Rahul Gandhi takes a sabbatical

Especially of seniors, quite a few of whom say in private that it's better if he doesn't return; none prepared, off the record, to defend either timing or move

The “sudden” news of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s decision to go on “leave to introspect”, at a time when the beleaguered party is keen to take on the government in an important Parliament Budget session where the controversial land ordinance would be tabled, has sent shock waves through the party.

Officially, the party maintained that “he wanted to reflect on recent events and future course of the party” and underscored that “Gandhi would return to active participation in Congress affairs”. However, it has left the party deeply embarrassed.  What also came to the fore on Monday was a deep divide with Congress seniors -- they appear to repose little confidence in his leadership abilities. More than President Pranab Mukherjee’s address, it was Rahul Gandhi’s leave that made more news in Parliament on Monday.      

Unlike on past occasions, not a single senior made an attempt to defend the Congress scion, who has by now made it a habit to absent himself frequently. (During former PM Manmohan Singh’s farewell function, he had gone on vacation, leaving the party fumbling). The party was expecting Gandhi to be the face of the protests it is slated to hold at Jantar Mantar on Monday, since it was he who was credited with bringing in the Congress-led UPA government’s land acquisition Bill. However, he will not be present. The Congress formally announced that Gandhi had “requested Congress President Sonia Gandhi for some time to reflect on recent events and future course of the party”. Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi added, “He (Rahul) believes the AICC (All India Congress Committee) session (expected in the first week of April) is vital and he would like to give specific inputs on this. He wants to do introspection with what happened with regard to the Congress in recent times and earlier.”

Gandhi has generally been blamed for the series of electoral setbacks the party has been facing. Several seniors that Business Standard spoke to through the day were simmering. Some even suggested Gandhi “should go away for a longer period and not just the three weeks that he is rumoured to have gone for”.

The party’s chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, said: “Something like this, that causes eyebrows to be raised and questions left unanswered, can only hamper the party.” And another Rajya Sabha senior said: “I am convinced the party can never revive if the reins are given to him. This is assessment not borne of bias but of rationality and having seen him work.”

“As long as Sonia Gandhi is there, she commands respectability and credibility with the masses. The same cannot be said of him,” said another leader. Sources disclose that Gandhi is keen to shed the dead wood — meaning, the seniors — and bring in his own team. Something opposed strongly by the old brigade.

It is also believed to have led to a difference of opinion between the mother (Sonia Gandhi) and son (Rahul Gandhi), with the latter being keen to take over as party president as early as possible, possibly at the AICC session in April, and bring in sweeping changes.

Stepping out of Parliament, Sonia Gandhi told reporters, “He has been given a few weeks. He needs some time.”

#RahulOnLeave trended through the day on Twitter, with Gandhi being the subject of jokes.

Nobody had any answers on where Rahul Gandhi had gone or with whom he was introspecting about the party’s defeats. More important, Congress people had no answers on why Gandhi needed to “go away from the Congress party” to brainstorm — he had sought leave from the party and not from the Lok Sabha, where he is a member. Attempting to scotch all speculation that a miffed Gandhi could threaten to quit if not given a free hand, Singhvi said, “He will return to resume his active participation in political affairs of the Congress.”