Priorities reveal a lot about a person. And it is therefore important to pay attention to them. Rahul Gandhi has made his priorities clear by declaring his unequivocal loyalty to Kerala’s Wayanad. In 2019, the voters of Wayanad after all saved the Congress scion’s face when he was handed an ego-pulverising drubbing by bete noire, BJP’s Smriti Irani, in his family bastion of Amethi.
But by not declaring his intent on contesting from Amethi — located in the Indian political crucible of Uttar Pradesh — ahead of contesting from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi has all but sacrificed family pride or his own self-esteem for survival.
This probability gains credence when one considers that in 2019, the Congress’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections featured both Amethi and Raebareli. Sonia Gandhi and then Congress president Rahul Gandhi contested from their family’s traditional bastions.
Now, in 2024, almost a month and a dozen lists later, there is still no clarity on whether Gandhi will contest from Amethi. Is it because Rahul Gandhi knows that there’s just no possibility of him clawing back the seat? Or does he know that the majority in Uttar Pradesh is unconvinced about his commitment to its interests? Let’s not forget the BJP has made it a point to drill into voters that the Congress is a “Muslim Party” that has privileged minorities in policy matters and legislation.
Nevertheless, make no mistake, exalted gratitude to Wayanad’s voters is not the only reason for Rahul Gandhi’s unambiguous betrothal to the picturesque Kerala parliamentary locale.
Gandhi is facing a stiff challenge in the seat. First, reports emerging from Wayanad suggest that the novelty of being associated with a political celebrity is now inexorably wearing off. The good people of Wayanad don’t just want to be surrogates — the temporary custodians of the young Gandhi’s political fortunes. They are seeking instead a long-term engagement, with preferably a local, who has as much to gain from Wayanad’s success as they do. Any prevarication on Rahul’s part could then put off voters.
Sensing this new expectation among Wayanad’s voters, the BJP for one has fielded its state president K Surendran. This signals two things. The BJP is mighty serious about emerging as a genuine alternative to the two dominant players — the Congress and the Left — in the state’s politics. Second, that the party thinks it has a chance now that Congress party’s I.N.D.I.A bloc ally the CPI has also fielded a strong candidate for the seat.
And this brings us to the second important question: Apart from self-esteem, is the Gandhi scion prepared to even sacrifice his party’s and the I.N.D.I.A bloc’s commitment to secularism to survive?
The Left is cut up with Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad. Aside from seeking to further its own prospects, the commissars are worried about the message to voters.
The I.N.D.I.A bloc was conceived primarily as a secular alternative. A conglomeration that would rid India of the Modi-led NDA’s alleged authoritarian Hindu nationalism.
The members of the alliance never tire of pointing out that the ‘I’ in I.N.D.I.A stands for inclusive. With Rahul Gandhi deciding to contest from Wayanad, he stands to split the secular vote, thereby undermining the very raison d’etre of the I.N.D.I Alliance.
Comments
0 comment