Dear Rahul: Greetings from someone who has never met you. This isn’t fan mail, but nor is it hate mail. It’s from a proud Indian who loves his country (which, I am sure, you too do), who cherishes its democratic system and values (which I doubt you do) and who is, not to put any gloss on this missive, is alarmed by your sudden, unnatural and crudely orchestrated rise on the Indian political scene.Let me tell you right away that I do not hold your recent gaffes against you. You are a fresher in politics and it is natural for young people to make mistakes. Indeed, young Indians in all walks of life should be encouraged to make mistakes. Nobody can progress if they are afraid of committing blunders. At the same time, nobody, not even a pedigreed politician like you, can progress if mistakes are not recognised as mistakes — and corrected. What is saddening in your case is not that you blundered in your public speeches in UP, but that elders in your party quickly rose to defend you. I hope you know that each one of those elders knows, in the heart of their hearts, that your utterances are indefensible. For which Congressman worth his salt would buy your boastful claim that “my family” got India her independence? They know you goofed up. But such is the culture of sycophancy in your party that, when anything concerns the ‘Dynasty’, they are all like the courtiers of yore who were ecstatic in their praise of the attire of the Emperor Who Had No Clothes. This slavish surrender to the dogma of dynastic succession has reduced even India’s prime minister to the level of a durbari. Last week Manmohan Singh disillusioned all democracy-loving Indians by proclaiming, at the prompting of 10 Janpath, that you, a greenhorn, are the “future of UP”. He couldn’t have said this on his own since he values merit as the most important criterion to occupy a key position in public life. After all, his own ascent in public life has been solely on merit. I only hope - a very slender hope though it is - that he will summon the courage to say “no” when asked to proclaim you to be the “future of India” at the time of the next parliamentary elections. Congress workers all over the country have already begun to project you as the next prime minister. Newsweek, in its 2006 year-end issue, featured you on its cover and described you as “India’s Crown Prince”. To tell you the truth, I felt disgusted. I have nothing against you as a person. Indeed, some of my friends who have interacted with you say that you are a nice person “who has his heart in the right place”. However, like millions of my countrymen, I wonder how a non-achiever like you, who has no record of public or governmental service, and who has made only one speech (from a prepared text) in Parliament in the past three years (your mother has not even equaled your record), are qualified to be India’s next PM? This brings me to the other ludicrous claim in your speech in UP - namely, that “my family” brought India to the 21st century. I can give numerous examples of India’s underdevelopment under your family’s rule, but if the reference to the 21st century was meant to connote modernity, I do believe that the litmus test of a 21st century mindset is that suitability to govern a democratic country should be judged on the basis of capability, and not birth. Not to do so is casteism, which I am sure you disapprove of. Strangely, however, your party has adopted the 2nd century monarchist mindset of perpetually reserving its leadership position to one particular family - yours. Young Indians today reject the very notion that birth can be permitted to privilege some. So how can you be a role model to them if you claim leadership on account of your family? Here, Rahul, is my last piece of unsolicited advice: Don’t be in a hurry to occupy the PM’s chair. Please remember the costly mistakes your father committed because of his inexperience. Also remember what a good friend of mine once told you: “Your father should have become the prime minister when Atal Bihari Vajpayee actually did, and Atalji should have become the prime minister when your father did. Both would have taken India far ahead if this had happened.” You are only 38. If you want to serve India, become a true democrat. Discard dynastic crutches. Insist that the Congress leadership be thrown open to the best and the brightest and work under them. Slog. Learn also to suffer defeats and setbacks in politics. Acquire some gyan, anubhav and real leadership qualities. Above all, keep your humility and humanism. If you indeed succeed in this tapasya, the people of India will surely hail you as their leader.Yours truly,A well-wisher
