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Give Rahul more time to grow in politics
I fully agree with the editorial, “Rahul Gandhi as PM? : First the Congress must get its act together” (June 21). Rahul Gandhi is not yet in a position to take over as the Prime Minister of India. He has little knowledge about the functioning of ministries, leave alone the Prime Minister’s post. No doubt Rahul Gandhi has so far refused to become a minister in the Central Cabinet on the pretext of first getting himself involved with the grass roots. But this will not be enough to make him the Prime Minister of a country like India, which is vast and diverse. He should first become a Central minister to acquaint himself with the functioning of ministries. It is a very lengthy process and will take years to actually understand the governing system of the world’s largest democracy. Let him first grow up politically before dragging him into the Prime Minister’s office. Though there are many experienced ministers in India who have been working for the last 40 years or so, they have not been considered for the post of Prime Minister. Just one example is that of Pranab Mukherjee. I fail to understand why the name of Rahul Gandhi comes up for this high post. Perhaps, there are some elements in the Congress who want to be close to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi is still an amateur in the field of national politics. He needs more time to mature as a leader. India should look for someone of the calibre of Dr Manmohan Singh to lead the country, and not just make it a custom of choosing the Prime Minister from the Nehru-Gandhi clan. Let us learn to be more realistic, so far as the governance of the country is concerned. R K KAPOOR, Chandigarh
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II This refers to the editorial, “Rahul Gandhi as PM? : First the Congress must get its act together” (June 21). If Digvijay Singh has issued a statement wishing the august office of the Prime Minister for Rahul Gandhi, he is actually giving voice to many Congressmen in the country who feel that their survival in politics is not possible without someone from the Gandhi family to lead them from the front. In fact, such a statement demystifies the present ideological drift and confusion of the Congress leadership. The personality cult has thrived in the Congress since the death of Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the country. The Indian National Congress was once the biggest platform for anti-imperialist forces in the second and third decades of the last century. The party fought for liberation of the motherland from the yoke of the British Raj, along with workers and supporters of other political parties. But the irony is that now the Congress stands alienated from large sections of the Indian populace. There are serious charges of corruption against its ministers and party functionaries, and there is widespread discontentment among peasants in the rural areas over the land acquisition policy of the Central government. The Congress as a political organisation has stopped inspiring the poor in a big way, as it seems to be very soft towards the top corporate houses in the country. In such a situation, Digvijay Singh has spoken like Chanakya expressing his earnest desire to see Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister in the near future. I appreciate certain personal qualities of Rahul Gandhi. He seems to have a genuine love for India and its people, but he does not have any popular slogan to take the Congress out of the current stage of political dilemma. We still recall the popular slogans of the past: “Jai jawan, jai kisan” given by Lal Bahadur Shastri and “Garibi hatao” by Indira Gandhi. Moreover, a leader has to feel the pulse of the nation. No doubt, Rahul Gandhi has spark in his personality, but it is for the common people of this country to decide who should be their next Prime Minister. Dr Raj Bahadur Yadav, Fatehabad Paradigm shift This refers to the article, “No short-cuts in democracy”, June 17 (OPED) by Manpreet Badal, while commenting on the recent turmoil caused by Baba Ramdev’s movement. Not long ago, through these very columns, Manpreet had eulogised revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and his comrades. He himself resigned from the Punjab Cabinet advocating a change for the better, including an overhaul of a system that is not focused on ‘aam aadmi’. After reading the article one is left with the impression that he wants change for the sake of change only. He should understand that people are not interested in the change of initials of a Chief Minister from ‘P.S’ to ‘M.S’. They want a paradigm shift at the grassroots level. If 64 years cannot deliver the goods, the people are not taking short cuts when they agitate. Perhaps, they have run out of patience. Bureaucratic hassles have turned common people of this country into compulsive cynics. Still, at times when a Ramdev or an Anna Hazare exhorts them to fight the system, sparks fly all around from the dying embers buried deep inside this ash of cynicism. But those, who want to maintain the status quo, extinguish the sparks promptly. The show goes on. Vinod Kumar Khanna, Mohali
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