The Congress’ boss versus BJP’s knight

Public memory is proverbially short, but as the nation debates Rahul Gandhi’s spectacular intervention on the Cabinet-approved ordinance giving exemptions to legislators on criminal conviction from the purview of a Supreme Court ruling, it is all but forgotten how Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. I still recall the marathon session of the Congress Legislature Party in 2004 with members pleading with Sonia Gandhi to assume the office her party had won largely by her stewardship of the election campaign. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj was vowing to have her head shaved as a signal of deep sorrow if the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi were to assume the highest political office of the land. In her wisdom, Mrs Gandhi decided that a famous Congress victory after six years of BJP rule would be sidetracked were she to assume office. She picked Dr Manmohan Singh as he stoically sat through the often emotional meeting precisely for the qualities for which he is being pilloried today. Mrs Gandhi’s choice was unthreatening to her and the family, and being no political leader with high ambitions of his own, Dr Singh was attentive to his benefactor and mindful of her interests. Indeed, the surprise was in how the first term of the United Progressive Alliance government functioned under the dual key arrangement to earn itself a second term in 2009. Mrs Gandhi’s plans were presumably upset by her son’s great reluctance to don the mantle of prime ministerial responsibility the second time round. But there was never any doubt in Dr Manmohan Singh’s, or anyone else’s, mind about who the boss was. Not only was the Prime Minister willing to defer to Mrs Gandhi’s decisions on all important issues relating to the party and government but periodically indicated his own deference to Rahul, in the last instance indicating his acceptance in working under him. Dr Singh and the country was conscious of the fact that after his sole unsuccessful attempt at contesting a Lok Sabha election, he was content to take the safer route of the Rajya Sabha throughout his prime ministership. Mr Gandhi was plainly wrong in how he sprung his opposition to the ordinance, which could only be interpreted as a snub to the Prime Minister, who was in the United States set to meet US President Barack Obama. Perhaps Mr Gandhi was carried away by his conviction that the public mood was dangerously inimical to the ordinance after a stream of scams that had dotted the reign of UPA-2. All major parties had agreed to the substance of the amendments to nullify the Supreme Court order in Parliament although the BJP played the spoiler in the end to embarrass the government. Admittedly, Dr Singh’s status has diminished further as a consequence, even more by the alacrity with which he, the Congress Party and the Cabinet decided to withdraw the ordinance and subsequently the bill pending in Parliament. Sharad Pawar pointedly used the occasion as an ally and leader of the Nationalist Congress Party to have his own dig in suggesting that the hasty withdrawal diminished the status of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The consequences of these fast-moving developments are two-fold. They relate to the future of Mr Gandhi and the shape of things to come. Mr Gandhi will have to shed his image of being the reluctant prince now that he has chosen to show the country and the world who the boss is. This means that he has to give up his meandering speeches and philosophical asides in favour of a more structured speaking style, and if he is to be credible he has to stop working as the head of a ginger group in the party. Second, the system of dual control at the apex of power simply does not work. There might well be differences between a government and the ruling party, but these are resolved on the basis of the understanding that there can be only one boss, the Prime Minister. Besides, to have the leader of the country without political skills and ability to communicate with the people can only remain a big handicap. What then can Dr Singh and his party do in the remaining limited time before the onset of the general election There is little point in pretending anything other than the fact that Mrs Gandhi remains the boss and she must take her son in hand to force him to shape up as a serious aspirant to the office of Prime Minister. As it is, the BJP nominee for the office is hogging all the limelight, with the electronic media giving his meetings wall-to-wall coverage. This excessive coverage will diminish, but Mr Gandhi will have to pull up his socks to become “the other” for the media to balance their coverage. The Congress has still fully to exploit the chink in Narendra Modi’s armour. He is a divisive figure, and despite attempts at wooing the important Muslim minority, there is animosity, rather than connect, between the BJP aspirant and overwhelming sections of Muslim voters. He is a known proponent of the Hindutva creed and was nurtured in the crucible of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology, and his elevation to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate is the gift of the RSS, despite dissensions in the party leadership. Being the shrewd politician he is, Mr Modi is seeking to transform his public persona to shed himself of the rough Hindutva image, the latest instance of which was to place toilets above temples in his order of priorities, a sentiment parodied by BJP spokesmen when pronounced by Congress Party leader Jairam Ramesh. The latter was quick to remind Mr Modi of the BJP’s criticism of the same train of thought. These are little victories and defeats in a game that will only gather pace as the general election approaches. The truth is that while Mr Modi has to whitewash his past, the Congress has yet to offer a credible future leader.

The writer can be contacted at snihalsingh@gmail.com