One-Election Wonder?

The point is not that Sonia is drawing enthusiastic crowds by resorting to political expediency; but that, in a short span of time, she has emerged as the star campaigner for the Congress. No other political leader barring perhaps Atal Behari Vajpayee can boast of such a pan-Indian appeal.

Sociologists might espy in her universal appeal the nascent signs of charisma traditionally associated with members of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Her critics might dismiss her impressive rallies as an aberration spurred by the curiosity of the people to see a pretty face, as the venerable Jyoti Basu said after she stormed his home turf.

 

But Congressmen desperate for a saleable face have no doubt found in Sonia a saviour. It may be that the print and electronic media are partial to her, but even her rivals have begun to acknowledge that she has made a difference to the fortunes of the Congress.

Which only proved that despite the abject failure of successive Congress leaders to measure up to the expectations of the people, there was a still large Congress constituency in the country waiting to be tapped. Tribals, dalits, and minorities who had for long formed the core of the Congress support structure, were no doubt estranged from the Sitaram Kesri-led Congress. With the failure of successive Congress administrations to deliver the goods, and the post-Mandal rise of other caste-based groups, the party had lost its hold over all three communities. Sonias apology-a-day routine was clearly meant to win back this traditional Congress vote. Even though she routinely humiliated Kesri at her public meetings by claiming that given the right leadership Congress could regain its old glory, this appears an unattainable objective. For so badly is the polity fragmented on caste and regional lines, it can hardly respond to the diffuse and ambiguous appeal of any single leader. Not even Sonia can hope to make the

Congress the omnibus umbrella organisation of yore.

Nevertheless, Sonia, of all the Congress leaders, seems to have succeeded in somewhat reviving the fortunes of the moribund party. Not unlike her late husband, Sonia too might turn out to be a one-election wonder; but insofar as she has brought the Congress back in the reckoning, her contribution is not to be sniffed at.

But given that the Congress had fallen so far back in peoples esteem, she may yet fail to win very many seats for the party. She is yet to impact the chattering classes which see her as an interloper out to colonise India.

The BJP was on the right track so long as it offered a stable government and an able prime minister. But Sonias whirlwind campaign seems to have rattled it. It was unable to fathom as to what to make of her shoot-and scoot campaign. That uncertainty showed in BJPs initial ambivalence towards her. It is only now that the party is beginning to tear into her emotional mish-mash. The election is still wide open. Vajpayee, a veteran, is up against, what Jyoti Basu calls, a mere housewife who has turned the entire election scene around in all of two weeks by lip-syncing someone elses scripts.

Depending on ones outlook, it is either a triumph or a tragedy of Indian democracy.