Thursday, July 29, 2010

Sonia Gandhi

Sonia: Queen of hearts
Sonia Gandhi – the name is enough. Devi, mahadevi, Congress president, UPA chief, Super Prime Minister, Edvige Antonia Albina Maino… call her by any name, it still remains Sonia Gandhi.

From Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Pandit Jawarhar Lal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sadar Patel to even Indira Gandhi have not achieved what Sonia Gandhi has, occupying 10 percent of Congress history. All the past presidents of the Indian National Congress enjoyed no more than a single term or a double term at the most. Sonia as 59th president has come to occupy 10 percent of 125 years of the Indian National Congress and the country.

The last word in Indian history belongs to Sonia nee Maino. From a small town Italian girl to super mother India, Sonia has come a long way.

Sonia was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in 2004. She was also named among the Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for the years 2007 and 2008.

In the last 12 years as party president and ever since she entered India with husband Rajiv, Sonia has seen many ups and down.

Sonia was up, close and personal with her mother in-law Indira Gandhi, watching the days of Emergency from the shadows of grand old lady. Then she saw her mother in-law fight back fierce opposition and become Prime Minister again in 1980.

After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, it was Sonia that took her mother in-law to AIIMS. And later when Rajiv was readying to join politics, she is believed to have opposed him.

In a brutal turn of events, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE, leaving Sonia with son Rahul and daughter Priyanka. The nation was with her in grief.

While the Congress won the 1991 elections, she herself stayed in the background. But was cajoled into joining the Congress party in 1997. A year later she became the party president with much drama behind closed doors.

After trying hard and failing, Sonia took up the challenge of ‘India Shinning’. With limited resources at her command and low morale of the Congress leaders who had not seen power for over 12 years, Sonia launched a campaign, which seemed like if the Congress was running with crutches. Ambitious leaders like Sharad Pawar and P A Sangma were gunning for the Congress party after having branched out criticising her foreign origin. The Congress had not won central elections under her presidentship. The party started attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party with gusto.

“India was not shining!” The Congress started saying.

But Sonia keeps ears on the ground. She has developed an excellent understanding of politics. It is visible from a simple example. This correspondent happened to interact with Sonia Gandhi at a tea party hosted by the Congress president. She walked up and started chatting. This correspondent started explaining the flaw of the Congress attack in its fight against the BJP. The argument was the Congress should not take it upon itself to elaborate whether India was shining or not, rather the Congress should talk of the common man. “You should talk about what is the state of the Common man,” this Correspondent explained to the Congress chief. She looked up, nodded while eating fried potatoes. After a few more sentences, Sonia was gone. But the changes could be seen after a week or ten days of campaigning. The Congress was indeed talking of aam admi.

The Congress with the help of 14 odd parties shot back with a bang reviving the party giving a boost to the sagging morale of her coterie and Congress workers. The party got down to serious business of running the affairs of the nation.

From the closed precincts of 10 Janpath, the lady with a limited edition smile oversees the functioning of the country without the official mandate of running the day-to-day affairs. For that, Manmohan Singh was selected immediately after the Congress leaders threw their weight behind Sonia.

Nevertheless the lady is sensitive to public criticism. She resigned from even the Parliament in 2006 and even from the National Advisory Council after the controversy of ‘office of profit’ erupted. Though she won with a thumping majority, with her resignation she won the admiration of crores of people.

Winning with a better margin, the UPA is in its second term. Today, Sonia Gandhi is untouchable, unreachable and inaccessible.

Many MPs hope that Sonia would remember their name, pass a smile or even pose for a photograph if she happen to campaign in their constituency. She rules with an iron fist. A member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh approached ‘Madam’ to remind her of some work. An irritated Sonia snapped her finger and curtly told the MP not to bug her. The MP apologised profusely and withdrew from scene.

Sonia Gandhi is strict to her Congress folk, dictatorial to a point, and ruthless in her calculations. She runs the party and the government in the same vein. Supported a group of trusted lieutenants Congress leaders like Ahmad Patel and Oscar Fernandes and few friends, she successfully runs a vast organization and keeps a tab on the performance of the government.

