Five mistakes of Rajiv Gandhi that Rahul must learn from
On the 71st birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi must do a short study on his father's political career. As he embarks on his second innings as an Opposition leader, the Congress vice president must avoid five mistakes that forced his father out of power.
1. During his tenure as prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi depended heavily on technocrats and friends who had little political experience. This alienated Rajiv from several Congress veterans with mass following. Rahul Gandhi still doesn’t have a seasoned politician in his set of regular advisors. His mother Sonia has been running the party with a set of trusted political masterminds such as Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Janardan Dwivedi and AK Antony. The son should learn from her.
2. Rajiv went out of his way to appease religious fundamentalists. He appeased Hindu fundamentalists by opening the gates of the locked Ayodhya premises for laying the foundation for a Ram temple. He appeased Muslim fundamentalists with the Shah Bano amendment, which denied divorced Muslim women the right to maintenance that divorced Indian women of other communities enjoyed. In 21st century India, religious fanaticism has few buyers as the Hindutva brigade has started realising now. Just before the 2014 elections, Rahul’s mother also tried to woo Muslim votes by roping in the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid. However, the move backfired. Rahul must take steps to transform the Congress to make it India’s only genuinely secular party.
3. Rajiv had the propensity to make faux pas while delivering political speeches. Immediately after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv said, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.” It almost gave legitimacy to the 1984 Sikh massacre in Delhi. On another occasion, he said, “Hum apne virodhiyon ko unki nani yaad dila denge.” Rahul seems to have inherited this trait as he has made transition from “Jupiter’s escape velocity” to “chappal ki sarkar”.
4. There was a disconnect between Rajiv Gandhi and the political leaders of other parties. There was hardly a non-Congress leader with whom Rajiv enjoyed a relationship of mutual trust and respect. His high-handed behaviour with two of the governments he had supported between 1989 and 1991 only made matters worse. While Sonia Gandhi made amends by reaching out to those who had earlier made derogatory remarks on her, Rahul has been following in his father’s footsteps.
5. While Rajiv Gandhi encouraged several young Congress leaders to grow at the national level, he rarely nurtured strong leadership in the states. This was a trend started by his mother Indira Gandhi. Even Sonia Gandhi continued with this policy, which eventually resulted in the party losing grip in many states, most notably Andhra Pradesh. The grand old party is today a non-player in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
It doesn’t have an emerging leader with mass appeal in several other states such as Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Kerala and Haryana. The consequence of this policy was most visible in the recently concluded civic polls in Madhya Pradesh where BJP trounced Congress despite a big campaign based on Vyapam scam, which even muddied the name of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The state has three Congress stalwarts — Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Singh. But all three remain focused on Delhi politics. Rahul must change this and nurture strong political leadership in the states.