Priyanka Gandhi: Rahul Plays Trump Card To Galvanise Congress

K. Ramachandra Murthy

The timing of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s plunge into fulltime politics appears to be perfect. Various surveys conducted by TV channels predict a hung parliament saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity graph has been steadily falling. The halo is fading and the rosy scenario that was clearly visible two years ago has been fast disintegrating. The RSS’s granular grasp on the people across the country and Amit Shah’ well-oiled election machinery and Modi’s own oratorical skills may not be enough to get him the second term.  Quite unexpectedly, Rahul Gandhi has come into his own with the people acknowledging his role in the Congress victory in the three Hindi States, although the triple incumbency factor weighed against the BJP governments and it was a matter of tie in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with both the BJP and the Congress getting almost equal percentage of votes. Only in Chattisgarh, the Congress registered an unambiguous win. But Rahul’s ratings have been going up and he is a much better communicator now. The spokespersons of the BJP like Sambit Patra and ministers like Nirmala Sitharaman have stopped taking the Congress president lightly. Modi may still call Rahul and Priyanka dynasts and naamdaaris, but the people are not buying these jibes any more. Priyanka joined her brother in the mother of all battles at a time when regional satraps started behaving indifferently claiming the prime ministerial mantle completely ignoring Rahul Gandhi. After the alliance between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh was finalised leaving the Congress out in the cold and the Kolkata show of Opposition solidarity was over, the trump card has been thrown in by the Congress president.

The launching of Priyanka was astutely handled by the Congress president who surprised both his political rivals and colleagues in his party. Rahul says the idea was in works for a long time but the timing was decided by his sister whose children are in their teens allowing their mother enough time for politics. Priyanka was given charge of Eastern UP which is a tough place to work since it has formidable presence of Modi (Varanasi) and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur). Priyanka’s presence will damage the SP-BSP alliance to some extent and the BJP to a greater extent. Priyanka brings dynamism, vigour, brains and colour to the table. The upper castes that have deserted the Congress in 2014 when it entered into a pact with the SP are likely to come back. They are upset with Yogi’s dispensation. She can eat into the BJP’s social coalition that was carefully built during Modi’s regime. None can find fault with Rahul Gandhi for hurting the Opposition interests. What he did was in the perceived interest of his party. Priyanka’s foray would add to the list of Modi’s alliterations. In UP, it will be Bhai-Behen and Bua-Bhatija (Brother, sister- Rahul, Priyanka and aunt, nephew-Mayawati, Akhilesh). In the most important State with 80 Lok Sabha seats, the Modi-Amit Shah-Yogi Adityanath trio will face the smart and tough warriors in the fast approaching general elections.

Trained by Teji Bachchan, mother of Amitabh Bachchan and wife of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Priyanka, unlike his mother and brother, speaks fluent, mellifluous Allahabadi Hindi. She is famous for her repartee, quick wit, single-liners and her traction with the people. As Rajiv Gandhi once told his close aide, Priyanka is a ‘natural.’ She is known not as Sonia Gandhi’s daughter but as Indira Gandhi’s granddaughter. A crowd-puller, she has the charisma of Indira and her style of connecting to the people. She has less than hundred days to prove her mettle. She will be landing from the US on February 3. There is hardly any time for her to make a mark. Can she revive the Congress magic in the given situation?

None Expected Congress To Bounce Back

Nobody thought the Congress that was reduced to a rump in parliament in 2014 elections would rise to the occasion to offer a semblance of a fight to a mighty BJP under the capable leadership of Modi. It is not only fighting, it is giving anxious moments to the prime minister who appears to be at the end of his wits. The image that he enjoyed at the time of last elections, that of an able, decisive, no-nonsense leader who is incorruptible and bold has taken a beating in the last one year. If the survey results are anything to go by, Rahul Gandhi was able to convey to the people that there was something fishy in the Rafale deal. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke vehemently defending the deal and explaining the virtues of the combat aircraft, but they could not convince the people as to why Anil Ambani was in the picture. The general impression is that the NDA government has been very tall on promises but short on delivery. The sheen is no more there. The rugged face of the regime is there for all to see.