However, what is lacking is that she is not meeting enough party workers. Even press interviews have been limited. She is not open to meeting second rung leaders. At times, even Cabinet ministers are vary of paying her a visit.

“A Cabinet minister also thinks twice before meeting her. The agenda of the meetings has to be clear. They don’t want to get on the wrong side,” says a leader privy to the things.

Nobody in the party has the guts to pick up a call and place a call to 10 Janpath. Ditto for walking into Congress president’s office on Akbar Road that rarely opens or even inside the Parliament of India. The Congress has virtually given its spine to counter the power that the baton wields from number 10.

Building Dreams

Sonia has adopted a cautious approach, never over committing and delivering to the people. “The Congress never promises the moon. It is working on plans and has been delivering. From Right to Information to Women’s Reservation Bill, Sonia brand of giving in phases is visible in the UPA,” commented an anti-Sonia leader who branched away from the party.

Far from being ‘Gungi Gudiya’ as some reports made her out to be, Sonia is sharp, quick on the up take and keeps feet on the ground. In difficult situations, she has a point of her own.

Recently, when the Prime Minister’s office was going off track on the right to education, Sonia set the record straight by writing a simple letter to Manmohan Singh. It was enough indication to the Prime Minister sitting in his South Block office.

Her compassion and understanding for the Indian things have taken her places. According to the All India Congress Committee website, her interests include reading Indian contemporary, classical and tribal art, Indian handlooms and handicrafts and, both folk and classical music.

Killing the Opposition

Perhaps, Sonia realises that the best way to ward off opposition is not to give in to the game of lowering the level of attack. Her enemies have silenced down. The Bharatiya Janata Party “foreigner” attack has lost steam. It has stopped being an election issue. “She stuck to her stand of being an Indian widow earned her admiration from within the BJP also. Indians being emotional, the foreigner issue was a non-starter,” remarked a senior journalist Sunil Chawake.

There are reports that President A P J Adbul Kalam had called certain court files against Sonia Gandhi and had even sought advice from Constitutional experts, but legally there was nothing stopping Sonia from becoming the Prime Minister. After the elections results of 2004, Congress leaders in the Parliament’s central got up to swear allegiance by the name of Sonia, it was getting clearer by the second how the party had fallen and was towing the line of the Gandhi.

However, amid the bitter opposition, Sonia decided to let things rest in peace and gave up the thought of sitting in the prime minister’s chair. It was a sacrifice, non-the-less that elevated her status to that of a devi. Now the devi is planning to pass the baton to her son Rahul, reportedly being pushed into the political arena. The prime minister’s chair is ready for him, but he is taking his time. While media and Congress folk are always speculating when Priyanka will take charge, but the family keeps such decisions close to its heart. The queen of hearts likes to keep her cards close to her heart.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

BJP - down but not out

The driver becomes the driven. After steering the nation with aplomb during its India Shining phase, the Bharatiya Janata Party of today is steadily losing steam. Hit by a series of flop decisions and plagued with over ambitious leaders, the BJP is battling to remain in the centre of the Opposition.

The fall and fall of the party with a difference does not seem to stop. As the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh installed Maharashtra unit chief Nitin Gadkari at the Ashok Road Headquarters, it was hoping that things would improve. Even after six months in the chair, Gadkari finds his job an uphill task of keeping the party going. Sources say the biggest challenge Gadkari faces is to keep its partners in good humour besides taming the five-star leaders.

The partners have all left or are on the verge of making silent exit from the National Democratic Alliance. The ones who are still swear by the dispensation, partners have either been marginalized in their respective regions or a struggling for survival. Exceptions apart. The NDA’s 13 constituents are no match for the formidable UPA combo of the Congress party.

As soon as the NDA was formed, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). But it was the India Shining phase and regional parties were eager to join and stick together. But after the unceremonious ouster in 2004, many constituents ran away in one go. Those who stayed have either been marginalised or on the decline.

