Rahul Gandhi, the Dictator

 The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference

We were told some two years back that Sonia Gandhi will be interim President of the Congress. She took over from her son, who took over from her in 2017. Leader after leader in the party has demanded that the party should have a full time President who is visible and active. Report after report in the English media referred to her as the interim President of the Congress. After two years, Sonia Gandhi couldn’t take it anymore. In the Congress Working Committee meeting on Ocotber 16th, she thundered – “I am, if you will allow me to say so, a full-time and hands on Congress president.” So, the interim President of the Congress party declared herself to be the full-time President of the Congress party in the CWC meeting! So much for being wedded to democratic ethos and all that!

The meeting proceeded to discuss the next agenda item – to beg Rahul Gandhi to take over as the President of the party from his mother, in the presence of his mother. The loop is dizzy – The son took over from mother; the mother took over from the son; the son will not take over from the mother! Rahul Gandhi’s sister, Priyanka Gandhi was also present in the meeting by virtue of her well-earned position of party general secretary. News reports have told us that “Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was among a host of leaders who asked Mr. Gandhi “to lead the action””.

I had moist eyes while reading report after report about this family drama, that will put any well scripted TV drama to shame. I can very well imagine the poignant mood in the room where the 50 others assembled would have been wiping their tears hearing Mother, Son and Daughter figure out amongst themselves how to be benevolent and accept the courtiers wishes. Finally, Rahul Gandhi found the right words to bestow his benevolence. He said, “I will consider”.

Can you imagine the eruption of joy in the room at the large heartedness of Rahul Gandhi for agreeing to “consider” their request? The joy would have been short lived because Rahul Gandhi had conditions attached for his benevolence. What were they?

In his trademark style he spoke without clarity. He apparently wanted the Congress party to decide where it stands on the “question of ideology”. In the past 24 years, his mother was President for 21 years. He was President for ~3 years. And today he thought it fit to ask the very party that he and his mother led for nearly 25 years on where it stands on ideology! Quite expectedly, those in the room would have been confused with this intellectual observation. So, Rahul Gandhi decided to be further benevolent and give examples.

The first example he gave was how he was stopped from visiting the family of Akhlaq in 2015. In the year 2015, his mother was President of the party. Full-time President. Rahul Gandhi was Vice President of the party. How can anyone prevent him from going to anywhere he wanted to go? He would have received advice from a variety of people on whether to go or not to go. Ultimately, it is up to the mother and son to decide what best to do for the party. If Rahul Gandhi decided to heed to the advice of one group of the party in 2015, why is he blaming them now for being “stopped”? If he wanted to, there was nobody in the Congress party who would dare to stop him, with the exception of his mother perhaps. So, was Rahul Gandhi attacking his own mother in the party forum?

The second example he gave was about his visit to Hathras last year. I don’t know what the problem here is. He did go to Hathras. He did stage that famous drama of falling on the road while walking, making him a laughing stock. Was he blaming someone for giving him the advice of staging that laughable drama? We have pro-Congress journalists telling us that Rahul Gandhi wants all the old guard out and that’s why the “elections” to the post of Congress President will be held a year from now.

He’s done a similar attack on his partymen after the 2019 loss too. He blamed them for not listening to him. In one of his rants later, he even went to the extent of screaming that “Even if the whole country is on one side, I will be on the other side”. This statement led us to wonder why a leader of a political party in any country would be against the whole country. Don’t you find it amusing that he blames the people instead of himself and his family for the mess that the party is in.

What does all this say about Rahul Gandhi? It says that he does not want to listen to any advice coming from his party cadre and leaders. It says that he will not tolerate any contradictory opinions to his. It says that he demands unquestioning loyalty even when disaster is looming on the party because of him. It says that he will be the first to blame; not the first to take the blame. In short, it says that he is a dictator.