Rahul Gandhi in Prime Ministerial mode?

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

Nobody has any doubt that Rahul Gandhi will be the Prime Minister of this country thanks to his surname even if there are more competent people in the Congress ranks. But the Gandhi scion already seems to be in Prime Ministerial mode. He is regularly bunking classes (read Parliamentary sessions) in trying to reach out to the people or taking the austerity drive to next level travelling in the train and causing the exchequer more for the extra security arrangements and shattered window panes of the Shatabdi Express!

Two years back while campaigning in the Deoband area RahulGandhi had declared that if a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family had been in politics, the Babri Masjid would not have been demolished. Rahul might have forgotten that it was his party which was helming the country and it is quite absurd of the entire Congress leadership to sideline PV Narasimha Rao now that he is no longer alive to defend himself on the issue. The Liberhan Commission report criticises Rao's non-action leading to the demolition.

He might have been too young to know that his father Rajiv Gandhi set the ball rolling for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Do his comments mean that other than a Gandhi nobody can be a truly secular leader. We already have seen the secular conduct of another Gandhi (Varun Gandhi). Rahul should be aware of the fact that the country has acknowledged the fact that it has become a democratic kingdom where a particular family can call the shots any time. This is a reality India knows and thus Rahul shouldn't waste his time in reminding the nation about this.

In the latest of his people contact Rahul Gandhi has asked the women to join politics saying that 50% of the population (that figure is wrong) should take active part in politics. Has Rahul forgotten that his party fielded the least number of women candidates on an average during the recent Lok Sabha polls. May be it is high time the Congress General Secretary address these issue in front of his party rather than use these catchy lines in his PR exercise.

Rahul Gandhi seems to be on a dry run (for all those who do not know the meaning of the term its a synonym to rehearsal or testing) for the top job in the country. He might prove to be India's best Prime Minister but he should at times restrain himself from making political statements which will come back hard.