Today, major partner of the BJP, the Shiv Sena stands weakened by the Thackeray family. Raj wanted to lead the organization but uncle Bal Sahib had plans for his son, Uddhav. The inevitable happened with Raj forming his own outfit, MNS. Even the party’s Hindutava poster boy, Jai Bhagwan Goyal, split and formed his own political party.

“The Thackerays have only a single agenda. To keep its Maharashtra vote bank entact. It was losing its all-India appeal of the guardians of Hindu religion. There was no point in staying with the Shiv Sena. So I formed a political party comprising workers from North India. Today, the Shiv Sena is totally weak. It has nothing to do with the BJP,” says Jai Bhagwan Goyal. The result was a very weak Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena is not a lone story. Other smaller parties, Asom Gana Parishad – Assam (1 MP), Nagaland People's Front-Nagaland(1 MP), Uttarakhand Kranti Dal-Uttarakhand, actually never really mattered at the National level for the BJP and were just used to add to the total tally of constituents.

Gone with the wind

However, for the other strong outfits, the party was over, a long time ago. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (including PMK and MDMK), Lok Jan Shakti, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the National Conference branched away. And so did single-member parties like Indian Federal Democratic Party, leave early.

The late movers were Biju Janata Dal and Indian National Lok Dal. BJD left the alliance just over a month before the 2009 elections and INLD left due to seat sharing disagreements during Haryana assembly elections 2009.

The others are all leaving too. The reasons may differ but the common point is departure from the great idea of alternative governance. The Rashtriya Lok Dal – once fiercely opposed to the Congress party - is cozying to the Congress’ led UPA and likely to join the coalition before Uttar Pradesh goes to polls in 2012.

While RLD the choice is for political survival, for Jharkand Mukti Morcha it opportunity – to make money, to explore options and keep the Congress law makers in high spirits. The BJP didn’t see it coming and landed in a spot after pulling the rug from its own feet in Jharkhand. JMM’s Shibu Soren led government was shown the door after BJP withdrew support. Ironically, Gadkari was eating dinner with Soren when his son was voting against the party-led anti UPA motion in the Parliament. Technically, the Telugu Desam Party was never a part of the NDA. It gave ‘outside support’. It is still outside the realm of the power circle.

The exception is Shiromani Akali Dal. It is sticking together Led by Parkash Singh Badal. It is the only NDA partner which is in power. Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal, daughter in-law of Prakash Singh Badal was all support for BJP. She gave a forceful speech at Chandni Chowk against the UPA, signaling her party’s stand. SAD is happy with the BJP.

Tough task

Gadkari’s task as party president was to stop its outflow and contain the internal wrangling. The start was good and he even managed to rope in renegade leader Jaswant Singh, who was thrown out of the party after raising a revolt against party PM-in-waiting L K Advani. Homecoming of Uma Bharati is very much on the cards but Kalyan Singh and even Govidacharya are a distant thought.

“Don’t ask me the fine things. I will let you know when things materialise ,” he told this correspondent when asked if Uma Bharati would return to the BJP. Gadkari however, preferred to remain tigh-lipped on other controversial issues. But it looks positive and remains positive, at least on the surface of it.

Unable to lead in difficult times, the BJP picked up the agenda set by Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav. It went into the Bharat-bandh idea floated by Yadav while on the other hand its tie-up with JD (U) in Bihar is still going through a breakup phase. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar does not like the faces of Gujarat Chief minister Narender Modi and BJP youth MP Varun Gandhi. The party insists otherwise. Both the parties are looking for independent political space but may remain together for want of other buddies. “We have fought five elections together with the BJP. We will do so now,” Sharad Yadav told this correspondent.

“Tum to age age chal rahe ho,” says Sharad Yadav on the Left and the Right Centre attraction. A new combination can take place, he added.

After taking over the party reigns, Gadkari is still finding his north. “In the last six months, I have toured 24 states and held around a dozen and half press conferences. I am meeting everyone. We will fight inside and outside Parliament.” The BJP may be out nevertheless it is not out, not now.