Extraordinary crises throw up extraordinary leaders. For the Congress, which is at present fighting almost the whole country with its back against the wall, the snow-balling Anna Hazare movement is no ordinary problem.
The group managing the party’s affairs in the absence of party chief Sonia Gandhi has messed up the situation by ill-calculated moves. The leadership vacuum at the top is glaringly apparent. It needs to find a leader who would connect to the masses and assuage hurt feelings all around, immediately.
Will Rahul Gandhi be that extraordinary one? This is his big political test. This is the moment for him to move out of the shadows of senior party leaders and make a statement for himself. If he refuses to take up the challenge now, he would end up being seen as any other non-descript Congress leader, a backroom manipulator with no guts to rise to the occasion.
The young leader has been around for too long, learning the ropes of politics, discovering India and rediscovering poverty and deprivation. He has been creating bubbles of goodwill for himself across the country and in all trouble zones by speaking the language of the poor and the tormented. But he has been conspicuously silent in any debate on serious issues. He has shied away from taking a bold stand on policy matters.
This is the moment for Rahul Gandhi to move out of the shadows of senior party leaders and make a statement for himself. PTI
In short, he has not grown up to be a leader. He has been just a well-meaning casual visitor to troubled areas.
His mother, Sonia Gandhi, despite her obvious weaknesses and a dedicated hate community hounding her was hardly ever wanting in the stomach for a fight. The other Gandhis too – even the political green horn Rajiv Gandhi — were game enough for political battles. Rahul does not look inclined to plunge head on into complex situations, take on rivals with aggression.
But playing safe does not behove someone aspiring to be the Prime Minister. Anna Hazare’s escalating movement has created the right situation for the Gandhi scion to come out of the comfort zone and take charge. If he manages to guide the party out of the crisis by providing it with a well-thought out action plan, his credentials in the Congress would be established firmly. If he manages to quell the fire over the Lokpal Bill, his stature as a national leader would be confirmed once and for all.
What are the options for him right now? First take control of the party’s think tank and persuade it to be more flexible in its stand against Anna and his team. Aggressive action in combustible situations is always counter-productive. He must impress upon his colleagues that confrontation is no way to handle a popular movement.
Second, he must take the initiative and hold talks with Team Anna with himself at the head of a team of negotiators. It may not yield results but it would certainly ease tension to a great extent.
But is he courageous enough to take up the challenge? The developments in the next few days would reveal that.
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