By Sushil Kutty
Raebareli will remain Gandhi family bastion so long as Rahul Gandhi is keen on continuing in politics. So long live Rahul Gandhi, long live the dynasty. That being said, Wayanad is the new go-to parliamentary constituency for the Gandhi family. Amethi lost its sheen for the family when Smriti Irani beat Rahul Gandhi in 2019. Irani’s tryst, however, was curtailed by a caretaker candidate. Amethi will never have a ‘Gandhi’ testing the electorate in any near future.
Raebareli stays and Amethi goes. Fifty years on, there could be a ‘Gandhi’, perhaps a ‘Vadra’ going with the ‘Gandhi’, laying claim to the Wayanad seat. By vacating Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi set the stage for a ‘Vadra’, even if Priyanka still sports ‘Gandhi’. This is the second time when the family has had a surname switch. The first was when ‘Nehru’ was cast aside and replaced with ‘Gandhi’. Now, there is another surname switch even if the first family of the Congress planned to keep ‘Gandhi’, irrespective of the politically-inclined Robert Vadra.
Let’s get used to knowing that there are two new ‘Gandhi’ waiting in the wings – Rehan Rajiv Gandhi and Miraya Indira Gandhi, children of Robert and Priyanka Vadra Gandhi. On the face of it, there cannot be any objections. The concept of ‘middle names’ is firmly entrenched in the West. But it’s the missing ‘Vadra’ in the surname column which makes the transition questionable. In one case, the son-in-law’s surname got preference. In the other case, the son-in-law’s surname is taboo.
The shift from Nehru to Gandhi was smooth, and nothing out of place in the Indian context. Married Indian women are expected to take on the surnames of their husbands. And “Mrs. Gandhi” was spoken aloud on AIR and in DD news bulletins. It was only after the BJP took centre-stage that the ‘Gandhi’ surname began to be questioned. Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned “parivarvaad’ into an election issue. Modi’s diatribes on ‘dynasty’ targeted the opposition parties in general, from Nehru’s Congress to Lalu Prasad’s RJD, Mulayam Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and MK Stalin’s DMK.
What irks the anti-parivarvaadi is the Congress not letting go of the Gandhi family after all the Modi machinations. When 23 Congress leaders set up a separate tent, there was a feeling the Gandhi family’s hegemony over the Congress was over. But it turned out different and, today, the Congress cannot be faulted for holding on to the Gandhi family for dear life. So much so, the Congress leads the opposition INDI-Alliance and Rahul Gandhi is perhaps the most comfortably placed among opposition INDIA bloc leaders.
Even the BJP cannot think of an Opposition front without Rahul Gandhi leading it. Modi’s party is now more or less resigned to Rahul Gandhi appointed as the LoP in the Lok Sabha. While 99 Lok Sabha seats is way less than the BJP’s 240, they are more than enough for the LoP. The Congress resurgence is going hand-in-hand with the Gandhi family’s rejuvenation after sliding from the pinnacle in 2014. Today, there’s not a squeak from Modi on Priyanka Vadra Gandhi and ‘parivarvaad’ is MIA from Modi’s vocabulary.
The odd Kerala BJP leader has commented on Priyanka Vadra Gandhi’s entry into electoral politics, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is as if tongue-tied, shorn of vowels and consonants. Wayanad is Priyanka Gandhi’s launching pad and the Modi government was a destroyer of launching pads. Is there a surgical strategy to defeat Priyanka Vadra Gandhi in Wayanad?
Modi’s ‘parivarvaad’ allegation will hit him on the face when two Gandhis, brother and sister, will stare him down from the Opposition benches. The presence of “three Gandhis” in Parliament will keep reminding Modi of “parivarvaad” and how his campaign against family rule fell by the Wayanad and Raebareli wayside.
Wayanad is quite happy with Priyanka Vadra Gandhi replacing Rahul Gandhi. She possesses what is being called “star value”. She is making her parliamentary debut from Wayanad. Unlike Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra Gandhi is by far more expressive. Her attempts at making the ‘Kerala Dosa’ were not lost on Kerala voters. Most of all, the Muslim/Christian electorate of Kerala/Wayanad would be showering votes on her like they didn’t on Rahul Gandhi, who is not as ebullient as Priyanka Vadra Gandhi is.
So, the Congress’ dynasty is in good hands. Four hands instead of a pair. One Gandhi is representing the ‘North’. The other Gandhi will be speaking for the ‘South’ in addition to Sonia Gandhi in the Upper House. Also, Priyanka Vadra Gandhi cannot be defeated in Wayanad. The demography makes her unbeatable though voices have risen with a clutch of reasons on why she won’t last long. One of them is, Malayalis will soon get tired of Priyanka’s novelty as they were getting tired of Rahul Gandhi’s absences, also whose winning margin dipped in the 2024 elections.
Will Priyanka devote half her time in the Lok Sabha travelling and touring her high-profile constituency? The Left Front will not sit on its haunches just because she has “star value”. Annie Raja, CPI’s candidate against Rahul Gandhi, is still smarting. And the BJP’s candidate against Rahul Gandhi is also making uncomfortable noises: Why did the Congress assume that Wayanad should go to a Gandhi/Vadra Gandhi only? The Left Democratic Front has made a review of its reverses in Lok Sabha polls. The CPI is opting for a massive campaign to get the Wayanad seat.
It was okay when as Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi vacationed in the Lakshadweep, but to make a Gandhi family bastion out of a Kerala constituency is way too much ‘Gandhi’ even for a Muslim-dominated Wayanad. So goes the argument against Priyanka Vadra Gandhi, the latest Gandhi family addition to national politics. The burgeoning strength of the Gandhi/Vadra Gandhi family is testing the limits of Modi’s ‘parivarvaad’ diatribes. Now, it is left to make another ‘Gandhi’ Prime Minister even if it is one with the “silent” surname ‘Vadra’. (IPA Service)
