It was this stubborn streak that made Rahul Gandhi tear up the ordinance that his own government was bringing in on the disqualification of convicts. Because he was convinced he was right. This may not have been politically correct and had upset UPA’s all-weather ally RJD but Rahul Gandhi would not budge.
The Congress says this is Rahul Gandhi’s commitment to principles. But many in the Opposition term this as being careless and callous — the latest two being the Shiv Sena and TMC.
The Sena has never been comfortable with attacks on Veer Savarkar by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. Each time the Congress calls Savarkar a British agent, the Sena cringes as Savarkar is core to their political thinking. It also gives a chance to the BJP to take potshots at the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Sena for aligning with a party that insults Savarkar.
The result has been that Thackeray’s Sena, which is an ally in Maharashtra, is miffed and has conveyed so to both Sharad Pawar and Congress. They refused to be a part of opposition protests despite the fact that MP Priyanka Chaturvedi came dressed in black as a mark of protest. She skipped not just the protests but also the late-evening meeting called at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence.
In fact, at this meeting, Pawar told Congress that Rahul Gandhi’s comments were not in good taste. Sonia Gandhi, rushing to her son’s defence, said comments on Savarkar were ideological. However, Rahul Gandhi decided to back down and said he would be more careful in the future. The result? Congress has decided to try and refrain from making uncharitable comments on Savarkar with Rahul Gandhi deleting some of his tweets.
From the Trinamool Congress, support came on a condition — No more comments from Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Mamata Banerjee and no personal attacks on the West Bengal chief minister. Banerjee has never been happy with the Congress-Left alliance but has accepted it. However, with Rahul Gandhi accusing her of scams and helping the BJP during the Meghalaya campaign, Banerjee lost her cool and Abhishek Banerjee hit back.
Despite the blow hot, blow cold relationships, both Sena and TMC — and more importantly Rahul Gandhi — have accepted that the larger goal is to defeat the BJP and for this, a little pulling back and silence makes sense.
Sonia Gandhi had done this in 2004 when she gulped her pride and bitterness to accept the DMK as an ally despite having blamed them earlier for not fast-tracking the investigation into Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. However, she knew that to defeat the BJP, winning the south would be crucial. The same was her equation with RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan. Rahul Gandhi, who faces a deep downturn with his party slipping, must learn that real politics means overpowering his stubborn streak. For the sake of ousting the BJP.
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