A picture is worth a thousand words. A photograph is worth a powerful phrase: rigorous reinvention. The snapshot in question is a mise-en-scène of political theatre: the new Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi shaking hands with Speaker Om Birla, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stand behind him. Modi and Rahul together had escorted Birla to the Speaker’s chair—a convention followed since 1950, though there is nothing conventional about either leader.
So, do the tea leaves foretell the return of Gandhi? It took over two decades in politics for Rahul to make it to the front bench of the opposition. The Bharat Jodo Yatra tee and chinos were gone. Rahul wore a formal, white kurta-pyjama on Day One of the new Lok Sabha. DNA matters—father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia were also LoPs, the latter for almost five years during the Vajpayee government.
Rahul will have a full entourage and Cabinet minister’s rank. He gets a fully-furnished office in the parliament building. He will be assisted by a phalanx of personal staff including a private secretary. He will be on numerous statutory panels that select the Lok Pal, CBI director, vigilance commissioners, information commissioners and election commissioners. He has the privilege of initiating any debate and responding to the PM’s speeches. Like his mother did in 2004, maybe he listened to his inner voice by accepting and not rejecting: “It doesn’t matter how much wisdom you have. If you don’t have a position, you have nothing. That’s the tragedy of India.”
Once, this entitled dynast treated parliament as a bagatelle—over two decades of being an MP, just 99 questions, participation in 26 debates, and an attendance record thinner than his own party MPs’. Rahul has mostly been AWOL at budget sessions since 2014, limiting himself to sudden dramatic Zorro-like appearances. The Congress failed to KO Modi because RaGa’s nominees were ineffective. This time, the dynasty boy must become his party’s buoy in the turbulent waters of parliamentary debate to take on Modi’s guile. Will Rahul, like Alaric, become a hero of his people, or a royal wastrel like Bonnie Prince Charlie? Rahul’s attitude and aptitude will determine his altitude in politics.
The Congress can’t grab power on its own. It has not won a simple majority since 1984, when Rajiv won 404 seats. After wandering in the political desert for almost eight years, the Congress defeated the BJP in 2004. The credit goes to Sonia Gandhi; again in 2009, when she led her party to cross the 200 mark. Year 2014 was its Waterloo: just 44 MPs. In 2019, it was up a few notches at 52. Modi decisively decimated the Congress by targeting the Gandhis more than their party.
Rahul must invent a toolkit for the next Gandhi era. He needs the skills of Arjuna and the wiles of Shakuni to bring the bunch of ideologically disparate and ambitious allies to support his cause. He has the advantage of age and social acceptability. All INDIA leaders are age-wise, socially and economically compatible. Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Supriya Sule, Kanimozhi, Omar Abdullah, Abhishek Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Aaditya Thackerey are Rahul’s natural allies. DMK and RJD have declared Rahul their PM choice. However, each has their own turf to protect and expand. Rahul’s advantage is that the Congress doesn’t have much at stake in many states. He can afford to accept their dominance and make a tactical retreat in the short run. Sonia brought the Congress to power in 2004 by reconciling with former critic Sharad Pawar and giving plum portfolios to UPA allies. There is a lesson there.
Rahul’s major political perturbation will be to blunt Modi’s mettle in the Lok Sabha. Rahul isn’t a forceful speaker. He must master the art of finding faults in Modipolitics, Modinomics and Modiplomacy. Modi has run both state and central governments like an unchallenged monarch. His popularity prevents him from diluting his mantra. Since he has to pander to the avaricious demands of allies, he may either succumb or falter. Rahul can grab that crucial moment and can beat Modi only with substance, not style.
As the LoP, he would have to meet Modi word for word, argument by argument, with a narrative that transcends rhetoric. He will need a mainframe of expert researchers and advisors to brief him on economics, politics, government management, defence, foreign relations and the environment. He needs spin doctors and oration to teach him how to effectively deliver counter-narratives. Is Rahul’s untested ideology in sync with grandfather Nehru’s? Going by his parliament questions and public speeches on social sectors, it seems he has inherited the Fabian socialist gene. The ‘Two Indias’ trope is Rahul’s idea borrowed from Nehru. Modi’s strength comprises mesmerising slogans, big numbers and vertiginous targets. Since both of them would be in a confrontationist mood on a daily basis, Rahul must acquire new political and elocution skills to confront Modi on his own ground.
Every Gandhi built their own new Congress. Nehru inherited a party overawed by his popular persona and Mahatma Gandhi’s benediction. Indira split the Congress and created a Praetorian guard wearing dry-cleaned homespun; some of them became chief ministers and Union ministers. She wasn’t eventually insecure because she was bigger than the party. Now Sonia has bequeathed it to her children.
“Often, as I wandered from meeting to meeting, I spoke to my audience of this India of ours, of Hindustan and of Bharata,” writes Nehru in The Discovery of India. The Gandhi family’s discovery of India is continuity through tragedy: Rajiv’s premiership was the by-product of Sanjay’s death followed by his mother’s. As the Bofors scandal escalated, Rajiv favourites moved to the BJP, which enticed them with cabinet berths and MP seats. Ironically, most of them were siblings of Congress leaders, and like Rahul, were to the manor born. With Sonia’s tactical retreat, Rahul must keep the Congress together and turn it into a battle-ready army. Unlike the BJP, whose mid-level state leadership is still learning the ropes, many Congress leaders are young or just middle-aged, while a few are only in their early sixties. A combo of Sachin Pilot, Revanth Reddy, D K Shivakumar, Gaurav Gogoi, Nana Patole, Deepender Hooda, Shashi Tharoor, Bhupesh Baghel et al can individually and collectively deliver electoral success in their regions.
In January 2013, Rahul told reporters in Jaipur: “[The Congress] is a funny party. It is the largest political organisation in the world, but perhaps does not have a single rule or regulation. We create new rules every two minutes and then dump them. Nobody knows the rules in the party.” There is only one rule Rahul must follow: channel the lost Gandhi magic. He is just a step away from becoming the next prime minister. His transformation from Pappu to LoP became credible because of his two yatras. Gandhi 5.0 must remember that his cannot be a Congress of the Gandhis, by the Gandhis, for the Gandhis anymore. It has survived so far. But if the Congress has to thrive as well, it must become a Congress of the people.