Rahul on the road – the die is cast

by Brij Bhardwaj 

Rahul Gandhi is on the road having taken the difficult task of building an organization in a State where it has been wiped out. The road ahead is long and arduous and  the results uncertain. But perhaps with his youth and modern outlook the new generation voters might look beyond Amitabh Bachchan’s advertisement about UP! In any case the die is cast for Rahul and the congress.

Mr. Rahul Gandhi has finally taken the plunge by taking upon himself the tough challenge of building   Congress Party from scratch in Uttar Pradesh. He has chosen to test his ability to transform the State which has been badly divided on the basis of caste and community   back on the path of progress by mobilizing the youth power. The  task is formidable as Uttar Pradesh is not only one of "Bimaru" states in Hindi belt but is also   one where  the quality of governance has  suffered greatly during the last two decades   and has  large number of musclemen  operating  as gangs of dacoits, kidnappers and murderers, depending on their   ability.  

The State has been competing for top honours with Bihar as far as crime graph is concerned even though film star Amitabh Bachan would like us to believe otherwise by quoting statistics because the police have decided to show improvements every year by refusing to register reports as it happened in NOIDA in the National Capital Region. One can agree that U.P is not alone where a nexus has been built between the politicians and criminals but it certainly is one state where the need to establish rule of law can not be overemphasized.  

Mr. Rahul Gandhi during his campaign will certainly draw large crowds thanks to the magic of family   which evokes memories among the old guard and his youth and modern outlook may appeal to young who like   young people in rest of the country must be looking beyond the common rung of politicians who appeal to them in the name of caste and community.   In the first instance Mr. Gandhi will be able to lay a sound foundation if he is able to build a cadre of young people, but if the party leadership is hoping that he would produce immediate results in the coming Assembly poll, they will be disappointed.  

The Congress Party has to understand that in U.P they have not only lost  their popular base   or vote share, but have no organization  worth the name in majority of districts and this can not be built overnight. The leadership at state level has been spending more time in New Delhi instead of working in the home State and the result is that in large areas there may be candidates available to contest but no workers will be around except those who are motivated by personal connections and loyalty.  

The battle to start with in U.P will not be for seats but for rebuilding the party brick by brick with exceptions where party nominees may be able to put up credible performance because of their personal pull and following. The Congress Party which in the recent past committed blunders by joining hands with parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party has destroyed its base by surrendering most of the seats to the others with the result that a party which at one time held sway all-over the State became confined to few pockets like Amethi and Rai Bareilly.  

The task of revival as such is not going to be easy but a beginning can be made if the party is able to build organisation at ground level during the Assembly elections which they could treat  it as dress rehearsal  for the real battle that is Lok Sabha poll to take place after two years. This will require patience and lot of hard work. The party will have to replace its paper tigers who shine only in national capital or in social circles with grass root workers who are prepared to work in the field. According to reports, Mr. Gandhi has done lot of home work by preparing list of workers at all levels and their ability being a computer savvy person with a modern mind.  

Computers, though, may be able to store information, but they offer solutions only on the basis of inputs received by them. One hopes that data fed is reliable and not sketchy. Mr. Gandhi will need lot of help in his task as Congress not only lacks workers in U.P, but also has as many factions as followers in the State and he would have to steer clear of them. Many of these leaders will come forward to share the spoils but have no stomach for a real fight. One hopes that Mr. Gandhi is given enough time and elbow room to do the job he has undertaken.  

If he is able to achieve a limited success, it would go a long way in changing   political scene in U.P. where a downward slide has been seen for a long time and it is fast competing with Bihar as the worst governed State in India. It has a large number of semi-educated young men whose ability to find employment is limited by poor quality of education and lack of any new avenues because State is not an attractive destination for investment because of poor infrastructure.  

The task of political rejuvenation of U.P is also a task of changing the perceptions and restoring the old glory for the largest state in the country whose size and population has only helped in keeping it backward and poor instead of making it an engine of growth. The leaders making appeal to voters only on basis of caste and community can not do this job. The Congress Party in the past has also been guilty of making same mistake but this scenario can change if the party is prepared for a long haul scheme to rehabilitate itself in the politically crucial and important State in the country.