Hand of Dynasty
There happens in the history of any dynasty a final collapse—it is historically inevitable. Lok Sabha polls 2014 have written the political obituary of the Nehru-Gandhi family that has ruled India for nearly forty years with a few breaks in between.
Ironically the gaps only heightened their relevance for the Congress party. Reared in the Socialist tradition, both Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul paid the price for not understanding a changing, modern India. The past just caught up.
Manmohan Singh
Puppet Prime Minister
In 2011, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reshuffled his cabinet, it was a cosmetic change. The much-delayed affair had been postponed for nearly a year. He wanted to drop some ministers and include some others, but the decision had already been taken at two meetings held at 10 Janpath the previous day with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and a close aide. It was a clear example of the position Manmohan held in UPA-II; he was the prime minister, but never a leader.
He will be forever remembered as a chief executive who was led by pygmies: Gandhi loyalist Pulok Chatterjee was a direct appointee to the PMO of 10 Janpath. As the government descended into political apathy and administrative chaos, after scams dirtied UPA-II, even junior ministers ignored his summons and wouldn’t attend Cabinet meetings.
Mamata Banerjee, during the rift preceding her resignation, wouldn’t even take his calls. Jairam Ramesh, a minister in Manmohan’s own cabinet, reportedly leaked his embarrassing correspondence with Sonia on the free trade agreement with ASEAN countries. Ramesh was let off with a rebuke because he was Rahul’s mentor.
Manmohan’s DNA was that of a bureaucrat, who was given orders but not giving them—Pranab Mukherjee was his boss once. As the second term proved to be a disaster, India’s longest-serving non-Gandhi PM was passing time. He was no communicator: he hardly interacted with chief ministers, preferring the company of other former babus, more comfortable with the Chandigarh Club—a collection of Punjabi babus and academics who advised him on decision-making. For example, he even appointed Ashwani Kumar as law minister who knew Manmohan more than he knew law.
However, Manmohan’s greatest tragedy was that the prophet of economic reforms became the Doomsday Man in his last term. In 2013, the growth story collapsed to 4.7 per cent from the 8.5 per cent glory days, inflation was 10.5 per cent, manufacturing contracted 2 per cent, the consumer goods sector fell to 5.1 per cent. Manmohan’s legacy didn’t just failed India, but as a remote controlled PM who failed himself.
Madhusudan Mistry
Rahul’s Bumblebee
Rahul Gandhi sent this former NGO activist to UP to rev up the slowly dying Congress there. Disaster was written all over the decision and when seniors pointed it out, Rahul lent no ears. He also let this man sans roots in the Congress to decide the candidates.
Mohan Gopal
RaGa’s Ventriloquist
One of Rahul’s speech-writers, Gopal is seen as the Congress V-P’s welfare conscience, especially on inequality versus growth. His influence in the party manifesto revealed his disconnect with voters who preferred economic empowerment over dole.
Nandan Nilekani
Identity Crisis
The former head of Infosys-turned-politican was Manmohan’s pet, brought in to handle the dole-linked Aadhaar scheme, which failed to tabulate the population. He was even touted as UPA’s next PM. Little did they know that he would be trounced at the hustings.
Mohan Prakash
Empty Rhetoric
General Secretary and spokesperson Mohan Prakash, who defected from JD(U), had promised to erase Modi out of Gujarat. His rhetoric would have pleased the powers that be, but the strategy came back to bite him as Modi won 26/26.
Dentsu India
Flop Show
Dentsu India, the Japanese ad agency hired for `500 crore by the Congress on the advice of Jairam Ramesh and Mohan Gopal, embarrassed the party after it was accused of plagiarising ‘Hum Nahin Tum’, from Modi’s state election campaign, including the visual material. The tepid, badly executed publicity material sank in the ‘Modi wave’, with its high-tech hologram rallies and aggressive social media presence.
N Kiran Kumar Reddy
Chief Mismanager
History will remember him as the last Congress Chief Minister of the united Andhra. His inability to control the Telangana mess and also to stop the rift in the state Congress and MPs contributed to the Congress image plummeting in Andhra.
Deep Kaul
Lack of Lustre
Son of former foreign secretary T N Kaul and Rajiv Gandhi’s Cambridge mate, he was supposed to add “zing” to Rahul Gandhi’s campaign. He was part of the 2009 campaign, but failed to realise the power of Modi’s development appeal.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Dr M’s Pocket Calculator
Manmohan Singh’s closest economic sidekick, he took the PM’s crony capitalist initiatives to newer levels. The two opposed Sonia’s rights-based initiatives and messed up the BPL issue, embarassing a government plagued by price rise and inflation.
Kanishk Singh
Hated Horatio
Senior Congressmen hate this Rahul’s most-trusted lieutenant, who is the single-point access to the veepee. From intervening in meetings, planning political strategy, this former investment banker controlled everything that mattered to Mr Gandhi.
C P Joshi
At Sea in the Desert
Ashok Gehlot’s colleague-in-disaster as Rajasthan PCC President, who had never called a single executive meeting during his four-year stint. A Rahul appointee, he failed to deliver as the Rural Development Minister and Road and Highways Minister.
Jairam Ramesh
Leftie Didn’t Get it Right
The man who headed the Congress ‘war room’ embarassed UPA by visiting Naxalite country as rural development minister. He gave up on stemming corruption in MGNREGA.
Digvijay Singh
Loose Cannon
He is known as Rahul’s mentor, who taught him to play the minority card with disastrous consequences. His sniping at Modi’s wife backfired after revelations of a clandestine affair surfaced, silencing him for the time being.
Ghulam Nabi Azad
Unhealthy Adviser
Not only did he fail to make his mark as the health minister and lose the poll, he was also the one who convinced the Congress leadership that TRS was ready to merge which didn’t happen.
Anand Sharma
Foresight Champion
The only saving grace of the economically embattled UPA-II, he pushed commerce and trade initiatives both at home and abroad. He is the only minister who has prepared a “handover note” highlighting issues and policies .
Shashi Tharoor
Winning Quotient
Though controversial, he made history, becoming one of the few Congress ministers who retained his seat. In Kerala the Congress lost seats, but he could well be the new face of the party in the 16th Lok Sabha.