Feared by the old guard, loved by the new brigade, Rahul Gandhi’s day-to-day functions remain a mystery
Photo Credits: Ravi Choudhary
Rahul Gandhi is a new genus of politician, one who seeks toreplace the traditional argot of Indian politics with a more corporate idiom,to eschew touchy-feeliness for professionalism, to experiment with a range ofinterventions from populist to hardball. Veteran Congressmen eye him withtrepidation; he is the change and they are unsure whether the new order willhave a place for them.
After Rahul formally took over as head of the CongressElection Committee, curiosity about him has escalated: how he functions, who hemeets and what he does. Public interest in the PM-in waiting has alreadyspawned two books (‘Decoding Rahul Gandhi’ by Aarthi Ramachandran & ‘Rahul’by Jatin Gandhi and Veenu Sandhu), both unofficial – brave efforts, good readsbut hardly satisfying in terms of unravelling the Rahul enigma. The reader isleft as ignorant of his political philosophy as of his love life. Given hisfast-evolving political persona and the rapidly changing scenario, many morebooks (or at least editions) can be expected.
His intentions, too, are unclear. Is he is a progressivist?Does he plan a radical remake of the Congress? Will he revive his abortiveattempts at egalitarianism? All we know is that he has expressed an urge tomove away from the time-intensive, apparently pointless politicking integral tothe functioning of the Congress. He wants to flatten the pyramid of patronage,at the pinnacle of which he sits, introduce efficiency and accountability.
To that end, presumably, he has divided the organisational,strategic and policy functions between three locations, each with a separatestaff. Rahul the politician can be found, when in Delhi, at 10, Janpath, 12,Tughlaq Lane or 12 A, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road.
Janta darbars and meetings with the party hoi polloi aretypically held at 10, Janpath. He has no personal staff of his own there,relying on the services of Madhavan, one of the two private secretaries to theCongress president, trained by the legendary Vincent George. The other, Pillai,exclusively serves the party chief. Now shorn of clout, George continues toinhabit his office but is more of an observer.
Rahul's official residence at Tughlaq Lane is the main hubof activity. It is here that data is pooled and processed, numbers crunched,presentations made and notes prepared. This is the turf of the party'sneo-strategists, with all the generic managerial palaver: the going in for an“early harvest”, the aiming for “low-hanging fruit”, the working within “timehorizons”. Meetings with persons of importance are held here. It is also avenue for NSUI and Youth Congress get-togethers. The staff numbers perhaps adozen – it's hard to say exactly how many, with all the SPG personnel around.
The office is currently under renovation, a process that hasbeen going on for several months, room by room. It is overseen by the SPG,which necessitates security clearances for all workers and materials andconsequently, slows things down.
Presided over by Kanishka Singh, son of former diplomat SKSingh, the office is not immune from internal politics. Sources have it thatKanishka does not always see eye to eye with Sachin Rao, a software engineerand more recent entrant. Both are number crunchers extraordinaire, with data oncaste, community and voting patterns on their fingertips. Both have worked inthe USA, have management degrees, believe in corporate governance and havelittle use for the Congress “gerontocracy”. The antipathy (with the old guard)is mutual.
Kanishka, a St Stephen's and Wharton graduate, joinedRahul's team through the Amethi route. Rao joined after a stint with the Centrefor Civil Society and according to author Aarthi Ramachandran (Decoding RahulGandhi) implicitly believes that poverty eradication and profits go together.The difference of opinion between Kanishk and Rao has to do with organisationalmatters. Rao reportedly favours a drastic overhaul of the system, with US-styleprimaries to select party nominees. Kanishka and his group do not agree.
Perhaps influenced by Rao, Rahul undertook an abortiveexperiment in inner-party democracy by engaging the JM Lyngdoh-led Foundationfor Advanced Management of Elections (FAME) to conduct “free and fair” pollsfor the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI).The experiment reportedly involved an undertaking to the former ElectionCommissioner that those with criminal records would stand ipso factodisqualified.
in association with Governance Now
