Priyanka strikes, but is it too late?

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has long been thought to have public appeal, although she usually takes public positions only at election time. To begin with, her charisma could be traced to a strong resemblance to her grandmother, the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who conveyed a strong impression of both elegance and ebullience. Adding to this, it subsequently became evident that Priyanka also has a felicity with words, more so in Hindi. When she struck out in Rae Bareli, campaigning in her mother’s constituency on Tuesday, she would have put her mother’s and her brother’s political opponents on notice and given courage to the Congress rank and file, not to say Congress leaders.

In the language of tennis, what Priyanka did was to return an Opposition ace with a baseline smash. She took on issues that Sonia Gandhi, and even the late Rajiv Gandhi, tended to leave alone, fearing perhaps that any reference to these might focus undue attention on Mrs Gandhi’s family, which is anyway in the crosshairs of the Congress’ opponents, especially the BJP.

But Ms Vadra decided to take the bull by the horns. Turning emotional, she accused the Congress’ opponents of seeking to malign her husband Robert Vadra’s image with “false charges”. She maintained that this was being done to divert people’s attention from development issues (the strong suit of Congress-led UPA governments), and said the truth would come out and it is truth that was her family’s armour.

Taking a further step, Priyanka reminded Rae Bareli — and the country — that her mother had been accepted by the country in spite of being foreign born (but was still being targeted). Would Priyanka’s bold approach caution the Congress’ opponents, the BJP especially, that raking up Robert Vadra and Mrs Gandhi’s Italian origin was unlikely to produce the dividend they may hope for in this election? While the Vadra issue is relatively new, the question of Mrs Gandhi’s foreign birth is old hat but keeps cropping up at elections. Whatever the truth about Mr Vadra’s alleged misdemeanours in the course of his land-trade business with the help of Congress state governments in Haryana and Rajasthan, the Congress has not done much so far to amplify the facts of the matter, giving the Opposition a free run.

Half the election is over. Has Priyanka’s sally come late in the day? Being late on the ball where communication is concerned has been the one big failing of Congress leaders. Congress opponents, especially the BJP, have always sought to demolish the image not only of Congress-run governments but also of the Nehru-Gandhis to reach their goal of “a Congress-free India”. This can hardly be a goal for the country, but its rhetorical impact has been felt in the savagely dirty election campaign.