Waiting in the wings

By early next month, Rahul Gandhi could finally be named Congress party chief in a transition that has been in the making for the last decade or so. His Italian-born mother, Sonia Gandhi, has held the reins of the party since 1998 — the longest stint for any Congress president, including three-time party chief Indira Gandhi. The timing of the takeover appears crucial as it comes days before the Gujarat Assembly elections which will be a litmus test for Narendra Modi, the incumbent prime minister of India.

Rahul is almost certain to inherit a poisoned chalice. The Congress party has been lagging behind its rivals and despite Rahul’s elevation to the post of vice-president in 2013, it has not resembled a well-oiled unit in the 2014 election. Rahul has earned opprobrium for running lacklustre election campaigns and has hardly emerged as the kind of leader that could stem the Congress electoral rot that has set in over the last few years.

The party is counting on him to learn from his past mistakes. Political pundits in India and elsewhere believe he needs to surmount three major challenges if he wants to inspire the Congress to a successful change of fortune. The first among these is to create new leaders for the Congress in the future. Rahul has to scout for these young leaders and groom them in such a way that they are ready to take over from the old guard. But before he can do that he will have to empower a new group of advisers who can help him build a new narrative. For that, Rahul will have to chisel out a coherent vision that can be fulfilled as well.

The most challenging task before him is to walk outside his own confused legacy and reconnect with the masses on the strength of becoming an agent for change. In short, he will have to make himself and his party relevant to India.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2017.

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