Sincere but absurd: Rahul's opposition to the UPA ordinance

“I tell you what my opinion on the ordinance is: That it is complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away. That’s my opinion,” declared an unusually vocal Rahul Gandhi in a surprise appearance at the Delhi Press Club. His paratrooper assault was engineered for maximum impact. The upending of a sheepish Ajay Maken’s press conference defending the ordinance. The exceptional level of candour  – which included admitting that the Congress Party had been influenced by “political considerations”. Even the very brevity of his statement, and refusal to take questions, was designed to maximise the effect of his every word. And to this author, he seemed genuinely sincere – at least in his opposition to the shameful ordinance that would allow convicted MPs to serve in office. In a political culture that relies on evasion and outright deception, Rahul Gandhi deserves kudos for saying it as it is. Is this uncharacteristic vocal-ness a PR stunt to deflect attention from Narendra Modi who has been hogging all the headlines? Perhaps, but PR calculation doesn’t take away from the rightness of his view, or willingness to express it. The problem with Rahul’s grand maneuver is that it is an empty gesture, even an absurd one. [caption id=“attachment_1137825” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rahul at the press conference today. PTI[/caption] As many TV reporters point out, this isn’t the first time the Gandhi scion has publicly disagreed with UPA policy, be it on tribal rights or fighting Maoist insurgency. But in the past, he could do so as just another Congress MP (or at least pretending to be the same). He is now the Congress party vice-president, second only to his own mother. Why did his party still go ahead and support the ordinance despite his strong objections? Did he fail to make the case within his party before the ordinance was passed? Or is he so weak that his party leadership overrode his resistance? If so, all Rahul has proved is that he is a weak leader, unable to steer his party in the direction of his choice. This is no powerless backbencher forced to go to the media to telegraph his disapproval of his party’s policy. Or a young leader a la Milind Deora or Priya Dutt breaking ranks with an older establishment. A party boss doesn’t get to play conscientious objector. If Rahul despises the ordinance, he should have leveraged his considerable power to kill it. His shock jock statement unfortunately smacks of Pontius Pilate-politics, as usual. Rahul has always been eager to underline his personal revulsion for the dirty business of Indian politics, whether he is decrying the poison of power or the curse of dynasty. But he never takes on the responsibility of actually doing something to change it. Personal integrity absent of leadership is a worthless virtue – as Manmohan Singh has so amply demonstrated. Now poor MMS has to suffer the added ignominy of being shown up as immoral by the very dynasty that installed him in office as an expedient nightwatchman. Rahul Gandhi is the one man who can indeed clean the Congress house. Rather than play reluctant scion – which does no good to his party, the nation or its people – Rahul could easily leverage his greatest asset in the service of a good cause. He could say to the party leadership, “Sure, I’ll be your prime ministerial candidate, but only if you agree to genuine reform. But if you don’t, there is no point in my staying in this party or in politics.” Cue the panic attacks. No one is going to show Rahul baba the door. The party has hitched its entire future to his coattails. It is why Congress honchos squawk like headless chickens any time Rahul suggests he doesn’t want to be Prime Minister. There is no Plan B. The problem, however, is that Plan A is all talk and no action. And he will continue to be dismissed as a “nautanki” artist until his words have consequences. Until the UPA government actually tears up the ordinance and throws it away.