Rahul Gandhi-the Change Agent

In the process of his being a change agent Rahul Gandhi has exposed himself. At the age of 40 he still seems unsure not only of himself but of what he aims to achieve- because he has already the highest Executive post just waiting for him. Of course being a Prime Minister is not the only job states RG but then what other job is he at?
 
The evolution of Rahul Gandhi as a change agent is three dimensional:

1- The son of Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs Sonia Gandhi-has half Indian and half Italian blood coursing through his veins. He has everything he wants and that naturally creates a psychological vacuum so he wants to do something. He is taken up by the cheering and the red carpet rolled out to him wherever he goes. He must be amazed at the media coverage and his sound bytes which make headlines in the media. This has stimulated him and given him a skewed image of himself and his capabilities. He believes that he can change. This change agent with his dimpled cheeks-scrubby chin and starry eyes targets the youth. It somehow got into him that since more than 40 percent of the population of India is below 40 years he needs to target this segment because he is just 40 and has not achieved anything so far.

And what is the change he first signaled- inner democracy. What he means by inner democracy one is not sure. His mother re-elected the fourth time as Congress president was always a fait accompli. He glides to the uppermost echelon of the Congress power hierarchy and is made the General Secretary. Yet he speaks of an inner democracy. Forgetting that there is no democracy as far as the Congress party is concerned-not only within its party but in its operation with in the country.
 
2-Towards this change and towards the target group Rahul Gandhi zig zags round the country. Travel is no problem for him and security is well taken care of. But the problem with RG is his focus-is only at the non Congress ruled States. Does it mean that all Congress ruled States the Youth are with the Congress? To get at the youth he then targets the universities. RG breezed through his academic career .Did he sit down and study? That’s a big mystery. Through the Sports quota he got into St Stephens and there he could not last one semester. He was too clever for the dons or he was unable to grasp what the whole academics were about. After all he did not have to procure a formal education to secure a job to earn his livelihood. So academics took a back bench, but then why does he target students? Does he think that they don’t have to secure a job-that they do not have a family to maintain. The man who at 40 thinks that PM is not the only job available to him forgets that no youth can be so cocksure of what job awaits them in a cut throat competitive world. Here is the big question of the whole perception of RG and the youth power-all hazy-fudged and unclear.

What if other politicians also target the university students? Are universities the fora for politicians? Can they make these hot beds of politics? This does not mean that RG cannot target students-he can, by organizing meetings outside the campus and not walk within the campuses to canteens to interact with students. No Vice Chancellor can and should give permission for politicians to address the students within the university campus. And RG is only a politician. There are the roads and the grounds outside the university where anyone is free to canvass and propound one’s theory of politics.

It is bad sense and surely ill-advised to walk within the university campuses as a politician to interact with students. If RG can, then why not the Sena leaders-why not the BJP leaders why not the CPI(M) leaders spread out into the university campus teach, propagate their political thoughts and enlist students. Why the special exception given to Rahul Gandhi?This again is the strategy of a man who vows to change and wants  to cleanse the system.
 
3- Another big blunder the change agent RG has committed in his mission.-an analysis of the content and the sound bytes of Rahul Gandhi exposes his bankruptcy of ideas. .It has already been stated that within the Congress there is no inner democracy and if things need to change then RG needs to step down and start at the very beginning to climb the political hierarchical ladder. What is not good for you cannot be held out as good for others? The dynasty rule needs to be changed. Why hold on to it and talk of change-what change can there be when the dynasty straitjackets every democratic process and demeans democratic norms,supercedes democratic institutions and sets up extra constitutions structures like the National Advisory Council which side tracks the Parliament-which out sources its functions. It also takes on the role of the cabinet to advise the Prime Minister. Is this democracy? Why then Parliament? This is the change RG aims at when he talks of inner democracy.

At one of the meetings he asked the youth; ËœWho won us freedom? Pat came the reply ËœMahatma Gandhi’ ËœNo’ claimed RG, Ëœpeople of India’.  Ridiculous to ask such a basic question, Does RG perceive the youth as primary class students; and then propounded such a philosophical answer? If RG really believes in it and places such significance on the people of India then why is it that except the garbage bins and the drains-everything are  named after the Nehru Gandhi family? Be it airports, roads, bridges-the totality of the infra structures across the country-all the national programs launched by the Centre with the  tax payers money have the family seal on them as though these are the Congress Party’s schemes-making the gullible people think that they are.Then the National Days-Children’s Day, Integration Day, Youth days et al. Does this happen in any other country? And here Rahul Gandhi asserts that it is the people of India who won the freedom for the country.

