M A I N   N E W S

Rahul’s young squad a silent force waiting in the wings
KV Prasad/TNS

New Delhi, January 21
A stealth message the new Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi delivered at Jaipur was perhaps lost in the plain speak. A team of young leaders, assiduously built over the last eight years, is his real strength.

As Rahul prepares to start a fresh innings as the numero dos to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he is expected to rely on this vibrant force which made its presence felt at the All-India Congress Committee session. The team members exhibited spontaneity, confidence and conviction as they went up the stage and spoke in front of the Assembly.

The speakers, be it Lenny Jadhav of Maharasthra, Amarinder Singh Raja Brar from Punjab, Himmat Singh from Harayana or Mohammed Shah Nawaz from Jammu and Kashmir, managed to impress over 1,200 delegates that included the Congress president, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, former Ministers and a galaxy of national and state-level leaders.

These attributes, all of them swore, were a result of the implicit faith Rahul reposed in them. The young leaders were given a chance to flourish despite the fact that most of them had no political lineage.

Shahnawaz Khan from Poonch in J-K, who comes from an ordinary family, said had it not been Rahul’s motivation he could have never imagined to reach this position. A crop of similar young leaders is now spread across the state, he said.

Stating that middle-class girls in the country now have a voice in a political system, Lenny Jadhav, an NSUI office-bearer from Maharashtra, stressed on the need for paying attention to higher education, improving its quality and promoting equality. While her forceful presentation was acknowledged by the Congress president, she earned a pat on her back from Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan and hugs from her colleagues squatting in the aisles of the Birla Auditorium, as they tweeted her message.

On his part, Gidderbha MLA Amarinder Singh told `The Tribune' that Rahul has a solid team of nearly 100-odd elected representatives, both in Parliament and state Assemblies, and most of them come from non-political families.

As the general secretary in charge of the Indian Youth Congress and the NSUI, Rahul has put in place a Unit Management System to infuse both transparency and enforce accountability among leaders tasked with responsibilities. Haryana legislator Anil Dhantauri, son of a police officer from Yamunanagar, said had it not been Rahul, he would have never hoped to be an MLA at such a young age.

His IYC colleague Varinder Rathore from Punjab said Rahul has introduced a method that recognises work in the field. “The non-performers get the message. Abhishek Pal, son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief and Congress MP Jagdambika Palm, was removed from his post after his work was not found up to the mark. Can you image such a thing happening earlier?” said a young leader.

While Rahul assured he would be fair and be the judge and not plead anyone's case, the challenge is to carry with him the seniors, many of whom are dyed-in-the wool Congressmen.

Ready to take off

As Rahul begins his fresh innings, he is expected to rely on a team of young leaders assiduously built over the last eight years

The force, which is Rahul’s real strength, made its presence felt at the All-India Congress Committee session. The team members exhibited spontaneity, confidence and conviction as they went up the stage and spoke in front of the Assembly

The young leaders, mostly from non-political families, attribute their rise to Rahul, who, they say, has reposed faith in them and motivated them to surge ahead