Rahul Gandhi, MP, being appointed a general secretary of the Congress, was the least surprising of all the crucial changes in the party organisation made by its president, Sonia Gandhi. But it created the most noise. This first-time MP, seen as the heir to the Congress legacy, has taken charge of what his uncle Sanjay Gandhi once took over in the mid-1970s and what his father Rajiv Gandhi did too, in the 1980s, after the tragic aircrash that took Sanjay?s life.
While looking after the party?s youth outfits is seen as both a befitting and nostalgic initiation for Rahul Gandhi, the party and the context he faces in 2007 are very different from the easy old days of Congress dominance. His task is almost infinitely more challenging and variegated than that of his predecessors.
First, of course, is India?s demographic shift. The ?youth bulge? means that establishing a ?youth connect? is an obvious opportunity, and this begins with empowering the party?s young leaders to mobilise the base. This is a critical role, especially at a time when the main opposition party, the BJP, doesn?t have anybody very ?young? in the race for the top national leadership. In a general election in which more than half the electorate would be first-time voters, this is of no inert significance.
Second, today?s Congress is very different from what it was in the four-and-a-half decades it ruled India at the Centre. Since 1989, the Indian political scene has seen dramatic changes, and the party has been on the backfoot, routed several times and even having to give in to coalition governance after a phase of denial. This makes the task of being the ?heir apparent? exceptionally difficult. Rahul Gandhi is an heir to a difficult legacy, one that has to adapt to the reality of a weakened support base and marginalisation in key states. He will have to do what his father did not have to do much of?building a rapport with leaders of other parties, and striving to accommodate competing interests both within and outside the Congress umbrella. He needs to be strong enough to lead his party, and yet adaptive enough to forge alignments.
Third, Rahul Gandhi represents Amethi, once his father?s constituency and part of a sprawling empire that UP once was for the Congress. Today, Amethi, like Rae Bareili, is only a small oasis of support for the party?s first family in the midst of a barren doab. In both UP and Bihar, the Congress is no longer a contender for power, with tough cookies like Mayawati, Mulayam Singh and others having made political capital on variations of the old Congress vote-base formula.
But more than just the political context, it is India that has changed over the past decade-and-a-half. Parties have not been very imaginative in adapting to the changing needs of people, or even understanding their new aspirations. A new millennium, some say, might well demand a new generation in the lead. Expectations, therefore, from Rahul Gandhi would be huge.
The young Gandhi?s impeccable manners and charisma must find a match in the political maturity that he brings to the table, the rally, and flag he has sworn to hold aloft. Every breath of his was under scrutiny while campaigning in UP. Some of his words did expose a raw nerve or two, earning him a degree of ridicule. He must brace himself for more criticism as his role expands, for more learning as he goes about understanding India?s complexities, and for more tests of nerves that would testify to his will to go the long haul.
Over the Ram Sethu issue and the anti-US stance displayed by the Right and Left, respectively, the Congress?s rivals have marked a return to their respective core constituencies. This leaves a huge central space that Rahul would do well to position himself in. And if he is able to craft a clever and centrist middle ground for the Congress, it would be no less than a coup for a 37-year-old.
