Congress has no magical solution, the kind that is sometimes called a silver bullet. Priyanka Gandhi's maiden speech shows she is more a silver lining in the cloud for Congress than a silver bullet.
Published Dec 14, 2024 | 6:02 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 14, 2024 | 6:02 PM
Priyanka Gandhi's speech reminded one more of late BJP prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee than anyone in her party. (Screengrab)
Some things are highly relevant, not because of what is being said but by whom, in what manner, and in what circumstances. That must be borne in mind as we look at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s debut speech in the Lok Sabha, which also happily coincided with a meaningful debate on the Constitution of India. We must study the speech’s context in detail to understand its significance.
First up, the Nehru-Gandhi clan’s latest entrant into the national parliament started with a handicap as the Indian National Congress has been steadily weakened over the past 20 years, and to top it all, the rise of the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has meant dealing with his frequent jibes against dynastic politics.
The decline of the Congress party in the north has meant an erosion of power. And power is an optical game in which if you lose some you lose some more and if you gain a little you gain a little more because perceptions and the self-interest of various groups play a dynamic role in shaping politics.
Priyanka Gandhi’s debut speech has made people sit up. Though elected from Wayanad in Kerala in the deep south, the newly minted MP spoke in chaste Hindi, and that too on the core issue that divides the BJP from the Congress: the conflict between a modern, multicultural, ground-up constitutionalism versus a conservative one in which the Constitution is seen not as a break from the past but more as an
instrument of continuity in which not the internal dynamics of Indian society but external aggressors and colonial powers are seen as deterrents to national progress.
In her turns of phrases, pauses for effect, and subtle humour, Priyanka Gandhi’s speech reminded one more of late BJP prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee than anyone in her party. Her gifted oratory is likely to make people notice her and the Congress more, especially as there are reasons to believe that a Modi fatigue of sorts may have set in across the nation.
Recent BJP wins in Haryana and Maharashtra have strengthened the BJP but it is worth noting that caste calculations and welfare promises backed by strong organisational efforts at the grassroots by BJP’s ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), may have played a bigger part in the victory than the awe-inspiring “Modi hai to mumkin hai” (If there is Modi, it is possible) image that the
ruling party harped on for well over a decade.
This is not to say the Congress is on the rebound but to point out that Priyanka Gandhi may just help her party buy time with a lifeline of sorts that her persona and personality represent. Days before her speech, knives were out for the Congress inside the motley INDIA grouping of opposition parties with calls to make Mamata Banerjee of the TMC its leader, implicitly suggesting a diminished role for Congress whose president Mallikarjun Kharge was last year elected as the grouping’s chairperson.
A political cartoon showed the wreckage of a car representing the alliance defeated in general elections earlier this year, with a bunch of leaders arguing over who would be the next driver. A couple of vital state elections have since been lost by Congress, and its pivotal role in the INDIA set is under fire.
The cartoon’s sarcasm is not lost on anybody but in a way gives a reprieve for the Congress. The next national election is years away. Priyanka’s rise gives everybody a chance to reflect on what can be done, and who will do it.
Here’s where we need to take a deep breath and take note of how strong or weak the Congress is (or not) as a national party. Notwithstanding its recent defeats, the party is still the main rival to the BJP at the national level, though on the back foot. It is in power still in Karnataka, Telangana, and Himachal Pradesh. I would like to add that though it lost state elections in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, there are reasons to believe that local Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Bhupinder Singh Hooda can be squarely blamed for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. As the best alternative to the BJP, Congress thus leads in the bigger picture.
What it needs perhaps is an agenda that makes the country sit up. Issues such as its call for a caste census to boost affirmative action for backward classes, and its frequent criticism of the BJP for mismanaging the economy make the Congress look as if it is riding piggyback on a simplistic leftist agenda. However, Priyanka Gandhi touched upon the underlying social concerns in the context of BJP’s authoritarian conservatism, making it seem that the party has got its perspective right — though not its goals and tasks.
It is difficult to peer into the telescope using just one speech as an indicator of things to come but the potential that the speech showed for the Congress is significant. If the Congress keeps the pressure up on the BJP (as it is indeed doing) and comes up with something original in a positive way, Priyanka Gandhi’s speech skills will make it work. There is only so much that a good oratory can do.
Congress has no magical solution, the kind that is sometimes called a silver bullet. Priyanka Gandhi’s maiden speech shows she is more a silver lining in the cloud for Congress than a silver bullet.
It is pertinent to note that the BJP is doing very well in the art of stealing ideas from its rivals, chiefly Congress. In politics, unlike in business, there is no such thing called intellectual property.
The Karnataka elections won by Congress were aided by its promise of the Gruha Laxmi Scheme that offered cash handouts to women. The BJP has since offered similar schemes in Madhya Pradesh (Ladli Behna Yojana), Haryana (Lado Laxmi Yojana), and Maharashtra (Ladki Bhain Yojana).
Politics is always about the next five years, not the past 50. The Congress has to invent for itself a new future, and to the extent that Priyanka Gandhi and her brother Rahul can swing something new to capture the imagination of voters, they are likely to be less concerned about dynastic politics.
As I see it, it doesn’t matter who in the short run leads the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) grouping, whose acronym is as cumbersome as its acrimony. What matters more is for Congress to show that it can come up with a creative agenda. The current drift in India’s economy is not enough for the party to ride on negative campaigning. Also, it is in a position where it has to balance the interests of other parties in the INDIA grouping while strengthening itself from the inside.
That reminds me of a favourite metaphor used by IT giant Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy on the business of reinventing a company: It is like changing the wheels of an aircraft mid-flight. The Congress party is facing a midflight moment. As leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi needs to do his bit, but his style is a bit gauche for conventional political observers. Priyanka Gandhi is now doing a sister act that is far more intelligible in style and substance for mass appeal.
A lot will now depend on how their combination delivers on the ground. In the eyes of his critics, Narendra Modi may not have delivered on his promise of “Achhe Din” (Good days) but it is undeniable that he captured the imagination of the masses with this and other slogans, not to speak of schemes and laws.
The Nehru-Gandhi family has to now match that fervour. That is no mean task. Priyanka Gandhi’s parliament speech is thus best described as a good beginning for the long haul.
(The writer is a senior journalist and commentator who has worked for Reuters, The Economic Times, Business Standard, and Hindustan Times. He tweets on X as @madversity. Views are personal. Edited by Majnu Babu).
