Waiting for Rahul - Implosion: India's Tryst with Reality - page 181

hungry in India. 27 It reflected a famous speech made by his father Rajiv Gandhi as prime
minister in 1985, attacking Congress power brokers who, he said, had handicapped ordin-
ary party workers. Rajiv failed to change the system and his son offered nothing more, apart
from a pledge that he would work for the party and the country. He generated a rousing
standing ovation from the audience and tears from some leaders. In the months that fol-
lowed, he challenged established systems and worked hard at trying to reform the party's
constituency and state-level organization, picking new local leaders and candidates who
might revive the badly run party. This showed the power he could wield when he chose to
do so - for example, in the choice of young ministers and regional political leaders, though
it upset many existing power brokers.
Rahul made remarks that seemed to suggest he might renounce the prime minister's job,
as Sonia had done in 2004. His plan to reorganize the Congress with grassroots elections
would also logically and significantly reduce the chances of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty
continuing into another generation after him. It was beginning to look as if that might be
what he ideally wanted with democratically elected grassroots party members rising up
through the ranks. 28 When he was asked by journalists and Congress MPs in the Central
Hall of Parliament in March 2013 whether he wanted to be prime minister, he was reported
to have said that was the wrong question. 'Today, I see how MPs feel without power and
it is the same story in all the parties, be it the Congress or the BJP. I want to empower the
720-odd MPs in Parliament. I want to give voice to the middle tier, empower the middle-
level leaders. There are some parties in India which are run by one leader, two leaders, five
to six leaders and 15 to 20 leaders. My priority is that I want to empower the MPs as also
the 5,000-odd legislators in various states.' He was also reported to have said that he re-
gretted that political parties prevented youth from acquiring key positions at a time when
the young were seeking a greater say in political affairs. 'At one point, the pressure from
the youth will be such that there will be an explosion'. 29
These remarks chimed with criticism he had frequently voiced about the Congress
party's 'high command' culture (even though that was his mother's role), and seemed to
suggest that new people would rise up. But it was not clear whether Rahul was envisaging
these new leaders being ready to take over the top job in 20 years' or so when he might
retire, maybe leaving nothing for the next generation of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to do.
Moreover, he only talked about giving power to MPs and 'voice to the middle tier, em-
power the middle-level leaders'. Did it mean that he envisaged a dynastically defended
glass ceiling above that level? He was similarly vague about what he intended to do when
he spoke for the first time to a business audience in April 2013. His theme was that India's
future lay in taking politics down to pradhans (village headmen) to give 'a billion people
the power to solve the problems' and facilitate development. 30 At that meeting he showed
he had developed an easy style of impromptu public speaking, but he presented no policies