When he was questioned on the Reservation in Education he simply asks the youth to go to the villages and see for themselves.60 years of reservation and the villages have not come out of its poverty-yet RG sees Reservation as a lever to pull up the villages from the rut.
 
Rahul Gandhi speaks of two Indias-the Poor India and the Rich India. Had he stopped with differentiation one will not fault him, but he quietly added that he belongs to the poor India. If RG belongs to the Poor India then what is the problem and why is his mother so  bogged down with her pet scheme ËœFood Security’? RG had joined the ranks of the rich who find power in poverty and slums, some find humor in slums and hence the birthday cake must represent the slums-others make money by the poverty in the slums as in Slumdog. Poor India has become a joke and comes in handy for all purpose. So RG does not hesitate to claim that he belongs to poor India. Does not matter if his birthday bash is held in the UK, if he holidays in Europe, imitate the Dandi March walking in Gucci shoes, cocoons in Kumarakon-all indications and signs of poor India-Poor Rahul Gandhi.-the scion of the Gandhi family-the waiting Prime Minister is at his other jobs¦.
 
His latest utterance on Ayodhya: ‘There are more Fundamental issues like infrastructure, education, and technology that are much more important than the Ayodhya dispute’. This reveals his utter void when it comes to understanding India-its ethos and its civilization. It was his father Rajiv Gandhi who brought Ayodhya into the picture of petty politics by vowing to establish Ram Rajya and getting the locks of the doors of Babri Masjid broken.That was contempt of Supreme Court and he had got away with it. because the Nehru Gandhi family is infallible. That’s another matter. Rahul Gandhi does not believe in faith/belief. His mother could explain to him the context and the relevance of ËœMan does not live on bread alone’ a biblical quote. It is faith that cements this vast nation, it is faith in the country that enables people to carry on in spite of the looting and the plundering indulged by the politicians, it is faith that keeps the half starved still looking forward. This faith is expressed in Ramjanmabhoomi. It is not the decrepit national monument which matters but faith that Rama was born at that place. It is this faith which is the Cruz of the Ayodhya dispute. RG cannot simply brush it aside It has already achieved much because it has become a unified vortex of the Hindus.And RG  as a politician should know the power of vote bank.Well Ayodhya issue is one such factor.Yet at 40 RG brushes it aside. These ultra moderns think that faith is old fashioned-yet his friend and MP Sachin Pilot attended the Khap panchayat and empathized with it. A jinx of paradoxes and contradictions cannot be the perception of a change agent.

One was told that Rahul Gandhi wants to clean up the system-what system one is not sure. May be the political system, but leave himself and his mother untouched. Well not a bad thing he sounded keen and people thought something will come out of it.But look at the way the 125 year old Party is functioning-Rahul Gandhi does not hesitate to be seen in the company of Maqsood Khan “the Youth Congress President of the East zone-UP who has several cases against him and has been booked under the Gangster Act. He had no qualms to share the dais with Lovely Anand wife of Mohan Singh Anand, and Ranjeeta Ranjan-Pappu Yadva’s wife. This change agent inducts Mohammed Rafiq against whom there are several criminal cases. So what is it he is aiming at changing and at what level?  He wants to cleanse the system? But he seems to abet the criminalization of the political system. Till date he has not condemned corruption. When a question on corruption was raised Ëœit is a problem and has to be tackled’ was his simple response.
 
He thinks that there are greater fundamental issues than Ayodhya but has not raised his voice against the Common Wealth Games which has not only wasted lakhs of crores of people’ money but has brought disgrace and shame to the nation. It is a blot on India. Is this a fundamental cause? RG’s fundamental issues like infrastructures, technology and education and even his mother’s Food Security could have easily been covered by the amount spent on the CWG. Why is he silent? On Kashmir he advises patience for his friend Omar “that is youth power-give more time to make it messier.
 
It is small wonder that he was shown black flags at Dibrugarh. The vice chancellor made a mistake in granting permission for Rahul Gandhi’s visit. As a section of the student community protested and rightly so, that Rahul Gandhi is neither a minister nor an academician but a politician and was politicizing the campus. RG is doing a great injustice to the student community and to the cause of education. If he wants to address students he could call for a meeting outside the campus. His office can make all the arrangements but no university campus must be turned into a political platform. He is 40 and does not seem to know his way-though he claims that he wants to change-change what and in what direction? Rahul Gandhi is lost in the woods- the great Change Agent- must find his way out¦.

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