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Rahul's leadership by theatrics

PRAFUL BIDWAI
CONGRESS Vice President Rahul Gandhi succeeded in scuttling an ordinance which would have enabled convicted lawmakers to hold on to their seats despite being sentenced to jail for two years or more.
Mr. Gandhi famously barged into a Congress press conference on September 27 and denounced the legislation as "nonsense." He advanced no argument against its purpose, which was to shield leaders like Rashtriya Janata Party leader Laloo Prasad from being jailed.
Mr. Gandhi's opposition echoed a sentiment shared by many conscientious citizens, who are appalled that 30% of the total of 4,807 MPs and MLAs elected since 2008 self-confessedly face criminal cases, and 14% face serious charges like murder. The ordinance would have encouraged criminalisation of politics.
Yet, the imperious manner in which Mr. Gandhi voiced his opposition to it brings him no credit. He could have raised the issue in the Congress or through it in government. Instead, he went public.
This wasn't impetuous, but calculated to raise his importance in the Congress. Being a fourth-generation descendant of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Rahul, many in the Congress believe, is exempt from the rules of democratic inner-party debate and decision-making.
In essence, this exemption for a particular individual parallels the ordinance, which also sought to exempt a particular category, lawmakers, from criminal laws. This takes some ofthe shine away from Mr. Gandhi.
By setting himself up as the Congress's "insider-outsider"-both as a leadership heir, and as party dissi-dent/critic-Rahul risks being seen either as irresponsible, or as unwilling to do what it takes to lead the party even while assuming a leadership role and declaring, as he did, that India's next government will be a "government of the youth."
Earlier, through the "insider-outsider" stance, the newcomer Gandhi earned goodwill by identifying with peasants struggling against the loss of their land, and empathising with Dalits by sharing their hovels and food—something few Congressmen would do.
Now, that image is becoming a liability. Mr. Gandhi is seen as arrogant. In January, when promoted as party vice president, he said, quoting his mother, that "power" is "actually 'poison'." But he seems to enjoy the poison.
Mr. Gandhi also made extravagant claims about his family's accomplishments. In 2007, he said the Babri Masjid wouldn't have been demolished had his family been in power. This ignores the political circumstances and power balances of the time. Although the Bharatiya Janata Party cynically exploited these, they were partly of the Congress' making.
Even worse, he spoke of the 1971 "division of Pakistan" as a great family accomplishment. True, Indira Gandhi handled the chain of events leading to Bangladesh's creation in a masterly way. But it's wrong to celebrate it chau-vinistically as Pakistan's dismemberment rather than as the victory' of a valiant liberation struggle.
More important, Rahul has betrayed the promise of revitalising the Congress through the ill-chosen instrument of the Youth Congress. He decided to induct fresh blood into the Youth Congress through democratic internal elections. These were all rigged, and returned the children of established Congress leaders.
Four years ago, he said: "The hierarchical [dynastic] system exists [in the Congress|. It is a reality... I can either propagate the system or change it. I am not the one to propagate it so I am trying to change it..." But the "hierarchical system" continues unchanged.
Similarly, Mr. Gandhi crafted the Congress strategy during the last Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But the Congress's performance, particularly in Bihar, was indifferent. He hasn't shown much aptitude for national-level coalition-building—the key to the coming elections. The Congress is unlikely to win these on its own.
After the ordinance episode, it's apparent that Mr. Gandhi lacks the maturity, gumption or astuteness to become a political game-changer. Nor, going by his own statements, is he willing to become the Congress's prime ministerial candidate.
Deplorable as the Congress's obsession is with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, as is its sycophancy, it has a "rational" self-interest core. Put bluntly, Congressmen value the dynasty only insofar as it can win them elections.
Rahul Gandhi hasn't passed that test, and seems reluctant even to take it. So the Congress would be ill-advised to look for a saviour in him.
What the Congress needs isn't a saviour, but a progressive social-political vision, a good pro-people programme, and new strategies of political mobilisation, social-group coalitions and secular alliance-building. Sadly, these are its weak points.
The Congress is compromised by its neoliberal policies and its lukewarm secularism. It can't articulate a vision that's radically different from the BJP's.
It has at best adopted "compensatory" neoliberalism through programmes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a rickety Right to Education Act and a diluted food security scheme. It must get radical and give primacy to people's basic needs, not the market.
The Congress must combat the Sangh Parivar through a staunch secular orientation, express solidarity with the victims of communalism, and pursue investigations against violent Hindutva groups around Amit Shah, Col Shrikant Purohit, Pragya Thakur and RSS national executive member Indresh Kumar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation and National Investigation Agency have claimed for four years to have "strong" evidence of their involvement in various fake encounters and bombings, from Malegaon and Hyderabad to the Samjhauta Express. They must be formally charged and tried.
The Congress can't rebuild the traditional social coalition (the upper castes+Dalits+Muslims) which won it 40 percent-plus of the vote in the past. But it can better its 2009 score of 29% - if it greatly strengthens its appeal to the poor, and specifically targets the severely under-represented Most Backward Classes, "Maha-Dalits" and nomadic tribes.
Equally vital would be anti-BJP alliances with regional parties, including the Janata Dal (United), Biju Janata Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party. A Congress-BSP alliance in UP, with each holding their present seats (respectively 22 and 20), and reaching an understanding in the rest, could be a big winner.
To succeed, the Congress needs serious re-strategising, not pious wishes.
The writer is an eminent Indian columnist.
E-mail: bidwai@bol.net.in