Opinion The first thousand days
Rahul Gandhis grand democratisation experiments are stumbling...
One afternoon a few weeks before the 1998 election,then Congress President Sitaram Kesri was scrutinising the list of ticket aspirants when an aide pointed to a name,saying he was a senior leaders chela (follower). Pat came the reply from Kesri,Yahan Congress mein chela-wela koi nahin hota; yeh guruon ka mela hai (There are no followers in Congress; it is a congregation of teachers).
Well over a decade later,Rahul Gandhi,who completes 1000 days in charge of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and the NSUI this Saturday,seems to be learning this the hard way as the party old guard undercuts his vision. Yes,this period has witnessed his emergence as a leader in his own right. In November 2008,then BJP President Rajnath Singh had called him a bachcha; he must rue that now. But these 1,000 days will also have been a lesson in realpolitik.
He had set out with the frank admission that he was the symptom of the ills of Indian politics dynasty,patronage and money; but he would remove these ills and bring those who had neither money nor family background into political mainstream. Yet the IYCs internal elections he kickstarted have not been able to shake off the old guard,who managed to smuggle their own children or relatives or protégés into the new system. So far,the election process has been completed in Punjab,Gujarat,Puducherry,Tripura,Tamil Nadu,and Haryana. Look at the profile of leaders who have emerged: Haryana Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadavs son Chiranjeev Rao was,last Wednesday,elected state Youth Congress head. M. Yuvaraj,said to be a protégé of Union Minister G.K. Vasan,was elected Tamil Nadu Youth Congress President last April,mere weeks after Rahul cautioned Vasan against interfering. The first elected President of the Punjab Youth Congress,Ravneet Singh Bittu,is the grandson of a former chief minister,Beant Singh; Bittu was said to have the blessings of another former CM,Amarinder Singh.
Gujarat Youth Congress President Indravijay Singh,a former NSUI chief who is known to be close to former Union Minister Shankersinh Vaghela,is an education baron. Puducherry Youth Congress President Shankar was reportedly a compromise candidate,picked up by CM V. Vaithilingam,after there was no consensus on Union Minister V. Narayanasamys candidate. Tripura Youth Congress chief Sushanta Chowdhury is said to be a confidant of former CM and recently ousted PCC chief Samir Ranjan Barman. Last heard,the Kerala Youth Congress was abuzz about the candidates of Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala.
Rahul may have commissioned the services of an NGO run by ex-election commissioners to ensure free and fair polls,but Youth Congress leaders complain the process is being afflicted by money and patronage: the nominal membership fees,Rs 15 for general category candidates and Rs 5 for SCs/STs/women make Youth Congress elections vulnerable to manipulation.
Suppose an agricultural workers son aspires to become a leader without any backing,as promised by Rahul. He may pay Rs 15 for his membership,but he may not have the resources to pay for the membership of his friends and supporters. That puts an end to his leadership dreams. He can be a Youth Congress member,but not a leader.
Not that Rahul is unaware of the problem. He had sent several teams of MPs and ex-MPs to Tamil Nadu to inquire into allegations of fake membership. They found massive irregularities,but the scale was too high to be rectified completely. A mere reprimand to Vasan was never going to be enough. There have also been complaints about delegates put up in hotels and offered all kinds of hospitality by patrons of those contesting the elections. If there are,say,1800 voters to elect a state Youth Congress President,only those with resources could reach out to each of them.
Asked why delegates voted for Chiranjeev Rao in Haryana,a senior IYC member said,they vote for those who can get their work done. A ministers son or somebody well-connected can call up a police station in-charge or any administrative officials and get things done. A nonentity cannot do it and so cant secure the votes.
Youth Congress leaders believe this will sort itself out after two or three elections. But the newly elected office-bearers show as much complacency as their old-system predecessors. They have not come out with any programmatic action plan,except old,hackneyed ones like yuva yatras here and there.
Much of the interest of the old guard in Youth Congress elections is because presidents of various IYC units could be strong contenders for party tickets in a future in which Rahul decides to assume a greater role for himself. Veteran leaders,contemplating the emergence of a parallel set of leaders to challenge them on their fief,have the jitters. Whatever they may do to scuttle it now,believe Rahuls lieutenants,the process will get crystallised and institutionalised sooner or later.
dk.singh@expressindia.com
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