Can Rahul Gandhi emerge as Opposition's PM face?

It was as if the Congress was waiting for the New Year's eve to make the grand announcement that Rahul Gandhi would be the Opposition's Prime Minister candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It is after about 114 days of 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' of Rahul Gandhi that the Congress did so. What was the urgency to it?

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Kamal Nath, made the 'big' announcement not to the surprise of anyone. There can be no other Prime Minister, one other than Rahul Gandhi, in the event of the party coming to power somehow. Whether Rahul wins or loses his Lok Sabha election, whether he stays in the party or leaves it, whether he goes on a 'vanvaas' as Lord Rama had to, relinquishing his claims for the throne, the party would not spare him. It is bound to trace him even if he hides to make him the Prime Minister. These 'Bharats' of the Congress would do that anyway.

But, is the Congress party all set to hound out the BJP from power in the next general elections? Congressmen believe that this could happen as Rahul Gandhi has strengthened the party at all levels with his yatra. Hmm! Politics is all about possibilities. The millions that have thronged his yatra route must be desperate to vote out the BJP and Narendra Modi. They must have said so to them.

Rahul Gandhi is the messiah of the secular forces and is the hope of the liberal voices. He 'loves' even Modi. Haven't we seen him trying to hug our Prime Minister in the Parliament? It is a different issue that he had to migrate to Kerala to win a seat because his own voters did not love him or his party much.

Yet, the party trusts the voters of the country. Congress leadership is sure that their appeal to the people of India to join hands with it with faith and confidence in the great adventure of this power play will be heeded to. Rahul Gandhi has no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill will or blaming others. He has embarked on his journey to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell (to borrow from his great grandfather). Hence.

Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, delivered his famous 'Tryst with Destiny' speech on 14-15 August, 1947. With the clock striking the midnight hour on that ordained day, the Constituent Assembly to whom power was to be transferred began its sitting at 11 pm with Sucheta Kripalani singing Vande mataram. It was a historic and memorable occasion in the life of the Constituent Assembly.

After the address by the President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Nehru stood up to deliver his most memorable speech in which he spoke about the hopes and aspirations of the people of India. It was also about the duties and responsibilities of the elected representatives. "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially" he said at that midnight hour.

Perhaps, Rahul Gandhi should go back to the pages of history and read about it. As the family does not accept anyone else's authority over any subject or in external wisdom, it should at least, rely upon its own DNA to understand what it means to govern.

Jawaharlal Nehru sought to take a pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. The party of such dreamy people is today lying in shambles. Despite his differences with the other stalwarts of the freedom struggle, Nehru sought to take along everyone with him. He might have had his follies – of views and in his actions – but tried to work with everyone.

Post-Nehru, Congress has not been that democratic nor even secular as Nehru was. Its secularism got twisted somewhere between its quest for power and its appeasement policies. The charges that it levels against the BJP today – favouritism, cronyism and nepotism – had all been mastered by it much ahead of others.

Don't you agree? Let us be a bit more elaborate. Favoritism, which is the broadest of these related terms, is just what it sounds like; it's favoring a person not because he or she is doing the best job but rather because of some extraneous feature-membership in a favored group, personal likes and dislikes, etc.

Cronyism is a more specific form of favoritism, referring to partiality towards friends and associates. As the old saying goes, "It's not what you know but who you know' or 'it's not what you don't know; it's who your college roommate knows." Cronyism occurs within a network of insiders-the "good ol' boys," who confer favors on one another as analysts put it.

Favoritism can be demonstrated in hiring, honoring, or awarding contracts. A related idea is patronage, giving public service jobs to those who may have helped elect the person who has the power of appointment. Nepotism is an even narrower form of favoritism. Coming from the Italian (OMG!) word for nephew, it covers favoritism to members of the family. Both nepotism and cronyism are often at work when political parties recruit candidates for public office. I leave it to you and your judgment now. What is the contribution of the Congress to the country other than its claims of development?

These three factors distanced committed party leaders from the Congress high command over a period who opted to explore their future prospects without the 'high command' yoke around their necks. None of these would ever come back to the fold of the Congress. Nor would they agree to the Prime Ministerial aspirations of Rahul Gandhi.

Be it Mamata Banjerjee, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Mayawati, KCR, Akhilesh Yadav. It is difficult to seek their allegiance given the contradictions at the state level. Congress is perceived as a rival by all these and there is little with the former to convince the latter to work for the glory of Rahul Gandhi. There is a fundamental difference between these regional satraps and the Congress on a different plane. The regional players are not reluctant to seek the majority's vote unlike the Congress leadership which continues to berate Hindu sentiments. And minority vote banks have better options in their constituencies. Rahul needs the support of anti-BJP non-Congress vote support to come to power in the absence of the 'majority' vote.

The tragedy is that the Congress is reaping the consequences of the chivalry it displayed while in power. This age of chivalry it ushered in is only being exploited by the BJP now. Knighthood does not come easily, Sir!.