Ramaswamy Mohan :
Despite being under attack, more recently for a scam involving son-in-law Vadra, the Gandhi family has little choice but to pitch in, again
The Gandhis, India’s unofficial first family, have been under direct attack like never before. It’s a small wonder that in the age of scams in which the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has been bombarded with exposés, fingers did not point as close to the Gandhis earlier.
Having studiously kept away from the limelight after the assassination of her husband then-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, Sonia and her children have been enjoying power virtually without responsibility for a decade and a half.
By virtue of their control of the Congress party in a nation of survivors who think nothing of blindly genuflecting before authority and power, the Gandhis have grown accustomed to treatment as the holy cows of the nation.
At a time when there is so much uncertainty over whether the current Manmohan Singh government will run its full term to 2014, vicious attacks by Arvind Kejriwal, a fledgling politician, on Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka and Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, are only adding further grist to the political mill that is churning non-stop.
Whether there is merit in the allegations or not as Vadra’s links to the country’s largest commercial developer DLF and the possible favours dished out by the Haryana government in granting land for urban development to the company stand exposed, the fact remains that crony capitalism is something India has learnt to live with.
Those familiar with the Benazir Bhutto situation in which her husband Asif Ali Zardari was seen as a purveyor of influence would know what Vadra may have dabbled in as the wealth of a small time maker of brass trinkets and jewellery grew from an estimated Rs5 million to a handy Rs3,000 million in just a few years.
It’s only now, and that, too, in the wake of several scams having been exposed by both constitutional bodies like the Comptroller and Auditor General and individual activists that it has become almost fashionable to throw all queries on financial shenanigans in the public domain and seek answers.
Vadra did not make himself very popular by retorting on his Facebook page about ‘mango people in a banana republic’ slinging charges at the innocent. In fact, he was risking much in using the disparaging term for the country as his father-in-law was somewhat famously mocked at as the leader of ‘a banana republic’ because of his habit of constantly saying “Hume banana hai” (We must build) in his speeches as prime minister.
While a war of words and commotion is common enough as adversaries spar in the public arena, what is in question is whether alleged improprieties of individuals, too, should come under the official scanner.
Truth to tell, the Gandhis are not used to responding to questions except at the time of hustings when people periodically elect them to head the government or nominate others on the strength of a secret pact having been arrived at between mother, daughter and son after Rajiv Gandhi was killed to avoid taking the prime minister’s post or similar high-profile public office.
‘No more sacrificing of a life,” became their motto. The family may have to abandon that strategy as a creaking national party seeks to stay relevant in a fast changing scenario in which regional satraps play far bigger roles in determining who would be the claimant to power at the Centre.
Curiously, Priyanka who says that her husband is just a businessman and has no intention of changing his profession to that of a politician, has herself been picked by famous astrologers to become prime minister by 2015. In a nation fascinated by the occult arts, predictions are taken seriously even if this one appears farfetched right now with her brother Rahul Gandhi being the first choice to move up when the situation warrants.
Since an ageing Manmohan Singh who has had two coronary bypasses is unlikely to be considered suitable for another 5-year term, the odds are that the heir apparent will have to be projected as potential leader before the Lok Sabha polls.
Rahul distanced himself from the government in order to bring inner democracy to a party that believes only in dynastic rule. Whatever may be said in the political sphere for public consumption, the fact remains that the Congress presidency is a sort of birthright of the Nehru-Gandhi family, which was unequivocally proved in 2000 when Sonia Gandhi was elected party president again with 99% of the votes when Jitendra Prasad foolishly stood against her in the hope that he would be rewarded if the High Command were to persuade him to withdraw. The call did not materialise and Jitendra was humiliated.
The scenario has changed manifold since the last time an election was held for the presidency to which Sonia Gandhi ascended by invoking a remote party clause by which the incumbent Sitaram Kesari was unceremoniously ousted. The Gandhi family desperately needs a figure to lead the Congress into the next elections and whether Rahul is quite suited to the role or not, he would be forced to accept it.
This would be the sacrifice he would have to make, never mind if many believe he is slow at comprehending issues even in briefings and that he would probably be least suited to be a prime minister.
Considering Priyanka may be more widely considered as a candidate with the right temperament and mental acuity for the job, the astrological prediction may not be as improbable as it sounds.
It is 23 years since Rajiv Gandhi was trounced by V.P. Singh to take the gaddi and a Nehru-Gandhi scion has not been a member of an Indian government since then. Maybe, it’s time for the Congress party to set that right by flagging in Rahul.
In any case, he won’t be the only ‘professional’ politician to shoot himself in the foot every other day because he suffers the foot-in-the-mouth disease of all men of his ilk. His latest indiscretion was to say when touring the state that seven out of 10 Punjabi youth are drug addicts. Such moments will pass as they always have in the world of politics.
Ironically, while addressing students in October 2008, Rahul had referred to “politics” as a closed system in India. “If I had not come from my family, I wouldn’t be here. You can enter the system either through family or friends or money. Without family, friends or money, you cannot enter the system. My father was in politics. My grandmother and great grandfather were in politics. So, it was easy for me to enter politics. This is a problem. I am a symptom of this problem. I want to change it.”
He may sing a different tune when he needs to in the near future. And it’s not as if words are cast in stone when it comes to politics.
The attacks on Vadra will pass as all such accusations tend to disappear in India’s ponderous legal system in which no verdict is ever given in time to stifle even major scams as in the 2G spectrum allotment, the allocation of coal mines and every other natural resource of the country that has been looted by politicians in cahoots with businessmen.
What will remain is the blind loyalty to a privileged political family that has also manoeuvred to put in a sort of favourite in the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the event of the poll verdict being a mixed one and Congress remains a claimant to power at the head of any loose coalition. Don’t be surprised if the fourth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family provides India with a fourth prime minister, or even a fifth. Watch this space!
The writer is Resident Editor in Chennai of the Deccan Chronicle group of publications