For once in his nine-year long political career, he has given some reason to be applauded.
His plainspeak on the ordinance overruling the Supreme Court verdict on the convicted legislators will now be subject to many interpretations;
there will even be political motives ascribed to his dramatic move,
but none of it would take the shine off the fact that he stood up for a good cause and
upbraided the government headed by his own party.
Such action requires courage,
lots of it.
We have not seen that from any leader from any party in recent times.
Rahul has provided enough hints of impatience with the erratic ways of the party earlier, but he has rarely spoken up against the government which looks ever eager to court controversies and the bad press.
He has done it and how!
“The ordinance is a complete nonsense, it should be torn and thrown away…I personally think what the government is doing on the ordinance is wrong. It was a political decision, every party does it, and there is a time to stop this nonsense…It is about time that political parties stop making these type of compromises. If we actually want to stop corruption then we cannot make these compromises,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi at the Delhi press club yesterday. PTI
Harsh words these, from someone who along with his mother – Congress president Sonia Gandhi – is seen to be remote-controlling the party and the government.
That this outburst should come in public is interesting.
Was it an impulsive, spur-of-the-moment action?
By all indications no.
Younger leaders in the party, the members of Team Rahul, have already expressed their reservation about the ordinance in public for sometime.
Union Minister Milind Deora tweeted out his displeasure a couple of days ago, saying the government’s ordinance move ‘…can endanger already eroding public faith in democracy’.
Sandeep Dikshit was more guarded in showing his disapproval – “…I personally believe that it is something that should initially go to the standing committee” – still he made it known that he was not with the government on the ordinance.
Even other leaders known to be close to Rahul such as party general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Priya Dutt and Anil Shastri had made public their disagreement.
There has been considerable churn in the party over the ordinance in the last few days. It was cynical to begin with and it could have waited for a political consensus as it is already with a parliamentary committee. These made the ordinance totally uncalled for. Some of the grievances of the political parties over the apex court ruling disqualifying convicted members are genuine and need consideration.
While most parties agree on this, the Congress by going ahead with the ordinance – some allege it was done to protect RJD’s Lalu Prasad and Congress’ Rashid Alvi – was exposing itself to unwarranted controversy. However, finally it appeared that a clique of senior ministers, not particularly sensitive to public opinion, seemed to have won the day.
Rahul was making amends. He was also probably making a statement about himself and the Congress. Was it his conscious effort to distance the party from the government? By implication, his action means disowning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But let’s don’t read that far.
His primary target seem to have been the group of Congress leaders calling the shots in the government and landing it in one embarrassment after another. They will be more careful in their actions after this episode. This is an insult as big as it can get. It will be interesting to watch how the government responds to that. The response canbe expected to unfold gradually, revealing the changing equations in the party and the government.
The Congress vice-president has not impressed with his political or communication skills so far. He has been happy playing the backroom boy and avoiding the media glare, but he is definitely living up to his reputation as the outsider in politics. The more he speaks his mind, the better it will be for his public image.
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