Wrong role model for Rahul
By Amulya Ganguli
It appears that both mother and son, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, have chosen the wrong role model – Indira Gandhi – from their family. While Sonia seemingly imbibed all the unsavoury traits of Indira during her stay in her mother-in-law’s house when she was new to the country and unfamiliar with its history and politics, the explanation for Rahul’s admiration for his grandmother is somewhat different. However, both have given enough indications to suggest that they regard Indira as the ideal person to emulate. Surprisingly, neither has mentioned Jawaharlal Nehru, who towers over all the other family members in intellect and idealism.
Sonia’s preference for socialistic precepts can be traced to Indira’s influence. Hence her liking for bank nationalization, to which laudatory references have been made in the government’s Bharat Nirman advertisements. Earlier, she had said that India succeeded in withstanding the baneful effects of global recession because of Indira’s “wisdom” in nationalizing banks.
The attitude underlines an unthinking acceptance of the events of 1969. What Sonia ignores is the fact that Indira’s decision was motivated not by economic but political reasons. The then prime minister flaunted her nationalization move as a tool in her fight against the so-called Syndicate, comprising the party bosses who were bent on ousting her. While doing so, she used the jargon of socialism which included the categorization of the Syndicate as “reactionary”.
Four decades later, these terms and the concept of nationalization have lost their relevance. If Sonia still harks back to that period, it is somewhat unsettling because it shows that she hasn’t come to terms with the post-1989 world. Hence, her initial opposition to the nuclear deal, which reflected Indira’s anti-Americanism, and the advocacy of populist measures like the rural employment scheme although it entails huge unproductive expenditure in the countryside. “How many ditches will you dig ? how many ponds will be you rebuild ?”, asked the rural development minister, Jairam Ramesh, in exasperation in the context of the rural scheme.
If Sonia is imitating Indira’s faux socialism, Rahul is doing something worse. He is seeking inspiration from one of Indira’s most disagreeable traits – authoritarianism. Addressing a group of Congressmen recently, Rahul informed them that he was not as lenient as Sonia and would be tough on dissenters. “Look at the photograph”, he said, pointing at Indira’s picture. “She is my role model. I am not like the Congress president, who is soft. I am not going to be soft. I will not tolerate indiscipline”.
The flexing of muscles recalled his earlier observation that the “high command culture” had evolved in the Congress because of the “severe assault” on his grandmother by “destabilizing forces”. Continuing, he had said, “I knew her and if I would have been in her place, I would have also done likewise”.
Considering that Rahul was five years old when Indira confronted the “destabilizing forces” by imposing the Emergency, he was not in a position to assess her political actions. But, if he is displaying the same immaturity now, the reason is that he hasn’t studied the events of that period of history with sufficient detachment.
What he should factor in while articulating the official party line is that Indira’s response to her political opponents was to launch a “severe assault” on Indian democracy, an act of iniquity for which she and her party had to pay a heavy price in 1977. When Rahul says, therefore, that he would have done the same if he was in her place, he is expressing a dangerous propensity.
It can be said, of course, that his comments need not be taken seriously, especially when he says that he will not be soft like his mother on factionalism. An essential prerequisite for a hardliner is to be successful in politics. If Indira could take on the “destabilizing forces” with considerable success before making the fatal mistake of imposing the Emergency, it was because she was immensely successful in politics – sweeping away opponents in her own party and outside from her path in the 1971 election and then emerging as Goddess Durga, in Atal Behari Vajpayee’s words, by cutting Pakistan in half.
In contrast, Rahul’s toughness is unlikely to be seen as threatening since his political career can hardly be regarded as a story of success. (IPA)