If you are a Congressman, just forget about Maharashtra as another bad day in the office; seek comfort if you prefer from Jharkhand, but it is Wayanad that has provided genuine cause for rejoicing.
The over-four lakh victory margin for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra establishes her as a genuine article, no longer just an extra in the photo sessions with her mother or brother. Some in the Congress hierarchy may even be inclined to believe that the party’s 40-year-old search for a charismatic leader has finally ended.
If you are a BJP man, then after you have finished rejoicing over Maharashtra, consider this: Wayanad means the defeat of Narendra Modi’s two-decade old crusade against the Nehru-Gandhi family.
When parliament reconvenes next week, there will be three members of the same family coming to the new Sansad Bhavan – the mother, Sonia Gandhi in the Rajya Sabha; brother Rahul Gandhi and sister Priyanka in the Lok Sabha. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the Indian parliament – that too on Mr. Modi’s watch.
For more than two decades, Modi has spent enormous amounts of rhetorical power to delegitimise the Gandhi family; he lost this battle because he and his party were self-servingly selective in denouncing the idea of “family” or “dynasty” in political life.
Hopefully, after Wayanad, the country will no longer be asked to agitate against family rule.
If you are a BJP member of the Lok Sabha, then be prepared for Priyanka’s mere presence lending spark and spunk to the opposition benches. Of all the three Gandhis, Priyanka is the most “dynasty” fundamentalist; she is unapologetically Indira Gandhi’s granddaughter. She is not in the least in awe of Modi or any other member of the treasury benches. The BJP’s parliamentary managers will need to watch out for her.
If you are a member of the Rahul “camp” in the Congress system, brace yourself for the problem of optics – the newly elected member of the Lok Sabha from Wayanad will pose for the party’s parliamentary managers. The sister outshining the brother! Comparison will be made between the two and there is near unanimity that she is a better, more natural and more rhetorical speaker than Rahul, who has the designation of leader of the opposition.
If you are in the formal Congress hierarchy represented by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, you will be constrained to feel the additional weight of legitimacy the Gandhi family has acquired. So far, Priyanka could strut around on the Congress leadership stage on the strength of being Sonia’s daughter; but now she has a certain legitimacy of her own.
Though Kharge saheb himself has been very much cognisant of the Family – the elephant in his room – in exercising the authority of his office, now he will have to be rather watchful against her effortless assertiveness.
And, if you are in the “Priyanka camp”, you have an additional reason to rejoice, but please make sure you curb your factional impulses. The Congress is a party that survives and thrives on many myths; one of the myths is that Indira Gandhi had foreseen Priyanka as her natural incarnation. Indira Gandhi’s closest political aide, M.L. Fotedar, in his memoirs, The Chinar Leaves, pretty much consecrated this myth for the benefit of two generations of Congress leaders.
Whatever be the truth, the Priyanka column will now feel emboldened and empowered to meddle in the party’s organisational affairs. Factionalism is part of the Congress’s collective DNA.
Also read: Priyanka Gandhi’s Wayanad Win Will Have National Consequences
The message from Wayanad is unambiguous: the centrality of the Gandhi family in Congress affairs stands reaffirmed and sanctified. Earlier it was Rahul who, with his Bharat Jodo Yatra, had not only rolled back the Ghulam Nabi Azad-led rebellion against the Family, but had also demonstrated to the rank and file a new stamina and a capacity for steadfastness.
Now, the sister has the legitimacy and the imprimatur of a massive win in a Lok Sabha election. Though the mother, Sonia, no longer gets involved in party affairs, she has not totally faded away; she remains the moral arbiter, whenever such a role is invented for her by party managers.
The brother, of course, is the leader of opposition and de facto leader of the party, in and out of parliament. And now, the sister has cemented a place for herself.
Ironically, after Wayanad, the Congress can be said to be the only party that has solved its leadership issue for the foreseeable future. For better or for worse, the Gandhis will be there for the next two decades to provide coherence and stability – a prospect that eludes most parties.
The BJP is stuck with an aging and tired Modi; the Trinamool Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Akali Dal are all staring at that leadership uncertainty. Only the Samajwadi Party has a young and undisputed leader in Akhilesh Yadav. This will make the Congress legitimately claim the leadership of the opposition conglomerate.
The only downside to Priyanka’s new stature is that the much-needed task of organisational revitalisation will become further postponed. Neither the brother nor the sister has so far shown any great inclination to undertake the painstaking, thankless and unglamorous chore of attending to organisational building and renovation.
While the brother has already recast himself in the role of the Mahatma – above party affairs – the sister will be too much in thrall of her own charisma to anchor the backbreaking organisation-building job.
All said and done, Congressmen will have the comfort of unquestionable family dominance and command; this in itself should clear away the cobwebs of doubt and disobedience. This clarity in the Congress will have consequences for the larger polity.
Harish Khare was editor of The Tribune.
