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Jaipur marks a watershed in Congress’ chequered history by ushering in Rahul Gandhi as a new year gift. Pramod Kumar reports from the Chintin Shivir
The glorious history of Rajasthan, given its geographical location, is replete with instances of valour and comebacks, of success stories pulled out of thin air and against all odds.
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘coronation’ as the virtual heir apparent to India’s ruling dynasty at this week’s Chintin Shivir in Jaipur should be seen in that backdrop.
There was pathos, tears and raw emotion, all ingredients that make up for family melodrama and have the potential to move the masses politically, as few other slogans can.
The Rahul Gandhi that came out was the new face of the Congress: young, exuberant, ready to take on challenges and the country onto another level. More pertinently, there was the promise of new politics, slogans and faces; it was as if a beleaguered Congress party was trying to exorcise the ghosts of the UPA as 2014 draws close and who better than Rahul to navigate the treacherous road ahead?
The unofficial handing over the baton to Rahul was by no means an accidental happening, it was carefully choreographed from start to finish. The developments that unfolded had keeping the Election Commission’s Code of Conduct in mind. First Rahul was introduced at New Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds on November 4 last year to ‘acquaint’ him with party workers; on November 9, in the next round, it were members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) who were formally introduced to Rahul. These were traditional testers to gauge the mood of the cadres - not that it was required - but in the light of Rahul’s somewhat unsuccessful 2012 with reverses in UP and Gujarat, no one in the party was willing to take any chances.
Once the core group around Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided that the Gandhi family grip on the party apparatus had in no way declined, then it became a question of time and matter of completing formalities. As a background to the carefully orchestrated coronation, young ministers were inducted in the Union Cabinet as a first step; the Chintin Shivir then only became an occasion to formalise a political contract which everyone knew existed.
Sonia herself set the ball rolling when she emphasised that policies need to be framed keeping the aspirations and frustrations of the angry youth in mind, whose issues could no longer be ignored.
It was known in the party that there would be a Jaipur Declaration and it would be headed by Rahul. It did not quite happen that way. On the second day of the proceedings, the Jaipur Declaration came and went without causing too much of a flutter; Rahul’s induction became the biggest event for Congress in the New Year.
An actual look at proceedings will tell you that after Rahul, the buzz was around young ministers. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasad, RPN Singh and Sachin Pilot, were all flavour of the meet. A very busy BK Hari Prasad and Mukul Wasnik showed that the Jaipur Chintin Shivir, more than anything else, signaled yet another generational shift in India’s first political family.
The glorious history of Rajasthan, given its geographical location, is replete with instances of valour and comebacks, of success stories pulled out of thin air and against all odds.
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘coronation’ as the virtual heir apparent to India’s ruling dynasty at this week’s Chintin Shivir in Jaipur should be seen in that backdrop.
There was pathos, tears and raw emotion, all ingredients that make up for family melodrama and have the potential to move the masses politically, as few other slogans can.
The Rahul Gandhi that came out was the new face of the Congress: young, exuberant, ready to take on challenges and the country onto another level. More pertinently, there was the promise of new politics, slogans and faces; it was as if a beleaguered Congress party was trying to exorcise the ghosts of the UPA as 2014 draws close and who better than Rahul to navigate the treacherous road ahead?
The unofficial handing over the baton to Rahul was by no means an accidental happening, it was carefully choreographed from start to finish. The developments that unfolded had keeping the Election Commission’s Code of Conduct in mind. First Rahul was introduced at New Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds on November 4 last year to ‘acquaint’ him with party workers; on November 9, in the next round, it were members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) who were formally introduced to Rahul. These were traditional testers to gauge the mood of the cadres - not that it was required - but in the light of Rahul’s somewhat unsuccessful 2012 with reverses in UP and Gujarat, no one in the party was willing to take any chances.
Once the core group around Congress president Sonia Gandhi decided that the Gandhi family grip on the party apparatus had in no way declined, then it became a question of time and matter of completing formalities. As a background to the carefully orchestrated coronation, young ministers were inducted in the Union Cabinet as a first step; the Chintin Shivir then only became an occasion to formalise a political contract which everyone knew existed.
Sonia herself set the ball rolling when she emphasised that policies need to be framed keeping the aspirations and frustrations of the angry youth in mind, whose issues could no longer be ignored.
It was known in the party that there would be a Jaipur Declaration and it would be headed by Rahul. It did not quite happen that way. On the second day of the proceedings, the Jaipur Declaration came and went without causing too much of a flutter; Rahul’s induction became the biggest event for Congress in the New Year.
An actual look at proceedings will tell you that after Rahul, the buzz was around young ministers. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasad, RPN Singh and Sachin Pilot, were all flavour of the meet. A very busy BK Hari Prasad and Mukul Wasnik showed that the Jaipur Chintin Shivir, more than anything else, signaled yet another generational shift in India’s first political family.
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