My subjective evaluation of him hinges to a
large extent on the first memory of seeing him on television. It was during his
grandmother’s funeral and Rahul Gandhi was 14 years old at that time. He was
standing next to his younger sister in front of the funeral pyre. I don’t think
the enormity of what had happened had sunk in for both of them.
Their cousin Varun was a toddler at that
time. Maneka Gandhi had made a dramatic exit from the Gandhi household along
with her infant son after her husband’s death and ensured the press had arrived at an
opportune moment to capture the family feud on camera. Maybe Rahul and Priyanka
had slept through the entire sorry episode.
As soon as Varun arrived with his mother, a
smiling Priyanka forgot the seriousness of the situation and ran to hug her
cousin while Rahul looked on indulgently. Neither of his parents had made a
foray into politics at that time. And it was evident to the entire nation that
both the children had been brought up well. The poison of broken relationships
had not afflicted them.
I would notice him again, seven years later.
At the funeral of his father, looking distraught. Trying to come to terms with
yet another blow life had dealt him.
It
can be argued that both his grandmother and father had fallen victim to their
own political machinations. It’s no secret that Indira Gandhi had created the Frankenstein
of Bhindranwale and the entire tragedy leading to the storming of the Golden
Temple and her subsequent gunning down by her bodyguards felt like a vicious circle.
But is it fair to expect two children barely in their teens to understand all
this? They had lost their doting grandmother in the most brutal manner.
Rajiv Gandhi too meddled unnecessarily in
Sri Lanka and earned the ire of Tamil separatists. It was to cost him his life
and come as a lesson to the entire nation that unleashing violence always
begets violence. It’s a self defeating process.
While Rajiv Gandhi was as culpable in the
genocide of Sikhs in 1984, as Narendra Modi was in the genocide of Muslims in
2002, there has not been one irresponsible communal statement from Rahul Gandhi
in all the years he has been dabbling in politics. He has been raised by a mother who was raised Catholic. I don’t think Hindu fundamentalism makes any sense to him.
It is easy to ridicule Rahul because of his
perceived failures, especially in UP. But that may very well be the plight of
any decent person who ventures into politics. He is as clueless as you and I. It
is also apparent that if it was not for his mother, he would not be playing the
political role assigned to him currently.
That’s very Indian. Mothers being pushy,
that is. One more reason most men in the country should have empathy for him. And
did he lose to a better man in UP? Look at how that state is turning out to be
under Akhilesh Yadav and his party of goons?
I am surprised at how many rude jokes there
are about Rahul Gandhi. Have any of us ever tried to place him in the context of the
violence and trauma he has gone through while he was growing up? Just because
he comes from a privileged background does not mean he is immune to the pain of
losing loved ones to bullets and bombs. Maybe his reticence is because of all
the tragedies he has encountered in his life. He comes across as a decent
person and I think we need decent people in politics. Rahul Gandhi does not scare me.
Narendra Modi scares me.
After Manmohan Singh made public his intent
of wanting to run for office for a third time at the ripe age of 81, he too has
started scaring me.
Advani scares me.
Sushma Swaraj scares me.
Mulayam Singh Yadav scares me.
Mayawati scares me.
All of them behave as if they could do anything to stay in power.
Rahul Gandhi does not give me that
impression. He seems to be indifferent and that’s what I like about him. As far
as I am concerned, he is one of the two candidates who should be our next Prime
Minister.
Nitish Kumar is the other one.
