In Defense Of Rahul Gandhi...

                                                                                             

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.