Gandhi is back in unlikely revival for India’s first family of politics
in New Delhi
THE Gandhi clan is back. After a period in the doldrums under the bombastic rule of their arch-rival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a series of intriguing victories in state elections has put India’s first family of politics back in the limelight.
Shock wins by Rahul Gandhi’s Congress Party this week prompted what many thought impossible a few weeks ago – a threat to Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in next year’s general elections.
Long viewed as ineffectual and a hopeless cause for a centre-Left return to power, Mr Gandhi has surprised his critics with a shock turnaround. “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time,” said the youthful-looking 48-year-old, quoting Leo Tolstoy.
The Gandhi dynasty boasts three prime ministers, starting with independent India’s first, Jawaharlal Nehru, and later his daughter, Indira Gandhi.
However, Nehru’s great-grandson has often been derided for lacking the gravitas, charisma or brinkmanship of his predecessors, all but ruling him out from governing the world’s second most populous country. But he has recently forged a talent for riling his opponents, especially the prime minister.
In the past year Mr Gandhi has gone on the offensive, wooing the support of a wide strata of Indian society, from farmers and village chiefs to chief executives and foreign policy think tanks.
Last week’s unexpected victories, albeit close, were won in the religious, linguistic and demographic power base of Mr Modi’s BJP. Mr Gandhi attributed this to “farmers, party workers, shopkeepers and small businessmen” – the BJP’s bread and butter vote.
The Congress Party, whose high command includes Sonia Gandhi, his mother and widow of Rajiv, the assassinated prime minister – now a credible threat, is gearing up for two more state elections next year. Culminating in a national poll for India’s top job, these are being billed as a “gladiatorial contest between Modi and Gandhi” by influential newspaper editorials.
The Gandhis will be re-energised in attempts to form an alliance with regional parties that may hold the key to unseating Mr Modi in the main elections, which must be held before May 2019. Since the defeats last week, the prime minister has been working on sweeteners to buy off voters, in growing signs of panic concerning his rival. After conceding he would “respect the mandate of the people”, he is said to be trying to waive big loans taken by farmers and put possible minimum prices on crops to appease the rural vote.
Winning a landslide four years ago, Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalism, technological focus and diplomatic dealings, mixed with a strong if dubious backstory of rising from lowly tea seller to the highest office in the land seemed to chime with the masses.
But the 900 million electorate may focus on other matters, like the plunging rupee, and education. Mr Gandhi’s direction is secular and by tradition the choice of the urban middle class and liberals. “Modi was handed a huge opportunity. He refused to listen to the heartbeat of the country. The arrogance came in,” said Mr Gandhi.