Why Rahul did a Sonia

The move is politically astute. He is following in Sonia Gandhi8217;s footsteps when she resisted the clamour for her to take over the party8217;s reins after Rajiv Gandhi8217;s assassination in 1991. For the next seven years, there was an ambivalence about her position. She said neither 8216;yes8217; nor 8216;no8217; to politics. When she did take the plunge in 1998, she appeared the reluctant, rather than a grasping, player, at a time when the party had started to erode at the peripheries. Reluctance and renunciation have always gone down well in India. As for Rahul, a shroud of suspense on his future role has clung to him over the last one year. The political grapevine was agog that he would come in as general secretary and take charge of the frontal organisations. Then it was said he would come into the CWC, and would be launched when Sonia Gandhi reorganised the AICC. Yet, when the CWC was recently nominated, Rahul8217;s name figured nowhere. But there was five vacancies in the CWC, the talk went. Then it was expected that he would consider taking up a position only if party workers wanted him in Hyderabad. As it turned out, they clamoured for him, and he still said no. Congress members have been growing restive with Rahul8217;s reluctance, having got used to someone else taking them to victory.

Among the public, however, the impression was different. There was greater appreciation that Sonia had not imposed her son on the party or the government, so soon after he became MP, or shown undue haste in perpetuating the Gandhi-Nehru family rule. The notes that Rahul struck today 8212; that he was still a learner whose place was among party workers; that he had still to understand and serve the people and the party better before taking up the job 8212; will go down well because they reinforce both a reluctance and a humility. He knows, at the same time, that the seat shall remain warm for him. He has skilfully made a virtue of a necessity. Rahul is known to be a shy, retiring person. There has been nothing that he has said or done in the last two years that reveals his ability to lead, or indeed his mind and vision. In Hyderabad there was a glimmer of it when he spoke in an emotional vein about the tricolour being his religion.

By staying in the shadows, Rahul would avoid early exposure which could make him a butt of the criticism that has come his mother8217;s way. Undoubtedly party responsibility would help groom him for a future role which everyone expects him to play. But there is also a flip side. There are still three and a half years to go before the next elections. Politics being what it is, he will not be able to sustain the momentum were he to emerge with a bang at this stage.

His words in Hyderabad, however, do not clarify whether he has also given up the idea of joining government. Rahul may not desire to do so, but his entry into government would make Manmohan Singh8217;s position weaker. It is now getting clearer that he will take up a party responsibility closer to the general election. Whether or not this works remains to be seen. Until then the ambivalence that has marked his arrival in politics will continue.

The conditions that existed in 1980, when Rajiv Gandhi came into politics, are not there a quarter of a century later for Rahul. Indira Gandhi had come back to power then with a thumping majority. She had lost Sanjay in a tragic incident. The opposition was weak and fragmented, with none of the state8217;s satraps challenging her authority, and there were no prying of 24-hour television. It seems Sonia Gandhi and her advisors are aware of the changed situation and are treading cautiously.