I Do Not Know if Rahul Gandhi Will Ever Become Prime Ministerial but It’s Too Late to Change Him

2 months ago 39

I do not know if Rahul Gandhi will ever become prime ministerial but it's too late to change him: Suhas Palshikar, Chief Editor, Studies in Indian Politics, to Karan Thapar for The Wire. ..................................... One of India’s foremost political commentators, Suhas Palshikar, has said he doesn’t know if Rahul Gandhi will ever become prime ministerial adding that the party has invested in him for 12 years as its principal leader and it’s too late to change him. Prof. Palshikar says: “Both Rahul Gandhi’s miscalculations, his own limitations and the timing that was against him have conspired in a sense to make him a failure.” In a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire on the why Congress in seven months since June 2024 has transformed from being seen as a party that was reviving and whose future looked bright to one that is now widely considered irrelevant, Prof. Palshikar identified three reasons why Rahul Gandhi has failed to capture the imagination of the country and win widespread respect as a political leader. First, he said it was miscalculations about his inheritance as Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi’s son. It was assumed people will automatically look up to him and accept his authority which they have not. Second, Prof. Palshikar spoke of the long task of party building that is necessary for Congress’s revival which Rahul couldn’t take up because of his disconnect with party workers. Third, Prof. Palshikar said the timing was wrong because Rahul’s leadership coincided with the rise of Narendra Modi which overshadowed him. Speaking about the state of Congress in 2025, Prof. Palshikar said: “Congress is neither living nor dead, it’s in limbo”. He said the party has “shrunk a long way in terms of reach compared to what it was earlier”. I will stop there. I would instead encourage you to watch and hear Prof. Palshikar yourself. He has given us an in-depth, analytical and detailed explanation of what ails Congress and where it’s gone wrong. He’s also suggested tasks or lessons the Congress must undertake if it’s to recover and they are comprehensive and challenging and, therefore, not easy for the party to undertake. He suspects even the will to do so is lacking. So if you want to understand what ails Congress and how it must seek to recover this is an interview you must watch. To help you, I will give below the questions that have been asked. Here they are:- 1) Seven months ago in June it was widely believed the Congress was reviving and its future looked bright. Instead it’s lost Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi and is once again being considered irrelevant. Before we go into details what do you believe has broadly gone wrong for the Congress party? 2) In a piece you wrote for the Express on Wednesday you said: “Since 1989, Congress has ceased to be an all-India party; it’s a multi-state party at best.” Does this mean it’s shrunk both in terms of reach and relevance? 3) Let’s take Delhi as an example. It’s been wiped out in three successive Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. This time its lost its deposit in 67 out of 70 seats. For Congress has Delhi become like Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa, a state where the party is unlikely to recover? 4) Let’s now come to the question what’s gone wrong for Congress in greater detail. First, does it have a clear identity and image or does it simply compete in terms of freebies and welfare policies without identifying what it actually stands for? 5) In this connection does the party have the internal organization and the party workers to give it real strength or do the several successive defeats mean that its organization has atrophied and possibly even melted away? 6) Let’s come to Rahul Gandhi who’s been the effective leader of the party since 2013, when he became Vice President. Why has he failed to capture the imagination of the country and win widespread respect as a political leader? 7) People constantly compare Rahul Gandhi to Narendra Modi and he always loses out. But the one point that I have frequently heard is that he fails to clearly, cogently and convincingly articulate what he wants to say. Somewhere between thought and speech he stumbles. Is that a fair comment? 8) At 82 is Mallikarjun Kharge, an elderly and uninspiring man, the wrong choice as party President? Would Shashi Tharoor, with his 10 million fan following on Twitter and his aspirational image, have been a better choice? Join The Wire's Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWtJey46brNr7qHQpN6KLQ/join

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