Priyanka and the 2019 endgame

With Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into active politics, the Congress Party has set the cat among the pigeons. The eternal question of ‘will she or won’t she?’ has intrigued and fascinated pundits as well as the rank and file of the grand old party for nearly 20 years.

The immensely charismatic and articulate daughter of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi and the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi, often compared to the Iron Lady herself, has long been viewed as the Congress’ trump card and ‘secret weapon’.

Known for her gravitas, infectious charm and a knack for striking easy, instant rapport with the hoi polloi and party cadres, many have seen in Priyanka a natural successor and inheritor of the formidable Nehru-Gandhi legacy, often overshadowing her reticent brother, Rahul Gandhi.

This apprehension of outshining her elder brother, wittingly or unwittingly, is what may have held her back this long. But now that Rahul has formally taken charge of the Congress and has come into his own as a formidable and mature leader, proving his leadership by wresting the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the BJP, the fears about the sister stealing brother’s thunder have been allayed.

By launching his sister two months ahead of the 2019 general elections in India and trusting her with Uttar Pradesh – the largest and most strategic state in the country, electing 80 of the 543 members of parliament – Rahul has sprung a 440-volt surprise, in his own words, on both the arch-rival BJP and the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party combine. He couldn’t have delivered a more forceful knockout punch on all those who wrote off his party’s electoral prospects in UP.

Dalit leader Mayawati’s BSP and Akhilesh Yadav’s SP (the former in particular) had been so contemptuous and dismissive of the grand old party that they went ahead and declared their front sans the Congress, leaving the only secular party with a pan-Indian presence high and dry. And without improving its tally in UP, the Congress just cannot hope to recapture power in Delhi.

All that has changed with Priyanka entering the fray in UP. The Congress is back in the reckoning once again. She may not possess a magic wand but her entry has visibly electrified a moribund party in the state and across the country. With her magnetism, she unmistakably reminds many of her late grandmother.

This is bound to improve the Congress’ chances in and outside the state significantly, rallying the traditional supporters of the party among the upper castes, Dalits and Muslims who have drifted to other parties in the past few years. In a country whose population is predominantly young – more than 50 percent under the age of 25 and more than 65 percent under 30 – she would have a better emotional connect and rapport with the youth, especially women.

Modi and his party, which has transformed itself into a vicious election-winning machine with unlimited financial resources and various government agencies at its disposal, would not find it easy to target her personally in the same no-holds-barred fashion it has gone after her brother and even her ailing mother.

Indian voters, especially the youth and women, wouldn’t approve of personal attacks on a young woman and a young mother. Clearly, the BJP understands this. Its spokespersons have, therefore, avoided taking her on directly and rather targeted the so-called dynastic politics of the Congress.

However, in a country in which almost every political party boasts generations of dynasts, this charge against the Congress is unlikely to stick. No wonder the Parivar is nervous. This shows in the rambling, vicious attacks by the BJP spokespersons on the nightly television news and talk shows.

Clearly, yet another Gandhi in the fray has only added to the woes of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, already deeply unpopular and struggling on every front, weeks ahead of a critical general election. However, one big downside of Priyanka’s arrival on UP’s political scene is the inevitable division of secular votes between the SP-BSP and a resurgent Congress, directly helping the saffron party.

According to an India Today opinion poll reported on Wednesday, if the SP-BSP and Congress had rallied forces and collectively taken on the BJP in the general elections that are likely in May, it would have won as many as 75 out of 80 seats on offer in the battleground of UP.

This is why it is absolutely imperative and in the interest of the country that the SP-BSP and Congress do not let their forces and resources, and more importantly, secular votes be divided and squandered. If only the Congress had demonstrated greater flexibility and a spirit of reconciliation with the BSP and the SP in the recent assembly elections in MP and Rajasthan, the party would not have suffered the ignominy of being ignored in UP.

Even now, it may not be too late to strike a compromise between these key stakeholders in the country’s future. It is time for all parties to show a spirit of compromise and walk the talk about their commitment to the idea of an inclusive and democratic India. While the Congress needs to come off its high horse and reach out to all parties and regional players if it hopes to take on the BJP, it is absolutely critical that the Congress forms the fulcrum of any national alliance against the politics of polarisation and intolerance.

Although every political party is entitled to the dream of governing India, we have repeatedly seen that a rainbow coalition of regional parties – while sounding nice on paper – does not last long. Given the competing ambitions and hefty egos of various leaders, such a coalition comes off undone in no time.

Besides, such an alliance would invite the BJP’s attack that the opposition has a crowd of overambitious prime ministerial aspirants pitted against Modi. It has already been running an anti-Modi campaign. That the much-feted incumbent has spectacularly failed to deliver on every front and bankrupted the country is beside the point of course. It has unleashed hate and chaos throughout the country that was celebrated for its colourful diversity and tolerance

Only an alliance of regional and secular forces led by the Congress offers the potential and promise of peace, stability, social justice and economic progress as the UPA led by the Congress successfully did between 2004 and 2014 under former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh.

It is said, and not without reason, that the road to Delhi goes via UP. If the secular and democratic forces are to defeat the BJP and its deliberate, determined attempts to dismantle the idea of India, it is critical that they all join hands.

Only a one-on-one fight in every single constituency in UP and across the country, as suggested by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former Indian PM Deve Gowda, could defeat the Right and its agenda to rule forever.

This is no time for secular parties to play petty turf politics and cat-and-mouse games with each other. If they really care for India and its future and wellbeing, they must speak and act like one body and soul. As former BJP veteran Arun Shourie has warned, if the opposition parties do not act on the threat staring them all in the face, this may very well be the last election they fight.

So what would it take for Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav to make that call to Rahul Gandhi?

The writer is an independent writer and former editor.

Email: Aijaz.syed@hotmail.com

Twitter: @AijazZaka