Cutting through the political thicket of mercurial West Bengal, where political actors of all hues are guiding their actions and words motivated by little other than next year’s Assembly election which could see the making of history if the CPI(M)-led Left Front is bested, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had one clear message: becoming Prime Minister was not the kinetic driving his actions. This straightforward line appears to have charmed the students and faculty at Visvabharati, the university established by Rabindranath Tagore. But it is unlikely that anyone in the young Mr Gandhi’s shoes can really divorce his thoughts from the office of Prime Minister. He is, after all, the scion of India’s most pre-eminent and charismatic political family, and is widely regarded as the engine behind the Congress Party’s extraordinary electoral showing, beating all odds, in last year’s Lok Sabha election. And yet, the young Congress leader was able to give the impression that it was not the question of attaining the pinnacle of political glory that gave him energy. He exhorted his listeners to think of reform — not merely complaints — in their everyday actions if they desired to be in the public sphere. The Prime Minister’s job was not everything, he noted. A cynical view can be that this is posturing. But that is not the way Mr Gandhi’s audiences appear to be viewing him in the last three years or so that he has begun going around the country meeting various sections of needy people. Perhaps it is the stark contrast with the normal, power-grabbing, politician that sets apart the Gandhi scion — till the other day regarded as the boy scout innocent of the tough realities of political life — in the eyes of the public. Quite clearly, not everyone who appears impressed with the Congress general secretary is going to vote Congress. A range of thoughts course through an elector’s mind in the ballot season. And yet, there can be little doubt that Mr Gandhi is handily selling a ware that people seek, even if this is going to turn out a mirage in the end. It is here that he seems to be setting an agenda that the grizzled men and women in our political life, not to say their younger camp followers, find enviable but are unable to replicate.
The wider aim of the Congress leader appears to be to head another Congress, not the one he has been sucked into — a reformed Congress where elections at all levels will decide the leadership at each level. If this becomes reality in the not too distant future, a sea change would have come over a party whose organisational structure was overhauled in 1969 by Indira Gandhi to make it leader-centric, a template that remains unchanged to this day. This is far from being an easy ask, as Rahul will discover. Vested interests tend to overwhelm all systems we create. But it is clear to see that he is on his way to make a beginning with the Youth Congress, until the other day a den of pushy nobodies with sycophancy and a rapid political climb on their minds. We can hope that Mr Gandhi will succeed in the task he appears to have set himself, but who can say? Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see a politician talking directly to people and to aspiring politicians, urging them to change, to care, and to move away from carpet-bagging dreams. So far, we have not heard of the Congress general secretary seeking to recruit from the lower rungs of our hierarchical social and economic life as he goes about seeking to revitalise the Youth Congress from state to state. Covering this lacuna will be good for his party and for the future political landscape of this country.