India’s leader-in-waiting might just be capable of meeting the huge challenges he will face, writes Kailash Chand
The ballot box can sometimes deliver what is the best of the available choices, as it did for Congress at the recently-concluded elections for the Indian parliament. The electorate has shifted the political paradigm, confounding political pundits.
Fears of a badly fractured mandate were dismissed by what is truly becoming a mature Indian electorate. Congress got a comprehensive thumb’s up. Although the party’s actual share of the vote rose only marginally, it has increased its parliamentary representation from 147 seats in 2004 to 206 in 2009.
Voters rewarded the hard work and integrity of Congress administrations in many states and rejected the hollow rhetoric of both right and left. Congress now has a clear mandate for the inclusive economic growth and communal harmony that is personified by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Religion, caste and money are all losing their electoral appeal. The National Democratic Alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, was hammered at the 2009 election. The result has been a huge blow to small left parties and forced them to concede that their “third front” was a non-starter.
India’s election result had other interesting features. Breaking all previous records, women won more than 10 per cent of the seats. Most of the tainted leaders or their proxy candidates got a well-deserved drubbing.
But Congress cannot rest on its laurels. It must remember that a lack of intra-party democracy, promoted by a section of Congress insiders, has done the party significant harm in the recent past. It must acknowledge that the Congress high command, led by Sonia Gandhi, has had a great struggle to keep the dissidents at bay.
Great credit is due to her son, Rahul Gandhi. As Congress general secretary, he is attempting to introduce a new lexicon to extricate his party from the quagmire of self-serving politics. So there is hope for the future. While the fear is that he may not have the stamina to finish this reform marathon, so far Rahul and his committed team of young MPs have opted to devote themselves to party work instead of chasing after power.
Rahul Gandhi has in him much that is required of a future prime minister. Born on June 19 1970, he shares his birthday with Aung San Suu Kyi, the hope of democracy in Burma, and novelist Salman Rushdie. After his early education in Delhi, Rahul attended Harvard and then came to Britain, working as a financial consultant in London for several years. He returned to India in 1999, in order to be with his mother, Sonia, who was forced to enter politics to fill the vacuum caused by the assassination of her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, at the hands of the Tamil Tigers.
Physical fitness is high on Rahul’s personal agenda. His preferred work attire is a white kurta (a loose shirt) and jeans. A Nehru cap and a bomber jacket are also favoured on occasion. According to one recent survey, he is India’s most eligible bachelor and more popular than national icons such as cricketer MS Dhoni and Bollywood star Salman Khan. But little is known about his personal life and he remains something of an enigma.
The recent elections have signalled his definitive political emergence. Rahul has mass appeal, particularly because of what are perceived as his honesty and sincerity. As a member of India’s most famous political dynasty, Rahul has emerged as a key strategist. Combining the charm of his great-grandfather, Jawahar Lal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, with the charisma of his grandmother Indira Gandhi, it would seem to be Rahul’s destiny to lead his country and in the manner of his choosing. He has been carefully groomed to take over the family business and officially entered politics in 2004.
As the likely next leader, Rahul certainly has the “wow” factor. He worked tirelessly on the 2009 campaign trail, covering about 87,000 kilometres and 106 constituencies. In 35 campaign days, he addressed 122 rallies. It was a staggering schedule for any politician.
After winning his father’s old constituency, Amethi, in Uttar Pradesh, and entering the Lok Sabh – the lower house of India’s Parliament – he has projected a cautious, managerial image and made few public comments. His attempts to change the political environment include not hesitating to acknowledge the good work done by opponents. His praise for the good governance practiced by Nitish Kumar, chief minister of Bihar, and Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, was in marked contrast to the vitriolic personal attacks launched by several BJP leaders. During his tours of the hinterland, Rahul interacts freely with the poorest of the poor. This is encouraging the Congress Party’s youth and student wings to devote their own time to the marginalised.
Rahul sees his priorities as improving the education and living standards of the poor of India. He aims to challenge the country’s caste system, which he believes stops India from achieving its full potential. He wants to make India a meritocratic nation where people’s abilities are fully harnessed so they can achieve their full potential.
His economic aims include the generation of high growth and the transfer of sizeable resources to mass welfare programmes, such as national rural employment and loan waivers for the poor. However, such policies must been to benefit those need them most. It remains to be seen if Rahul’s well-meaning intentions to involve workers at the grassroots can make a real difference.
It is important to remember that the major issue at India’s 2009 elections was good governance – irrespective of who provides it. It should also be noted that Congress is still steeped in sycophancy, which has long been promoted by Rahul’s own family. India remains more a dynastical democracy than a fully liberal one and this is the biggest challenge Rahul faces. Still, he is a fresh face in politics and so are others of the new MPs.
The big question is not if Rahul takes over from Manmohan Singh, but when. The leader-in-waiting will then have to confront India’s problems of shaky infrastructure, overcrowded and decaying cities, child malnutrition, appalling education, non-existent healthcare for the masses and rising crime.
Rahul has made a good start and the approach he says he wants to adopt is and admirable one. However, if he is truly to deliver that which so many people want, he will have to be like a long-distance runner who adopts a very fast pace. As Labour in Britain found out last week, the harsh reality of the ballot box is that voters can be very unforgiving to those they deem to have failed.
Kailash Chand is a Manchester-based GP
