BackPriyanka Gandhi, the granddaughter gambit
Priyanka Gandhi, the granddaughter gambit
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A few weeks ago, the Congress announced that Priyanka Gandhi has set a three-month schedule for herself to revamp the party in Rae Bareli, her mother’s Lok Sabha constituency. In the last Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the party won only two of the 15 seats in the Gandhis’ pocket boroughs of Rae Bareli, Amethi and Sultanpur.
A deep discussion on this is entirely fruitless. It all finally comes down to a simple statement: She reminds us of Indira Gandhi. Which, again, if one persists, becomes: She looks like Indira Gandhi.
Well, it’s hardly uncommon to have some resemblance to your grandmother, but a few years ago, feeling particularly bloodyminded and with time to waste, I did take printouts of large pictures of several members of the Gandhi-Nehru clan and studied them closely. Now, to my eyes, Priyanka’s face bears the closest resemblance to her brother, Rahul, who looks very much the son of Rajiv Gandhi, who, at the age of 40, was a carbon copy of his father Feroze Gandhi (do check that one out). Since we are really nit-picking here, Priyanka’s resemblance to her grandmother essentially comes down to the hairstyle, even though she has straight hair (her grandmother’s hair was wavy). And, of course, she is a woman.
But really, even if she did look just like Indira Gandhi, what of it?
Do we want her to be Indira Gandhi?
Twenty eight years after her tragic death, I am sure that today it is safe to conclude that whatever great leadership qualities she had, she also, in her quest for absolute power, subverted the Constitution, politicized the judiciary, the bureaucracy and the Indian public sector, and presided over an economic policy regime that set India back by two decades. And she created the Dynasty.
It should certainly be a cause for worry if intelligent, educated, politically uncommitted Indians still long for a powerful Mother Figure. This, without ever asking a simple question that we almost unconsciously ask of all prominent politicians: What do you stand for?
What does Priyanka Gandhi stand for? (Or for that matter, Rahul Gandhi?)
In our minds, almost every leading politician—from Mulayam to Modi, Karunanidhi to Karat, stands for something. We may abhor that “something", and in fact, the stance itself may be purely political pretension, but in a word association game with these politicians’ names, the players wouldn’t have to sweat their brains too hard to find a few terms.
The game becomes much tougher when one comes to Congress politicians, since the party tries to be everything to everyone, and is essentially about power—the divine right to rule India. However, even within the Congress, a few people do stand for something. Sonia Gandhi, for instance, one could say, stands for state-funded development. But Rahul, what does he represent other than his family name? One hasn’t been able to figure that out.
On that scale, I suppose Priyanka stands for a bit more: the family name, plus she reminds a lot of people of her grandmother.
She is already drawing crowds to her meetings and rallies, though that is only to be expected—the Gandhi-Nehru scions always draw crowds.
Can a charming smile, and a public memory hued very pink over the space of three decades, help a distressed Congress? Well, there aren’t too many other arrows left in the party’s quiver.
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