The logic of politics suggests for now that the young Rahul Gandhi will be projected as Prime Minister by the Congress only if the party has respectable Lok Sabha numbers
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s observation on Saturday that he would be happy to serve the Congress, with Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister, has predictably unleashed media interest. It need not have, as the episode can turn out to be empty sensationalism and quite unrelated to political circumstances on the ground.
Over the years the Congress has stuck to the tradition of not announcing the name of its prime ministerial candidate in advance, for electing the PM is the prerogative of the Lok Sabha after a general election, although when stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi — or even Rajiv Gandhi — were around, no one was in any doubt who the PM would be if the Congress was victorious. Matters have changed greatly since then.
Increasingly, in recent years, no one is running off with the elections. Fractured mandates, leading to fractious coalitions, have become the norm. Over the years, however, the BJP (and its forerunner, the Jana Sangh), which has slowly inched its way from the fringes to a more broadbased presence in the Lok Sabha by soft-pedalling its Hindu-oriented politics, has tended to convert national polls into an American-style presidential race, a sort of gladiatorial arena. In the lean years, this was a necessity. Not hoping to win elections, the party desired to at least garner nationwide attention by projecting a well-known figure as its leader if it came to power (the chances of which were less than slim).
Now almost 10 years out of power, the BJP is pushing extra hard to name one of its senior leaders as a PM hopeful in the expectation this would do the trick for it as the present government appears to be facing the anti-incumbency factor with prices and numerous scandals emerging as key concerns. For the media, this is a tailor-made situation and it need only produce the other side of the equation in a gladiatorial bout to spice things up. Rahul Gandhi is the perfect answer. This suits the BJP too for now. Calculation in those quarters is that the soft-spoken young Gandhi scion may prove no match for some of their loud-talking leaders who are hogging the limelight.
In circumstances like these, the question who might be the next PM has become a hardly perennial whenever Dr Singh is collared by the media. Many meanings are read into anodyne replies to questions. The logic of politics suggests for now that the young Mr Gandhi will be projected as PM by the Congress only if the party has respectable Lok Sabha numbers so that it won’t be pushed around by merciless allies. In any case, Dr Singh is not quite qualified to answer questions on political contingencies.
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