The harsh language used by Modi in the public discourse like shehazade or vidhwa is not going down well with the people. Rahul, in contrast, comes across as a polished and educated rival. He has been able to broker peace between various factions in the Congress. The way he made Digvijay Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath work together to produce results in Madhya Pradesh was acknowledged by the critics. Since he became the party president, he has been attending to everything all alone. Now he has his sister in official position to help him. In fact, Priyanka has been assisting her brother whenever Sonia Gandhi was away in the US for treatment. It was Priyanka who was responsible for the alliance between the SP and the Congress in UP in 2014 Assembly elections. She was talking directly to AkhileshYadav. Rahul Gandhi explained that he has respect for both Mayawati and Akhilesh and the objective of all the three is to dislodge the NDA government. As far as UP is concerned, Priyanka will be the chief protagonist. Jyotiraditya Scindia, another young and dynamic leader, will be taking care of Western UP.

If Mayawati and Akhilesh heed to SitaramYechuri’s advice to talk and make adjustments in the alliance to include the Congress and RLD led by Ajit Singh, the situation would undergo perceptible change. Even otherwise, the Congress contesting alone will dent into the BJP votes helping the SP-BSP. Either way, the BJP will be adversely affected. The amount of damage depends on the impact that Priyanka can make in the limited time available. The assignment given to Priyanka and Jyotiraditya is not confined to the forthcoming elections. They will be working to make the Congress party relevant again after about 25 years in the most crucial State in the country.

Countering Priyanka, BJP Way

How can the BJP counter Priyanka? The sexist slurs by the unlawful lawmakers of the ruling party would not deter her. The spokespersons of the BJP look outdated when they harp on dynasty and corruption. The rumour that Priyanka has been keeping away from active politics out of fear of being hounded by the allegations against her husband Vadra was proved to be untrue. Narendra Modi appears to have exhausted all the weapons in his armoury. The last but one was the reservations for the economically weaker sections among the upper castes. The last measure would be sops for farmers.  Demonetisation, GST, Aadhar, surgical strikes did not give any mileage. Pakistan bashing may not be of great help. Going to war is undesirable and untenable. The more the BJP tries to belittle Nehru and Indira Gandhi the greater would be the damage to their electoral prospects. Modi is not in a position to come up with a fresh and inspiring national narrative and make the elections presidential so that he would be favourably compared to anyone of the half-a-dozen prime ministerial hopefuls among the Opposition leaders. The people are likely vote for or against Modi. If Priyanka and Jyotiraditya can make a mark and get a dozen seats in UP without antagonising or harming Mayawati and Akhilesh, it will give Rahul enough numbers to bargain with the other Opposition leaders after the polls. It is only because of Priyanka’s decision to enter the den of lions that UP is being discussed with reference to the Congress. She has the ability to bring back the Congress into the ring and exploit to her party’s advantage the disaffection that the people in general and the upper castes in particular developed towards the Yogi raj. It is a huge risk that Priyanka has taken. If she fares well she will go places and rise to the top position to sit on the side of her brother.

Otherwise, she would be dubbed a failure and forced to retreat. The 2017 debacle suffered by the Congress-SP alliance had shown her in poor light. She forced Akhilesh to concede one hundred seats to the Congress which contested on 105 seats and ultimately won just seven, less than Apna Dal which contested on 11 seats as a junior partner of the BJP and won nine. Priyanka is on a test by all means and she in turn will be testing Modi’s patience. When Indira became prime minister, she was called Ghoongi Gudiya (dumb doll), Rahul even after three terms is called Pappu, but nobody said any such thing about Priyanka. The BJP has to find a Priyanka specific strategy to neutralise her influence.

It’s Not Going To Be Easy

All said and done, Priyanka’s contribution in UP would not be able to alter the picture altogether. Unseating the BJP is not going to be easy. Narendra Modi’s resilience and Shah’s arethmatics cannot be matched by the Opposition stalwarts who are confined to their States. There is no pan-India leadership, network, plan or strategy for the anti-BJP alliance. BJP may try to make up the losses in UP by winning some seats in West Bengal and elsewhere. The BJP numbers are expected to come down. But to imagine that the BJP will be forced to make way for the Congress would be unrealistic.

Priyanka’s plunge would make the battle interesting and absorbing giving greater hope and courage to the Congress workers. Had she not stepped in, the Congress in UP would have gone the Tamil Nadu or Bihar way. Rahul Gandhi should get the credit for planning the induction and persuading his sister to agree to enter the rough and tumble of UP politics.