Re-enter, the dynasty

The sphinx has at long last broken her silence. Sonia Gandhi’s decision to campaign for the Congress marks a turning point in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. This is because her role itself will become a major election issue. After all, she cannot be dismissed as just another Congress party campaigner. It is a telling comment on the utter bankruptcy of the century-old party that its chief, Sitaram Kesri, should feel beholden to Sonia for her decision. What impelled her to take the plunge could be the ongoing mass exodus from the Congress and the resultant fear of the party disintegrating. Since it will now be identified with her, she will naturally have a definitive say in the distribution of party tickets. Thus, for all practical purposes, her entry marks the end of Kesri’s leadership.

Nonetheless, it is indeed doubtful whether she could have kept aloof from the party’s campaign after having precipitated a political crisis and forcing an election on the nation. However unreasonable Congress MPs may have been in their insistence on the removal of the DMK ministers from the UF Ministry, their confidence stemmed solely from the belief that Madam’ would campaign for the party and bring them back to power. Like a drowning person clutching at a straw, Sonia was to the Congressman his only hope.The elections will put to a severe test Sonia’s ability to garner votes. And also her willingness to give up the comforts and safety of the fortified bungalow on Janpath to mix with the people and seek their support. The Congress’ gameplan would obviously be to whip up the voters’ emotions. But there has to be an emotive issue in the first place. Sonia had evidently found one in the Jain Commission report but it is a double-edged weapon. The Congress will have to pay a heavy price for making her the fulcrum of its campaign. The opposition campaign will now be focused on her. The BJP will have a Ram versus Rome’ slogan ready. But more troublesome for her will be the Opposition raking up the Bofors issue and the role of fellow Italian Quattrochi in the scam. Questions are also bound to be raised about the hidden sources of her wealth. Equally difficult would be the task of explaining the source of funds of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation that she heads. To cap it all, she will necessarily have to explain the circumstances in which Rajiv Gandhi played the dangerous games he did with the LTTE and why he chose to dismiss the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi as the inevitable aftermath of a traumatic event. Will she have the time and energy to campaign for the Congress after answering all these charges? And think of it the grand old party has to drag her into the election arena and expose her to all the risks that it should have been protecting her from.

Her recent failure to bring about a rapprochement between Mamata Banerjee and Kesri should have opened Sonia’s eyes to her own limitations. The declining fortunes of the dynasty was implicit in the drubbing the Congress got twice under her husband’s leadership. But by listening to her courtiers, she has forsaken whatever goodwill she earned when she refused to accept the leadership of the party soon after her husband’s assassination. It now transpires that she was merely marking time. All things considered, the decision is welcome as it provides the voters an opportunity to end the myth of the dynasty, once and for all.