Enter Priyanka Gandhi? Cong may have found its Brahmastra for UP polls

Priyanka Gandhi’s story appears inspired by events on the 15th day of the Mahabharata. The story goes that Karna was given a divine weapon by Lord Indra in lieu of his natural armour. Indra told Karna that the weapon would kill the intended victim but can be used just once. Eager to use it only against arch rival Arjuna, Karna preserved it for his decisive battle with the Pandava prince. But, the entry of Bheema’s son Ghatotkacha forced his hand. Since Ghatotkacha seemed set to destroy the entire Kaurava army, Duryodhana pleaded with Karna to use the divine weapon on Bheema’s son, saying: ‘‘What will you do with it if Ghatotkacha kills us all? So, let’s use it on him and get out of trouble. We will think about Arjuna later." Thus it became inevitable for Karna to use the divine weapon. The Congress is faced with a similar fait accompli, a certain demise if it doesn’t use the only Brahmastra left in its arsenal. So, it would not be a big surprise if, as reported by CNN-News18, if the Congress pushes Priyanka Gandhi in the electoral battle ahead of the UP polls. If the Congress has to survive, live to fight another day, it has no other option left. [caption id=“attachment_2827484” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Priyanka Gandhi. AFP[/caption] For almost a decade the party believed that somehow Rahul Gandhi will turn out to be the leader every Congressman wants him to be. But Rahul has been a huge disaster. Instead of reviving the electoral fortunes of the Congress, he has chipped away at its foundations, bringing it just a push away from collapse. The final fatal blow to the party could come as early as next year after the elections in UP. The Congress campaign is faltering in Punjab, where elections are scheduled next. If the party gets demolished in UP, it will find it difficult to get up again. In all likelihood, a humiliation in UP will bury it forever. The thinking within the Congress earlier was to preserve Priyanka Gandhi for a few more years. A section within the Congress felt that she should enter politics at an opportune time, preferably when there is a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against Narendra Modi’s government. But, the wise heads in the Congress seemed to have realised that the current Congress trajectory will take it to extinction much before the countdown to the end of Modi government begins. According to CNN-News18, the Congress has decided to cross the Rubicon much ahead of schedule. She would not only lead the party campaign in the UP Assembly polls, but may also announce her plans to contest from Amethi in the 2019 elections. There is growing speculation that she would take up a post in the party after the organisation is reshuffled with Rahul as its president. Only time will tell whether this ‘Brahmastra’ will work in politics. In the late 90s, when Sonia Gandhi stepped into electoral politics, the Congress remained almost stagnant. Though a lot of hype had surrounded Sonia Gandhi’s dramatic appearance, she failed to make any difference to the party’s fortunes. Priyanka Gandhi too could disappoint, even turn out worse than her brother. But, for the Congress, Priyanka Gandhi is indeed an idea whose time has come. Whatever be the outcome of the expected ploy, it will immediately inject new life in the Congress veins. Its workers will get a sense of direction, the party a new face and voters the option of looking at a Rahul-mukt Congress. Comparisons with leaders of other parties can wait, but in a tossup between the Gandhi siblings, Priyanka is the clear winner. Much of Priyanka’s vaunted abilities are untested. Congress workers believe she is charismatic, bellicose and fearless, qualities her brother lacks. But, so far, Priyanka has confined herself to nukkad-meetings in Amethi and Rae Bareilly, the dynasty’s backyard. She has neither faced a larger, and a less hospitable crowd, nor been put under rigorous media and public scrutiny. Once she steps out of her backyard, it would become possible for us to evaluate Priyanka realistically, instead of looking at her through a confusing montage of rare photo-ops and sporadic soundbytes. Then there is her husband to contend with. So far, since she has stayed away from active politics, the intensity of attacks on Robert Vadra’s alleged real estate deals have lacked intensity and ferocity. The moment she becomes the face of the Congress by eclipsing Rahul, which is inevitable once she decides to take the plunge, Vadra would become the focus of sustained investigations and attacks. How she deals with these attacks will decide her future. The Congress is, of course, looking at the caste calculus of UP. For a while, the party’s election strategist Prashant Kishor has been thinking of snaring the state’s Brahmins back into the party fold. Kishor thinks that once the Brahmins return to the Congress, minority voters would look at the Congress as a much more viable alternative. With the BJP eager to project Rajnath Singh (Rajput) and the SP and BSP keen on Muslim, Yadav, Dalit votes, Kishor feels there is a case for projecting Congress as a party of Brahmins and Muslims, a combination that had helped it rule the state for several decades till the 90s. The only worry for the Congress could be this: What if its ‘Brahmastra’ fails? Soon after Ghatotkacha was killed by Karna, while the Pandavas were mourning his death, Lord Krishna started dancing on his chariot. Only he was aware he had ensured his side’s victory by forcing the enemy to fire its most lethal weapon. Over to the Mahabharata of 2017.