The writer is a columnist. He is also a former editor of the Mumbai-based English newspaper Mid Day and the Gujarati paper Divya Bhaskar
aakar.patel@tribune.com.pk
The first is that he wants to become prime minister and is looking out for an opportunity to do this.
His chamchas in the Congress — power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is one, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Reddy is another — have assumed this is what he has entered politics for.
They believe they are speaking for him when they say he should take over as prime minister from Manmohan Singh and energise the party’s workers and voters. Perhaps, they are right, and it is true that the two most powerful Congress leaders, the Gandhis, staying out of the Cabinet takes away from it a certain legitimacy. His becoming prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections will also bring clarity to the election. The second way of looking at Rahul Gandhi is to believe him. That he means it when he says he has no interest in holding office. That he isn’t looking to be, and perhaps, isn’t even qualified to be, prime minister of India.
His mother had pressure on her not to be sworn in as prime minister (Sushma Swaraj threatening to tonsure her head — an unpleasant thought) when the Congress defeated the BJP in 2004.
So, whether Sonia Gandhi voluntarily declined the office she was constitutionally entitled to claim or whether she folded to the BJP’s xenophobia, we will never know.
But in Rahul’s case, this has never been an issue. In fact, people expect him to, sooner or later, take his mother’s job, if not Singh’s. He has no reason to keep saying he doesn’t want to be minister or prime minister, other than that he doesn’t.
But if this is the case, why is he in politics at all? He says he wants to strengthen the party. And that, successfully or, according to most people, unsuccessfully, is what he has gone about doing.
I accept the second view. That he doesn’t want to become a minister in this cabinet because that’s not his focus at the moment.
He is doing what Jawaharlal Nehru was doing with Gandhi before 1930, the discovery of India. That is to say, understanding the country and the citizen, not necessarily the government and the voter. From what I have read of him, Rahul is observant and intelligent. Certainly, his Master at Trinity College, Amartya Sen, tells us he thought so. When Rahul speaks, he usually presents an Indian reality, which has come from an uncommon understanding.
This realism is why he is thought to be boring and even unintelligent in a nation that is used to rhetoric and declamation.
Though he is good-looking, he doesn’t deploy his charisma. By this, I mean, he doesn’t pose and make heroic statements like Narendra Modi does. If he did, we would think him charismatic. He chooses not to.
Another reason he prefers the party to government is that the Congress is, of course, Rahul Gandhi’s inheritance. He can no more disown it than the Ambani brothers can Reliance. The Gandhis own the Congress in a nation that has always voted for dynasties in politics and Bollywood.
The party is inseparable from his father, his mother, grandmother, great grandfather and great great grandfather. It should not be very difficult for us to believe that he is more interested in nurturing it rather than running a ministry or the Cabinet.
The other thing, and this is anecdotal, is that he genuinely appears to like doing what he does, which is meeting people and trying to understand how India works.
A school group that met him at very short notice recently, got from Rahul a long lesson in the history of Delhi. The teacher said he was warm, not patronising and interested in engaging with the children.
He was, in fact, reluctant to leave them and get back into his routine of meeting ministers for scheduled appointments and his assistant kept pressing him to end this session with the kids.
Perhaps, this will change after a few years and he will decide to take power.
But he will not be the Congress candidate for prime minister in 2014.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2013.
COMMENTS (16)
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Rahul Gandhi will never chose to became PM. He can enjoy all the power without any responsibility by making someone else a PM as his mother is doing. He has no capacity or skill or aptitude to work for even a hour. PM is 24/7 job ,why work so hard and get blamed for your action ,when you can have even more power by not becoming PM. King maker enjoys real power without much work or responsibility while king does hard labour without real power.
"From what I have read of him, Rahul is observant and intelligent.* "*
Mr Akbar Patel.....you completely lost it this time!!!
No chance for Rahul Gandhi. Narendra modi will be next PM of INDIA.
@mahakaalchakra: The point is missed completely...in absolute GDP terms, Gujarat will remain behind Maharashtra ..( hence growth rate of Gujarat considering small base compared to Mahasrashtra will look bigger than of Maharashtra). So this twisted version of small base effect works either way. The mega investments done in Surat/ Vadodara belt was made more than 20 years back. Even invetments in Saurashtra was made more than 10 years back. Point is, all this tom tomming of Gujarat's growth story is more of Media hype and statistical buffoonery. Gujaratis by their nature are pro- business. irrespective of state govt Gujarat has been growing. , Modi with old , tainted ,communal mindset can never become face of young India. Rahu Gandhi with rich legacy of sacrifices and public service , since generations brings some hope to majority of Indians.Communal and tainted BJP with Gadkari,s Bangarus, Shusmas and brgade of Khaki shorts will remain fringe player among high castes.
"By this, I mean, he doesn’t pose and make heroic statements like Narendra Modi does."
I think he said something about bangladesh, to make sure that his party gets votes.
@Indian:
Bihar did grow faster than Gujarat but it was because of what economists like to call the “base effect”.
Gujarat’s state GDP in 2010-2011 was Rs 5,13,173 crore. It went up by 15.8% to Rs 5,94,369 crore in 2011-2012. In comparison Bihar’s GDP for 2010-2011 was Rs 2,17,814 crore. And it grew by 20.4% to Rs 2,62,230 crore in 2011-2012.
