Opinion CII looked for a sting,got the bee in Rahul bonnet
The CII had offered the young Congress leader yet another opportunity to change his anti-industry image,so assiduously built through grinding tours from Niyamgiri hills to Bhatta Parsaul.
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Coming as it did barely four days before Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modis scheduled address at the FICCI meet,Rahul Gandhis interaction with captains of industry at the CII meet on Thursday had been billed as a desi version of the US Presidential debate. Given that it was his first outing at the CII,Rahuls address offered mouth-watering prospects. As it turned out though,it only lent credence to doubts about his preparedness for the top job.
To somebody who is best placed to step into Manmohan Singhs shoes a year from now,Rahul had been offered an ideal platform to put his own stamp on the Prime Ministers agenda of reviving animal spirit. But the closest he went to this was drawing a dragon-elephant analogy and a beehive to add to the buzz in the audience.
Why would a prime minister-in-waiting quote Chinas prime ministers secretary and take potshots at a sensitive neighbour? Why would a prime ministerial aspirant ignore serious questions from an elite and well-informed audience about Centre-state relations and water-related issues to deliver homilies on the importance of 73rd and 74th Amendments,dysfunctional system,value chain,powers of pradhans,MLAs,MPs,et al?
The CII had offered the young Congress leader yet another opportunity to change his anti-industry image,so assiduously built through grinding tours from Niyamgiri hills to Bhatta Parsaul. Environmental activists and self-proclaimed saviours of farmers in the UPA Council of Ministers push their agendas in his name and his silence on these issues only validates their claims. Instead,he chose on Thursday to be patronising,informing you guys at length about the advantages of inclusive growth. As if these guys represented the antithesis!
What to speak of an attempt to reach out to corporate India by unfolding his vision about the economy,there was not even a passing mention of economic reforms. All that Rahuls audience was treated to were vintage moments from his discovery of India to drive home his concern about the poor and the marginalised,with nothing in terms of concrete ideas or policy prescriptions to address it.
The Congress leader has been a proponent of two-India theory. It was his first interaction with Shining India. He quoted John F Kennedys famous rising-tide-lifts-all-boats remarks to remind them of their social responsibility,but his central message to India Inc lay in the former US presidents another famous remark that Rahul loves to quote so often: Ask not what the country can do for you,ask what you can do for the country (read Congress for the country). Hope the other India was listening to him!
Deepak is a senior assistant editor based in Delhi
dk.singh@expressindia.com
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