DNA Edit: Rahul Gandhi - conspicuous by absence

It is not as if the Election Commission declared the North-East polls results out of the blue. All the stakeholders involved knew the date on which the results were to be declared and yet, just when it is essential for a leader to stand by his party (and to be seen as standing by his party), Congress President Rahul Gandhi went missing. The excuse being proffered by the Congress does not even make for a decent fig leaf. As Meghalaya hangs in balance and Tripura and Nagaland have been taken over by the BJP juggernaut, Rahul Baba set off on a mini-tour of Italy to surprise his maternal grandmother and spend the Holi weekend with her. With antics like these, India’s patience with the Congress and with Rahul Baba runs thin.

Without fail, senior leaders of the Congress have leapt to Rahul’s defence, dutifully shielding him from the party’s abject failures while ascribing to him successes, of which, he isn’t entirely deserving. Does this not smack of Congress’s ‘durbari’ mentality? Does it not betray a rudderless Congress headquarters, forever beholden to its emperor and erstwhile prince who sadly after all these years in India’s political battlefield is still to cut his teeth? Where is the internal democracy in the party? Where are the avenues of vertical growth? If cadres at the lower level and grassroots leaders are going to be marginalised for sons and relatives of party bigwigs, can one dare blame its workers for being disenchanted with the party? Rahul’s absence post-NE losses only compounds Congress’s misery.

If the Congress top brass thought it wise to defend Baba from the smear of electoral losses in NE, it should consider pulling its head out of the sand and look at the laughing stock that Rahul’s absence has become on social media. In an ideal world, Rahul would have owned up to the defeat, not just to the party but also to the media; introspected on the failings and implemented a reformation plan for the party bases.

Meanwhile, he would have egged on the party workers of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to continue fighting regardless and with double the efforts. It is in times of crisis that leaders seal their legacies. But not so for Rahul. Spending the Holi weekend with maternal grandmother is a far greater calling than heading the oldest political party in India through times of turmoil. Already, the Congress party worker is at his wit’s end trying to defend the party from effective WhatsApp barbs against Rahul. The Pappu narrative had taken a backseat, albeit for some time, after his commendable work in the Gujarat elections.

However, his absence after the N-E poll results only provide grist to Opposition leaders. BJP party president Amit Shah, master poll strategist, could not help but take a dig at Rahul when he said that he had received a message saying that elections are being held in Italy. Even after the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh loss, Rahul faced flak for casually strolling in for a ‘Star Wars’ screening. No party supporter likes to see a laid-back, easy-going acceptance of defeat in their leader. It tells the masses that the leader is only a political hobbyist without any skin in the game or without any real connect with the people.