The point being Bihar is growing on a lower base and that’s why the percentage growth is higher. The same argument holds for Odisha as well.
The other point that comes here is the population of the state. Bihar’s state GDP went up by Rs 44,416 crore to Rs 2,62,230 crore. This gain of Rs 44,416 crore was spread across a population of 10.38 crore people. This implies a gain of Rs 4,279 per individual who lived in Bihar.
Now let’s do the same calculation for the state of Gujarat. The GDP of the state went up by Rs 81,196 crore to Rs 5,94,369 crore. This gain of Rs 81,196 crore was spread across a population of Gujarat is 6.04 crore as per the 2011 census. Hence, this implies a gain Rs 13,447 per individual who lives in Gujarat.
This basically means that the growth in Gujarat at an individual level was three times that of Bihar in 2011-2012. Hence, your argument that Bihar grew faster than Gujarat doesn’t really work.
I can argue similarly about your views on Raul Khan-Fake Gandhi as well. But that is a different debate.
Rahul Gandhi , is a refreshing face on India's political scene. India whose average age is near about in 30s..would be better served by young leader like Rahul Gandhi ,who is open to new ideas, liberal/ plural mindset, gets connected easily to aspirations of young's, technology savvy..rather than many old/ white haired politicians in the opposition ranks. The Opposition leaders are full of senile, ostrich minded , extinct species, for whom religions, anti- minorities comes top most and is equated to "Nationalism". Such narrow mindset , some times gives mirage of hope in the form of Modi. Modi's Gujarat state is no where near GDP ranking of states compared to Maharashtra...even GDP growth rate of Gujarat is lower than Bihar. This latest tom tomming of Gujarat's growth is Media hype..statistics are there to prove otherwise. Hence, Rahul Gandhi is the best bet not just for Congress but also for India's survival and growth.
Yeah dawood is more intelligent than rahul
This is a wonderful hatchet job for Rahul. He is intelligent? Sur, otherwise he couldn't have swindled the tax free mone of a trust called 'congress party' to acquire assets in personal name. Even criminals need intelligence.
What is of relavence here is if it behaves a nation like India and a party like congress to be treated like a family hireloom. What singular achievement of Rahul (and of sonia) enables either of them to claim any positions within a party founded and grown by the giants of India's freedom movement? The family name?
It is immaterial if he'd be the PM candidate or not, because this feudal family has perfected the art of keeping India poor thru proxies.
The question asked should be: "Do indians want rahul to be their PM?". It is amazing that the congress party has not been able to produce a single leader worth his/her salt since the great 'iron lady' indira gandhi! It is doun right shame that since demise of indiraji, all the congress wallahs have been holding sonia mai's pallu!! Even pakistan with its shaky democracy has enough ghairat and foresight not to install some semi-illiterate foreigner, whose only claim to throne is hormone-induced-romance (with rajiv ghandi) (sonia) as leader of their country!
I have nothing against Rahul Gandhi, except for the fact that he has no credentials to become PM, and his existence is the reason that a top rung of strong leadership will never emerge in his party; from the much touted harbinger of change to damp squib, his fall in the eyes of the nation has been swift and disappointing. Sonia Gandhi was constitutionally eligible, but just as inexperienced as RG when proposed for PM candidature, having hardly opened her mouth in Lok Sabha as the leader of opposition during the NDA term, and I believe that she did not have the courage to lead the nation, choosing instead to keep a tight control on the draw strings that hold the current incumbent - specially selected based on his pliant nature and lack of spine. If in reality RG has no desire to be PM, then his eventual capitulation will also add lack of will power to his list of defects.
As a democrat i do not want any one from any dynasty as Chief Minister or Prime Minister period .
Rahul Gandhi will be a disaster PM. Despite my personal disliking, CM Narendra Modi will be an effective PM of India. Only hawkish PMs of India and Pakistan can bring peace to the region.
To be the PM there are the minor issues of (a) still having to win the popular elections, (b) still having to win over the coalition partners who have their own agendas, and (c) still having to overcome internal competition from other party candidates. IMO, this is a tall order for beta Rahul. Besides, this is not his father's India and the Gandhi family cache has eroded significantly.
Right I agree. He is taking after Jawaharlal Nehru.
I always felt that Rahul himself does not want to be the PM at least not just yet. There is a method in his approach. Somewhere in their psyche, Rahul and Sonia feel that the congress party was responsible for what happened in 1984 in Delhi. They want to pay back with their genuine efforts and help their party of inheritance without actually taking a position of official power. It is clear to me that Rahul will not be a candidate to be a PM in 2014. There is a vacuum in the party. If not Rahul then who? Most ministers are either tainted or incapathe ble or unacceptable. If MS is the projected future PM, party will not get votes and Modi might get in. Antony is the only seemingly honest minister but not charismatic enough. A compromise candidate like Khursheed, Sibal, Tiwari etc. will make the party vulnerable. A lot will depend on BJP's choice as well. They too are rather short in this field. Let us see which way the wind blows. I hope it is not Advani, Sushma, Jaitely, Sinha or Rajnath. Jaswant Singh can be a genuine candidate acceptable to party outsiders but not insiders.