Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will be taking over the reins of the party on December 5, as his election may be unanimous. What does his elevation mean for himself, his party, and his mother Sonia Gandhi and for his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra?
As for the Congress Party it is a great relief that at last the suspense is over and the Gandhi scion is ready to face the challenge. After the miserable performance in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Gandhi family did not want to push Rahul to take over but now with the ailing Sonia Gandhi taking a back seat it has become inevitable. Rahul will be the sixth from the Nehru-Gandhi family, after Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to head the 132-year-old Congress. Though he joined politics in 2004 and became party Vice President in 2013, it has taken him so long to shed his reluctance to lead the party from the front.
There is a leadership crisis and demoralisation in the party, after the humiliating defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress had nothing to cheer about in the subsequent Assembly polls except in Punjab and Bihar where it performed well .The upcoming Gujarat elections seems to be giving a ray of hope where Rahul is drawing crowds and also appears to have got the caste arithmetic right.
At the organisational level the Congress has not done the much needed restructuring. There is ad hocism, indiscipline as well as groupism in the party, which adds to the confusion further. The generational gap is hurting with the old guard apprehensive of their future in the Rahul regime. There are no second rung leaders.
So in such a scenario, the party is looking to Rahul to lift its sagging morale. Will he deliver? Rahul can no longer play hide and seek or take leave of absence. He must become a 24/7 politician. He has a huge challenge as he is taking over the party when it has lost its direction. Sonia Gandhi also inherited a demoralised party in 1998 but she checked the erosion and managed to bring the party to power twice. She created a record by being the party chief from 1998 till now.
How is Rahul different from his mother? She was seen as a status quoist but Rahul is an adventurist. He has modern ideas and does not believe in power structures or hierarchies. His reluctance to take responsibility, wrong advisers, facing constant checks from the old guard and his lack of concentration and disconnect with the public diminished the role he would have acquired.
But despite all these, he has age on his side and he is also gradually changing his style of functioning. He has created an impression that he is not greedy for power. Rahul has put on hold his fanciful ideas of transforming the Congress as he tried in an abortive experiment in the youth Congress. His coterie believes that he will now have a free hand to run the party with authority and confidence.
But beyond his lineage and his sincerity, what is it that will get him votes? What is his message or his vision? What are his ideas or policies and programmes? What does he stand for or for that what does Congress stand for today? What are Rahul Gandhi’s economic and foreign policy ideas? He needs to bring clarity on these and also come with a new narrative. He needs to build a good team to deliver. At present seniors like P. Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Ashok Gehlot make up most of the new strategy team. Rahul’s team also has leaders close to him like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora Ajay Maken, Meenakshi Natarajan and Sushmita Deb.
As for Sonia Gandhi, will she retire completely from the political scene? Even though she will keep away from day to day running of the party, the seniors do not want her to go into political retirement. She commands respect among the opposition parties. Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala claims, “Sonia Gandhiji’s guidance and able leadership will be available to Congress workers.” One section in the Congress wants her to continue to head the Congress Parliamentary Party, so that she could lead much of the party’s parleys with the other parries. Another section wants to create a respectable post for her as the party’s mentor or guardian. But those who know Sonia feel she would like to keep a low profile. After all she has taken a back seat for the past one year.
As for Priyanka, she has confined herself to taking care of Rae Bareily and Amethi. She also played a role in seat sharing negotiations with the Akhilesh faction of Samajwadi party during the recent U.P.polls. Yet she has been keeping herself away from full time politics. Despite speculation she did not campaign outside of Amethi and Rae Bareily. Now some Congressmen believe that she might be appointed as General secretary. They hope that her resemblance to Indira Gandhi, her easy and effective public speaking and her connect with the people might help the Congress. However people who know the family feel that Sonia would like to keep her in reserve.
Rahul has huge challenges to face including the Assembly polls next year in eight states besides the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Only time will tell whether he can succeed.