Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after filing her nomination from Wayanad. (Photo: X/@priyankagandhi)
Last week, yet another member of the Dynasty that has ruled India for most of her years as an independent country entered electoral politics. Priyanka Gandhi, in a bright lilac sari, stood in a drab office and declared that she had been nominated by her party to contest an election to enter ‘the house of the people’ from the constituency of Wayanad. She spoke in English. And behind her, to lend support, sat her mother, husband and son. Her brother must have been there as well, but I did not spot him. It was an interesting tableau and I watched, mesmerized. I was particularly struck by her use of the words ‘house of the people’ to describe Parliament, because they looked like a royal family from a much older time.
Later, on Instagram, I watched a video uploaded by Rahul Gandhi of him and his sister chatting cheerfully in a car. Rahul smilingly spoke of how much he loved Wayanad and its people, and said he was certain that his sister would love them too. There was much camera-friendly banter between the two. They are better looking than your average Indian politician, so this short montage also made compulsive viewing. The Gandhi siblings are very active on social media these days and I watch their posts avidly to assess if other than their looks and their storied family name they bring new ideas, a new vision? I have not come upon a single video in which I was able to discover what exactly they have to offer India that would bring change and prosperity.
In Priyanka’s posts of her speeches, I notice that she almost never fails to mention her grandmother and family. In her brother’s posts of his speeches and his meetings with the ‘common man’, I find myself wondering if he is trying to educate himself or help them. When he expresses his economic ideas, I find them reminiscent of those decades of the License Raj and 97% taxation for the rich, and I am overcome with déjà vu. I remember well that removing poverty (garibi hatao) was Indira Gandhi’s main economic idea, but implementing this as policy was confused, clumsy, expensive and ineffectual. This so infuriated her son, Sanjay, that during the Emergency, he removed as many poor people from Delhi as he could and ‘resettled’ them in a wasteland on the other side of the Yamuna River.
Priyanaka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders at the time of filing of nomination for the Wayanad bypolls.
Polls and common sense indicate that Priyanka Gandhi is certain to become the MP from Wayanad. It is a seat that the Congress Party has never lost, so it would take an unexpected calamity for her to lose despite her own charisma and her family name. What I am personally no longer sure of is whether the Gandhi name still has the ability it once had to ensure that the Congress Party kept winning elections.
In a conversation I once had with Atal Bihari Vajpayee shortly after Sonia Gandhi became president of the Congress Party, I asked if she, who at that time spoke no Hindi, could win an election. He said that the Nehru-Gandhi name had so much power that she could probably win anywhere in India without speaking any Indian language. He was right.
It is my considered opinion that the family’s vaunted charisma faded long ago, or Narendra Modi would not have won a full majority twice. Rahul Gandhi has lost so many elections in so many states since 2014 that it is hard to believe that those in the Congress Party who are serious politicians and not courtiers have not noticed that Indian voters are no longer swayed by charisma in the way they once used to be.
In the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, Modi had the conceit to believe that he was so charismatic a leader that he on his own could ensure that the BJP returned to power with more than 400 seats. He was so bedazzled by his own charisma that he went to the extent of declaring that God had sent him to Earth to save India. In a country that knows exactly what the word ‘avatar’ means it did not take long for voters to notice that he was going too far and needed to be taught a lesson. So, he may have become prime minister for the third time but as a much-humbled man.
As someone who has covered every election since that incredible election in 1977, when Indira Gandhi and Sanjay lost their own seats, I consider myself in a good position to say that I have noticed that one big change has been the decline of ‘charisma’. This is why I truly feel that Priyanka coming to Parliament will make little difference to the fortunes of the Congress Party.
What will make a difference is when Congress leaders admit that instead of wasting time paying court and currying favour with the ‘high command’ they should concentrate on trying to recruit those young Indians with a taste for public life and who believe in the foundational values of Congress. There are signs that voters once bewitched by Modi’s charisma and by the allure of belligerent religiosity infused with belligerent nationalism have seen through this game.
Priyanka Gandhi’s arrival in Parliament may not improve the fortunes of the Congress Party, but she will become entitled to a house in Lutyens’ Delhi. No small thing for many parliamentarians!
