the reorganisation of the party. “His main concern at the moment is to democratise the party and put the organisation back on track,” says Digvijay Singh. He is also known to confer with Union home minister P Chidambaram and defence minister AK Antony. However, for the time being, he seems more at ease within his own peer group and maintains a “proper” relationship senior members of the party.

In his endeavour to restructure the Youth Congress and NSUI, much like a management project, Rahul is learnt to have spent time with Dr Jayeram, an expert on team and leadership building.

Playing hardball
While everybody who matters, including the PM, wanted him to join the government, he kept his focus on the organisation. “It must say something about his commitment that he has twice declined to become a minister,” says Digvijay Singh. Last month, as the party’s traditional political managers brainstormed for days trying to decide on a suitable strategy for the UP by-elections, it was Rahul who took the call that the party should challenge the SP in its stronghold.

He heard everybody out but, with just days to go for the filing of nominations, he requested actor Raj Babbar to contest from the seat.  Some leaders tried to tell him that this would be risky given that the seat was in SP’s bastion, but he went ahead. “The challenge is to make it the Congress’s stronghold. We must do our work and do what is in the interest of the party. If it means taking risks, we should be do so,” he said. The Congress contested and won that seat.