Monkey chatter over Rahul's ghar wapasi

There was great excitement over Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhirsquos return to Delhi after having gone AWOL for the past two months The monkey chatter on the Princersquos ghar wapasi so to say in the guava orchard better known as Lutyensrsquos Delhi just would not cease even long after the sun had set and twilight turned into night on Raisina Hill and its bungalowlined shady literally as well as metaphorically surroundingsCongress vice president Rahul Gandhi emerges from his residence in New Delhi on Thursday having returned from his 56day long break PicPTIMany readers would no doubt contest the veracity of the first sentence of this comment And they would not be wrong in insisting that bursting firecrackers and dancing lumpens outside the Congress headquarters on Akbar Road amount to excitement sweeping through Delhi and possibly the countryThere is more than a pinch of truth in the counterassertion that the majority does not care whether Rahul Gandhi scion of the NehruGandhi Dynasty and substantive shareholder in the closely held family firm called Congress is holidaying at an exotic location abroad or partying at a farmhouse in the National Capital Region He does not figure or at least overwhelmingly and dominantly figure either in public discourse or popular imaginationHence I would grievously err if I were not to explain why I said what I have in the opening lines of this comment It is unthinkable that political foes of the Congress would rush to offer their views on what Rahul Gandhirsquos latest homecoming means or does not mean Beyond the charmed and closed circle of friends Rahul Gandhi means nothing Unless we consider treacly praise by courtiers khansamas and family retainers of 10 Janpath as high political assessmentNever mind the many descriptions that have been bestowed on Rahul Gandhi from lsquoCrown Princersquo to lsquoYouth Iconrsquo to lsquoThe Gamechangerrsquo and more such tripe in between the fact remains that he has been a consistent underachiever in politics and as a Member of Parliament from the family borough of AmethiHis Parliament attendance sheet is worse than habitual absentees He has never participated in a debate barring the one time he held forth on the Lokpal Bill nothing of which made sense He does not ask questions Putting it bluntly he bunks entire sessionsIt is clear to all that Rahul Gandhirsquos heart is not in politics His political lexicon around which is built his political mindscape clashes violently with the political lexicon of India around which is built the political mindscape of the masses In brief he is far removed from the heat and dust of Indian politics although he may unwillingly plod on in jeans kurta and sneakersThe vast majority of Congress workers supporters and sympathisers see Rahul Gandhi as a political liability and not an asset Those who wave the flag for him are precisely the lot which has contributed the most to the neardeath decline of Indiarsquos Grand Old Party Even a united Opposition could not reduce the Congress to 44 Lok Sabha seats in the 1977 election held against the backdrop of the Emergency and its chilling excesses and in which Mrs Indira Gandhi was defeated from Rae BareliThe NehruGandhi Dynasty may have had its uses till India was a captive of the past The new India the awakened young Indians who comprise twothirds of the population is unimpressed by the Dynasty Which does not mean the Congress is no longer relevant What it means is the party needs a new leadership new stakeholders and new dynamism All three options exclude the inclusion of Rahul Gandhi as the man who will revive the CongressThe days of the Delhi Durbar are over Sonia Gandhirsquos court now resembles that of Bahadur Shah Zafar Yes loyal Ghazis will rally to the Dynastyrsquos support but the battle has been lost even before it has begun The sooner Congress realises this the better it shall be for the only other national party of the worldrsquos largest democracy Rahul Gandhi is irrelevant in the stupendous task of putting the Congress back together againHence I was surprised by the raucous monkey chatter in the guava orchard better known as Lutyensrsquos Delhi Politicians mediapersons and the chattering classes spent hours speculating what Indiarsquos Prince Charles will do next Will our Queen abdicate the throne Or will she keep the putative successor waitingSuch concern reallyThe writer is a senior journalist based in the National Capital Region His Twitter handle is KanchanGupta