Congress unveils Gen Next

Last week’s mammoth meeting in New Delhi, where the Congress party anointed Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul as the mascot of the party for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, can be viewed from two angles. The first is the shift in the party’s leadership structure towards a younger age profile which, on the face of it, may look like being a move in the right direction. But it may destabilise the deep-rooted perception which the general public has of the baggage-laden political outfit.

The point will immediately be made that any shift away from gerontocracy is to be preferred as far as the nation’s political profile is concerned. Seen in this light, the move to have a younger Union Cabinet, not to speak of the “elevation” of Rahul Gandhi, should be backed per se . The problem lies in the way the transition will pan out, given the attitude of Congress politicians.

Losing pull

The Congress party must factor in the thought that the farther we get from 1947 and all that, the weaker will be the pull of the Nehru-Gandhi name. Indeed, a time may come (if it has not already) when the fast-expanding younger part of the electorate will consider the name to be a disadvantage instead of an asset.

Coupled with the emphasis on the younger generation, the other part of the Congress’ 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign is the sharp, aggressive focus on reforms which, by any reckoning, is to be strongly supported. Historically, populism and effective economic reform, which usually entails a temporary setback for the people in terms of rising costs, have never gone along well together. When they have, the reason generally has been deft political handling of the two opposing strands of public policy, which can only come from long and tested political expertise and experience.

Trickle-down economics

Last week, Rahul Gandhi hoisted high the flag of economic reform as a crucial policy plank of the Congress party, impliedly focusing on the theory which postulates that the benefits of high economic growth are bound to trickle down to the aam aadmi after some time. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Congress party had looked the other way, plumping for inclusive growth, which led to an immediate strengthening of the innards of the economy while registering an unimpressive overall growth rate.

It remains to be seen how Rahul Gandhi and his team will reconcile the political strain and stress generated by an economic reforms with the need to break away from the mental mould of the average Indian politician --- given to wheeling and dealing, being more concerned about retaining his seat than, say, in educating the public on undergoing temporary hardship for an eventual improvement in the standard of living. After all, it will be argued, realpolitik demands that the Congress party will have to be in power to be able to implement its development policies.

The battle lines of the 2014 Parliamentary elections are, therefore, taking shape, and the time is rapidly approaching when the political landscape will be totally unrecognisable to the older generation.

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