There are many ways to look at politicians. There are many ways Netas launch their careers. In the case of 'dynasts' like Rahul Gandhi .... opportunities and space are created for "relaunch" of the career.
However, as the saying goes --- it is easier said than done.
Building a party requires political maturity, sustained hard work.
There is a need for visibility, organisation and identifying right issues and then right candidates.
All these are "challenges" taken as single units or separately. The sincerity of the concerned Neta and the track record of his or her functioning is also vital. Sincerity is crucial. A book launch may be too little.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen on what is stored for Sonia Gandhi's book 'Belonging ...".
In simple words; books alone do not launch a political career. Of course - as times writing or publishing a book can help shape a public profile and build 'name' recognition.
If someone does authoritatively; a new book by a politician may also signal authority on key issues. In Sonia Gandhi's case, it is presumed it was ghost-written by a professional author or a team and regularly guided by party colleagues and her children.
This is never the debate. The subject in question is -- whether some issues she has touched in the book and some she did not would give any ammunition to BJP to attack the Congress back.
Already there are some controversies. Here is only a tip of iceberg.
".... she was the mightiest in the country (between) 2004-14," writes S Gurumurthy, a right wing intellectual.
"I took her on and challenged her with articles after articles in the 'New Indian Express' questioning her loyalty to the country and also her honesty and charging her with holding secret billions abroad in two articles in 2009 and 2012.
Neither Sonia nor the Congress would respond or sue me
When Sonia Gandhi told her party workers in Mangalore on April 27, 2009 that "the Congress was taking steps to address the issue of untaxed Indian money in Swiss banks". I challenged her," notes Gurumurthy.
Now the obvious question -- are those things also addressed in the book.
Gurumurthy's article (2012) says:
"The title of the expose in German read “Fluchgelder — Die Schweizer Konten der Dictatoren”. In English it meant, “Curse of money — The Swiss bank accounts of the Dictators”.
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Rajiv Gandhi figured in the expose as one with slush funds in secret accounts. Schweizer Illustrierte is not some rag. It is the Number One Swiss magazine and sells some 2,10,000 copies."
The report under the picture of Rajiv Gandhi, translated into English, read: "2.5 billion francs on the Indian secret accounts in Switzerland" of "Rajiv Gandhi, Indian". Today the amount of 2.5 billion Swiss Francs equals 2.2 billion US Dollars. But as Rajiv was no more by then, it must become the family inheritance, notes Gurumurthy.
Hence, we feel - the Congress leadership thought -- such issues are dead. However, there are chances - the Corruption issue could be revived in public debate and this is a "pitch" where Congress is always found defensive. In contrast - Modi's and BJP's 'pitch' on corruption is much stronger.
There are other issues like 1984 avti-Sikh riot. Whether Sonia had something to say on her husband Late Rajiv Gandhi's now infamous quote - "when a big tree falls; the earth shakes".
The Congress party paid some prices over 1984 carnage in both 2014 and 2019 elections. In 2019 - it was Sam Pitroda's "hua toh hua" remarks.
In his January 2014 interview with Arnab Goswami on Times Now, Rahul Gandhi had made several key comments regarding the 1984 anti-Sikh riots:
When asked if Congressmen were involved, Gandhi stated, "Did innocent people die? Absolutely... Some Congressmen were probably involved". He added that some of those individuals had gone through legal processes and been punished.
Rahul had declined to issue a blanket apology on behalf of the Congress party for the 1984 riots, pointing out that legal processes had taken place. When pressed about the nomination of leaders like Jagdish Tytler to the cabinet in 2004, he noted that public and media furore led to the withdrawal of such nominations.
There was also a controversy when Rahul said:
"I am saying that there was difference between the 1984 and the riots in Gujarat". Rahul had claimed as a child (then 14 year-old); he saw Rajiv Govt trying to stop the riots but in the case of Gujarat .... his allegation was the Modi Govt in the western state was "allowing the riots to happen".
The BJP has questioned the purpose of the memoir. It said that the book contains political rhetoric rather than pure personal reflection.
'The Guardian' newspaper reported: “Sonia Gandhi recalls crying as she witnessed the demolition (of the Babri Masjid in 1992) on television. She says she knew then that they faced ‘a long battle for the secular nation that Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and their colleagues had strived to build’.
She accepts that failures of her own party in part contributed to the rise of the BJP and its hardline Hindutva politics.”
These remarks have also drawn criticism because there was no live telecast those days. She is also being critical of the Narasimha Rao Govt and hence yet again she is being 'politically correct'.
It is true Rajiv Gandhi’s government had obtained permission for prayers at the disputed site in 1986, after which a symbolic foundation-laying ceremony was held in 1989.
Paradoxically, these facts the Congress has often cited to deny the Modi government credit for the Ram temple. But the family has not visited the grand Ram Temple. No one from the party was authorized to attend the inaugural ceremony in Jan 2024.
Delhi BJP minister Parvesh Sahib Singh shared a news report of Sonia’s comments and wrote on X that the Babri issue was back in the news “after 33 years”.
“The same crocodile tears, the same lament. Why has this old issue resurfaced today? Looks like elections are around the corner,” he posted.
Asked during the interview why the Congress had remained tied to the Gandhi family, Sonia dismissed the question, saying “You would have to ask the party,” The Guardian reported.
But what about 1999 -- when she made a desperate bid to be Prime Minister and even claimed - "We have 272 and we will have more".
“(Sonia) Gandhi also skates over the question of nepotism, simply saying, ‘We all fight elections: we win them, we lose them’…. After once pleading with her children to stay out of politics, Gandhi now says, ‘It’s good that they’re there. Now more than ever before’,” the report in the London daily says.
ends
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