Opinion Tavleen Singh writes: Lutyens Delhi remains as privileged as under Congress rule, only the inhabitants of bungalows have changed

In nearly every shot of Rahul from London there is Sam Pitroda by his side. This is the man who when asked about the pogroms against the Sikhs said ‘hua to hua’.

One enduring reason for Modi’s extraordinary popularity is that Indians like his casual camaraderie with important foreign leaders. (Express Photo)

Tavleen Singh

March 12, 2023 11:10 AM IST First published on: Mar 12, 2023 at 07:00 AM IST

It was by accident last week that I happened to turn on the news at the very moment when our prime minister and the prime minister of Australia stepped into that gilded golf cart to take their ‘lap of honour’. It reminded me, as it did a lot of people, of Roman emperors and circuses. Not a good look for democratically elected leaders. But when friends from Lutyens Delhi called to sneer and jeer, I realized that just as they cannot understand Narendra Modi’s soaring approval ratings, they cannot understand that the average Indian voter was probably mesmerized by the spectacle. One enduring reason for Modi’s extraordinary popularity is that Indians like his casual camaraderie with important foreign leaders. “He has raised India’s status in the eyes of the world,” is something I hear often in my conversations with the average voter.

On a drive through rural Rajasthan recently I asked an average voter why he was such a dedicated Modi ‘bhakt.’ He said, “Look how much he has done for India. Look how he has brought the G20 here.” When I asked him what he knew about the G20, he said that they were rich foreigners who would bring big investments to India. Modi understands the average voter much better than those of us who come from what is derided as ‘Lootyens’.

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When I heard the sneers and jeers about the ‘circus’ from friends and colleagues who once belonged to the ruling class, I remembered why I had once been a Modi ‘bhakt.’ I remembered the dread that spread through the drawing rooms of Delhi and its corridors of political power when rumours first floated in from Gujarat about Modi moving to the national stage. I remember writing in this column that the idea that he could become prime minister was terrifying the denizens of Lutyens Delhi because they feared that he would tear down the walls that concealed the privilege and entitlement in which they lived.

The people I spent my formative years with were horrified that I could even consider supporting Modi. When I asked them why they were so appalled they reminded me of the baggage he carried from the 2002 riots in Gujarat. I reminded them that they had been mostly silent and complicit in the pogrom against the Sikhs in the first days after Rajiv Gandhi came to office. Had they ever said Rajiv was unfit to be prime minister after he justified that pogrom? No, of course not.

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The reason I mention this is because Rajiv’s son and heir has been very vocal in recent days about how Indian democracy is dead or in its last throes because of Modi. It is important to remind Rahul Gandhi that Indian democracy survived its worst crisis when his Granny suspended it for two years. It was a dark time. Judges, journalists, political opponents could end up in jail for merely mentioning democratic rights or for daring to say a word against Mrs. Gandhi or her son.

As someone who began my career during the Emergency, I remember well that it was after the induction of Sanjay Gandhi as Mrs. Gandhi’s heir that the process of diminishing the Congress Party began. It was also when the process of turning Parliament into a private club for entitled heirs began. Nobody did more to speed up this process than Sonia Gandhi. And, if Rahul has a private chat with Mummy, he could discover how much she despised defiant journalists. They were punished in much the same way they are today.

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Political opponents were raided in much the same way as they are being raided today. If Modi can be criticized for anything, it is that he has done nothing to change the Congress playbook he inherited. Lutyens Delhi remains as privileged an enclave as it was when the old ruling class inhabited its fine bungalows. All that has changed are the inhabitants of those bungalows.

Devotees of the Gandhi dynasty have been vociferous in their criticism of Modi for naming a cricket stadium after himself forgetting that there is not a city in India in which an airport, road or stadium is not named Nehru or Gandhi. As I said in this column last week, India desperately needs the Congress Party to revive because democracy is seriously damaged when there is no opposition party. But what hope is there if the man who is the de facto head of Congress continues to surround himself with the same people whose arrogance and entitlement did such damage?

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In nearly every shot of Rahul from London there is Sam Pitroda by his side. This is the man who when asked about the pogroms against the Sikhs said ‘hua to hua’. So it happened, so what. The ‘secular’ credentials of the Congress Party were tarnished long ago. The misuse of central government agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to intimidate journalists and political opponents is an old Indian tradition. The circus we saw in the cricket stadium last week has happened before many, many times. If Rahul Gandhi wants the political party he inherited to revive, then he needs to reinvent it. He also needs to discover as soon as possible that if he wants to give Congress half a chance in next year’s general election, he must do more than just attack Modi.