PRIYANKA LAO, CONGRESS BACHAO THE SLOGAN IN UTTAR PRADESH
By Harihar Swarup
With Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance having been firmed up, slogans are heard; Priyanka Lao, desh bachao. Leaders of the alliance feel that being a vote catcher, there will be windfall of votes for the Congress and SP, if she actively campaigns. Congress excitement has now spiked after top leaders publicly stated that Priyanka played a direct role in cementing Congress’s alliance with SP. Reportedly she was also mainly responsible for drafting Navjit Singh Sidhu into party’s Punjab unit. Alliance leaders feel that Priyanka is a brahmastra who would perform miracles for them.
Priyanka is unmistakably a crowd puller, a striking figure in her handloom saris similar to her grand-mother Indira Gandhi. She was once called by former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt ‘a political animal’. Priyanka has always professed a steadfast reluctance to plunge in politics and almost squeamishly wary of becoming a politician.
At the moment she is a novelty. She has natural charisma and comes across as straightforward and communicative. Yet given her lack of experience and the fact that she has now decided to campaign across Uttar Pradesh and not remain confined to Rae Bareli and Amethi is a challenge.
Of course, just as Rahul Gandhi was given the credit for 21 seats in UP in 2009 after his political debut in 2004, perhaps Priyanka too will get credit if Congress—SP alliance does well, particularly in family pocket boroughs. In 2012 the Congress was routed in Amethi and Rae Bareli, winning just two of ten assembly seats. SP was the winner. Equally, if the Congress alliance does not do well on the Gandhi home turf then the responsibility will have to be laid at Priyanka’s door just as Rahul must be held accountable for Congress’s overall collapse across UP since he had led the party.
The cry for Priyanka reveals once again how entrenched dynastic urges are within Congress. Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia or even P. Chidambaram can best be chamberlains, never chairpersons or CEO in Congress Pvt Ltd where the leadership is determined by bloodline. Those with decades of experience in public life have to accept their secondary position, even as an untested Priyanka is projected as the face of future.
The chant for Priyanka is also a tacit acceptance of the unfortunate fact that Rahul Gandhi has simply failed so far to win broad acceptance in the Congress as a Captain who can lead from the front. Rahul has spent more than a decade in politics but still has not proved to be a vote catcher or a galvanizer of cadres. If one dynast didn’t quite succeed, can another?
Congress believes Priyanka’s resemblance to Indira Gandhi will be enough to draw crowds and votes. But Indira Gandhi has spent two decades in politics before becoming the prime minister. Nehru’s daughter fought a bitter battle for supremacy with party bosses; she was not offered supreme power on a platter. Beside politics in India is now cruelly competitive. Vinay Katiyar’s comments about Priyank’s pettiness were idiotic not least because political success is not about being simply photogenic.
Today Congress is up against the highly motivated BJP, with relentless and ruthless comments of PM Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah who lead a hungry, well organized army. Both Modi and Shah are 24×7 politicians who never take holidays and who have made politics a very competitive game. There is no time or space for slackness anymore. Amit Shah is not your friendly neighbour rival, he is calling for a Congress-mukt Bharat.
Until now Priyanka has been guarding Rae Bareli and Amethi. Supervising her mother and brother’s campaigns is one thing, challenging a crack force like BJP or even BSP is quite another. So far Priyanka has not undertaken hard battles for the Congress.. BJP is running like a scared mice, she had scoffed in 2014, showed a stout-hearted inclination to join battle with enemy, yet so far she has practiced the politics of touch and go.
Perhaps, it is the vulnerability she carries as Robert Vadra’s wife that makes her diffident. After all any high profile entry into politics will almost instantly lead BJP to question the Vadra business model or famous quantum leap in wealth, as Prashant Bhushan has cited, from Rs.50 lakhs to 300 crore rupees in three years.
Perhaps, Priyanka is worried about a possible turf war with her brother. Down the decades, the Nehru Gandhis have worked with a clear division of power. When Nehru ruled his sister Vijayalakshmi was in public life but nowhere near the power centre .In the Indira years when Sanjay was anointed her chosen heir, Rajiv remained the pilot, firmly opposed to politics. Congress always chooses a single heir and the formal entry of Priyanka would naturally marginalize Rahul in the minds of Congress workers.
Can a decline of the Congress be reversed by a mere leadership change? (IPA Service)