Why Rahul Gandhi is my Indian of the year
It is around this time of the year that in the tradition of American news magazine, Time, I decide who is my Indian of the Year. Until a few days ago, my choice was cricketer and entertainer-turned politician, Navjot Singh Sidhu. He had left the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after being denied a ticket for the Amritsar seat in the lower house of the Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha — a seat that he had won repeatedly. Arun Jaitley, the present Finance Minister, was given it instead (he lost). A miffed Sidhu joined the Congress party and was given a seat in the upper house, the Rajya Sabha. When the Congress won in Punjab, he was made a minister in the Punjab cabinet.
Soon afterwards, Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician, Imran Khan, became his country’s prime minister and invited a few of his Indian cricketing buddies, including Sunil Gavaskar and Sidhu, to his swearing-in ceremony. Gavaskar chickened out but Sidhu did not. I believe Imran Khan’s gesture was also his way of trying to thaw the frozen Indo-Pakistan ties, just like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to the then Pakistan prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to his own swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi in 2014. Sidhu gave a Punjabi-style jappi (hug) to the Pakistan army chief after it was announced that Pakistan would build a three-km-long ‘corridor’ from the Indo-Pakistan border to Kartarpur, where a Gurdwara (Sikh temple) is located, for Sikh pilgrims. Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur is where founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak, spent the last years of his life. And 2019 is his 550th birth anniversary, hence a grand occasion for all Sikhs.
Sidhu was criticised by both his own party and the ruling BJP for his ‘hug’. But much of the Indian public, including myself, and Pakistanis praised him for it. I also had a chance to watch and interact with him at the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in the Indian hill town of Kasauli last October, where he drew repeated applause from a packed house that included Indian military officers, serving and retired. My perception of him as merely a witty and amusing entertainer on TV shows and an engaging cricket commentator changed to that of a serious thinker and mature politician.
So, Sidhu was going to be my person of the year. But, then, only a short while ago, the unthinkable happened, completely upturning the flow of Indian politics: Five Indian states went to the polls and in all five the BJP lost. The Congress party won in three states, all located in India’s Hindi heartland— Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — which had earlier been the stronghold of the BJP. The BJP juggernaut, led by Modi and party President Amit Shah, which had flattened the Congress since the overwhelming victory in the 2014 General Election, had finally been halted. The person mainly responsible for this abrupt reversal of the fortunes was somebody who Modi had once mocked as a
Pappu (novice) in politics, namely Rahul Gandhi, the great grandson of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, grandson of another prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and son of yet another prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi (the last two were assassinated). Both Rajiv and Rahul were reluctant politicians, having been thrust into their positions by the compulsions of dynastic rule. Rajiv died just when he promised to come into his own as a charismatic leader. Rahul, after a promising start, was outsmarted by a politically savvier Modi. Most Indians were starting to write him off as a serious contender for the country’s leadership.
But then came the startling transformation. In the recent polls he campaigned more vigorously and widely than Modi, attracting bigger crowds. Rahul pointed out how Modi had failed to fulfil his main promises of creating more jobs (20 million new jobs every year) and easing rural distress. The demonetisation of November 2016, which was meant to root out corruption and the menace of “black” money, had also failed miserably, leading to trade dislocation and unemployment. The minorities and so-called Scheduled Castes (dalits) and Tribes, which comprise a quarter of India’s total population, had become alienated by BJP’s divisive agenda. Rahul scored on social media as well, previously Modi’s forte. Most important, Rahul brought back decency into Indian politics, in contrast to Modi’s arrogance. In the two major victories of the Hindi heartland, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, he amicably got together the Young Turks, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia, and the Old Guard, Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot.
Even though Modi and Shah are bound to have some tricks up their sleeve, it’s game on for the 2019 General Election. Rahul Gandhi is no longer a Pappu; he’s my Indian of 2018.
Even though Modi and Shah are bound to have some tricks up their sleeve, it’s game on for the 2019 General Election. Rahul Gandhi is no longer a Pappu.