Rahul’s no Obama...at least not yet

I believe that the Congress is loading Rahul Gandhi with some really unrealistic expectations. If you expect someone to wave a magic wand over what increasingly appears to be a moribund party and revive it with the sheer force of his personality or charisma, you are asking for too much. And remember that Rahul Gandhi is not a Barrack Obama. You need real genius to pull off that kind of a miracle.

To be fair, there is nothing terribly wrong with Rahul Gandhi. But he is simply not capable of working out a new paradigm for the party or for Indian politics at large. He is no doubt a good guy, but he is not competent to handle the enormous load he has been stuck with. There is a problem with this role that he is supposed to be taking on. On the one hand, he is under training — a large team of intellectuals is supposedly engaged in training him to take charge and become a good politician. On the other hand, he is supposed to be also playing a leader to the party and a potential PM. This is like some on-the-job-training and it doesn’t work.

It is clear that Rahul is only an average political talent. And he is incapable of dealing with the huge agenda the Congress has piled on him. Why just him? Any inexperienced young politician would crack under it. It is terrible to be brought into politics as though you were born to rule. Or to be told that one has to come to power because one is born into a certain family. Everyone in the Congress has to dwarf himself or herself in the public arena so that Rahul can appear tallest and can shine like no other. He is not treated like a young person who is finding his feet in politics. He has been invested with almost semi-divine powers to prop up the Congress’ sagging fortunes.

I remember that after his trip to India, British foreign secretary David Milliband had made this revealing comment about Rahul Gandhi. (Milliband had accompanied Rahul on the much-hyped trip to rural Amethi for a slice of ‘real’ India — sleep on a charpoy, eat rural fare with his hands and so on). He said that Rahul could not be engaged in general talk on political issues and that his interest lay mostly in his constituency, its issues and development.

I think Rahul needs time to learn. He has fallen into the trap the party made for him and my heart actually goes out to him. He has been told by the party that we are floundering and you and you alone can make us look better. If Rahul had been among the many young politicians who have been given the opportunity — for reasons including dynasty — to grow at their own pace then he may have done a good job. Look at youngsters like Sachin Pilot or Jyotiraditya Scindia. They have been allowed to find their level and take as much time as they need to do so comfortably. Rahul too may have done reasonably well if he had the same playing field. But he is no Mahatma Gandhi and — as I said earlier — no Obama either. I think the Congress Party should show some spine and take on the responsibility of rejuvenating itself instead of leaning so heavily on Rahul.

Madhu Kishwar is a senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. She spoke to Malini Nair.