The Congress is a nervous party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, despite the sudden discovery of voice by its vice president Rahul Gandhi, and it looks like they are already preparing their post-defeat face.
"The party will remain with Rahul Gandhi as it did with Indira Gandhi in 1977," said senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar during a panel discussion on CNN-IBN when asked if the Gandhi brand would take a massive hit if the Congress faces a complete rout. Former prime minister Indira Gandhi had lost her Rae Bareli seat in the 1977 polls and the Congress faced near extinction after being forced to seat in Opposition for the first time since Independence.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. PTI
The irony for the grand old party of Indian politics is that it has created such a big leadership vacuum, despite the overwhelming mandate of 2009 that it is faced with a situation where instead of riding on a popularity wave, it is now looking up to Rahul Gandhi for resurrection. Although there is much discussion over whether the Congress second-in-command will make a good prime minister or not, the truth is that, it's going to be an uphill task for him to even get there.
"Even if Rahul has the ability to be a good prime minister, he has an impossible task ahead to turn the fortunes of UPA 2. The most Rahul can do is to lead Congress to a respectable defeat. I feel sorry for him because his party is in dire straits and it has put a herculean task before him," said Outlook Group, editorial chairman Vinod Mehta.
The paucity of leaders in the Congress has also disheartened many of country's political analysts.
"Sad to see that the grand old party has only two main assets (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi). That's why there is the rise of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and AAP. Rahul is not really the right man for the job of the prime minister. He is only fit in the eyes of his supporters," said columnist Tavleen Singh.
BJP member Devang Nanavati, who also participated in the discussion, aired similar views.
"We would have loved to see either Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Aiyar himself or even former Congressman and now the country's President Pranab Mukherjee as the Congress' prime ministerial candidate. Rahul's qualification is that he is only a member of the family," said Nanavati.
Aiyar saw no wrongdoing by the Congress in its attempt to cash in the name of the Gandhi's and insisted that Rahul was the natural choice for leadership of the party.
"Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are our party's single biggest assets. We are not tied to the family but to the biggest assets. Rahul is the heir apparent only if the party decides accordingly and hands over the responsibility from the previous regime. But as we see now this is not going to be surprising if it happens," he said.
Mehta believed that dynasty politics and Congress always go together. "If you support the Congress you must accept the dynasty and the politics. The dynasty helps keep the Congress together." But there was a word of caution for the 'dynasty' from the veteran journalist. "The dynasty has to deliver or the party is in serious trouble," he said.
There is no doubt that the Congress vice president has suddenly become audible after literally remaining silent for nine years. This silence has certainly not gone in his favour and questions are being raised if he has any idea how to lead the country. Aiyar rejected the opinion that the party vice president has no vision of his future role if he gets a chance to be the top executive in the South Block.
"Rahul's basic idea is that Panchayati Raj should be vociferously be pushed through for inclusive growth. It is the empowerment of the people and not entitlement of people in the grassroots is what Rahul believes," Aiyar said. "It is the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party which have stolen this concept from the Congress". "AAP's idea of growth is very vague. Modi is a puppet of Nariman Point."
For columnist Singh, Rahul's not-so-wow popularity among the youth is one of his biggest negative impacts.
"The greatest failure of Rahul Gandhi is that he hasn't been successful in appealing to the first time voters. It is sad that Modi finds more resonance in the youth despite he being called a maut ka saudagar or a ghastly character. Even AAP has made massive inroads into the bastion of first time voters," she said.
CNN-IBN, senior editor, Politics, Pallavi Ghosh felt that Rahul is trying to market himself at the eleventh hour but refuses to be convinced that it would save the Congress from the impending disaster.
Probably the Congress think tank knows fairly well in private that a triumphant 2014 is a distant dream and a defeat is inevitable unless there is a miracle.
"It is good for the soul of the Congress and Rahul if it seats in opposition for five years and contemplates on their follies and how they squandered the huge majority of 2009," said Mehta.
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