Sonia revived Congress, will Rahul follow?

New Delhi: It’s been six weeks since Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader and putative president of the party, disappeared and all the investigative prowess of our omnipresent media has failed to find him. Rumours abound, Uttarakhand, Myanmar, Latin America but no journalist has been able to track down the Gandhi family scion and get that “exclusive” that they all crave for. This could be for lack of trying, lack of news-gathering funds or worse of all, lack of interest. Meanwhile, Congress leaders continue to speculate but it appears that they too are mystified. The most common explanation is that he is away contemplating the problems of the Congress Party and his own future. Publicly the party continues to put up a brave face; privately, party members don’t show much concern and even appear somewhat relieved.

Young Gandhi has not lit any sparks and while most party members are reconciled to him taking over as president at some time or the other, they are not entirely convinced that this will be a good thing for the 130-year-old organisation. Last month, when Congress president Sonia Gandhi led a protest against the Land Acquisition Bill with 14 parties backing her, there was a new energy in the Congress. This was the Sonia Gandhi of old, politically savvy and ready to assume leadership of not just her own party but large chunks of the Opposition. They, too, were happy to follow her lead, since not only do they know that the Congress still continues to be an important party but because they respect her politically. The loss in the 2014 elections was a setback no doubt, but it does not mean that the Congress is wiped out, whatever its rivals may hope. The joint protest paid off and while the Modi government managed to pass five ordinances into law, it faltered on the Land Acquisition Bill.

Would Mr Gandhi be able to pull this off? It is not as if his political instincts are non-existent, but he still has a long way to go when it comes to transmitting the message. More often than not, his articulation of an issue has failed to inspire and ignite his partymen, or the public at large. A bigger question in this context is whether the other Opposition parties would take him seriously? Mrs Gandhi (and for that matter Indira Gandhi) had to fight an uphill battle in the first few years of politics, being roundly pilloried for her “I have the support of 272 MPs” gaffe in 1999. Looking back, this was because she took the assurances of some Opposition leaders at face value but it did reflect her naiveté. Since then, she has emerged as a fine politician, who has not only led her party to two victories but managed to keep channels open with Opposition leaders, including with those who have been less than complimentary about her.

Getting together other parties, including the Left, the Janata socialists and even the Trinamul Congress under her leadership and then marching to Rashtrapati Bhavan sent an unambiguous message to the National Democratic Alliance that passing the Land Acquisition Bill in its present form would not be an easy job and that is how it turned out to be. Mr Gandhi had led the agitating farmers of Bhatta Parsaul way back in 2011 when the United Progressive Alliance was in power. The bill, as it was finally formulated (with the general concurrence of all parties), satisfied most stakeholders barring the corporate sector. The Modi government wants to do away with the crucial consent clause and this has angered not just farmers and the Opposition but also sister organisations of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mrs Gandhi understood that. Reports indicate that Mr Gandhi will be back in India in time for a farmers’ march against the bill on April 19. That should bring him some limelight and associate him with a strong cause and a news event. But what about the future?

Whether Mr Gandhi has gone for a vacation, or to sulk, or indeed to spend quality thinking time, working out his own role in the Congress and the problems that beset the party, he will have to come back and confront some harsh realities. In election after election since May 2014, the party has done poorly in states — Delhi and Maharashtra are but two examples where it was in power till not too long ago. Is it prepared for elections in Punjab? What will be its strategy in Bihar, where the old Janata breakaways are coming together? Indeed, even the elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation are crucial, since a poor performance there would sideline it in the richest city in India. Electoral losses are not the end of the world, but without a long-term strategy a party cannot hope to reverse them. This calls for serious thinking and structural changes. The Congress has not yet shown a proclivity towards either; instead, there is a sense of drift and lack of direction. Will Mr Gandhi come back with a blueprint? Or will it be more of the same? If it is the latter, then the Congress could well continue its slide.

The BJP aims for a “Congress-mukt Bharat”. Towards that end, it is not only intent on demolishing the party in the electoral arena but also discrediting it, either by appropriating its past icons (Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) or knocking them off their pedestal (Jawaharlal Nehru.) The Congress should resist that. Not only does it still enjoy support of its own committed followers, even those who are getting disillusioned by the BJP government may look at the Congress anew. But this can only happen if it has something to offer — not just new thinking, but new tactics and new faces. For the moment the Congress seems bereft of fresh ideas; is Mr Gandhi coming back with some?