Why Rahul Gandhi is Right in Taking Leave

Taking time-off to introspect is good for him and his party

There is too much unfair and unnecessary speculation on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘leave of absence’ by the media, opposition parties and Rahul’s own party Congress for which he is the Vice President.

Unfair and Unnecessary

It is unfair and unnecessary because even if he had gone on leave without informing or making it public, the same forces would have made a bigger noise and wild, unimaginable guesses on his absence. The question would arise as to why he had to inform now when he had not done so earlier. For all the troubles that the country’s grand old party is going through with the recent rout in general elections and the last Delhi Assembly Elections where it scored a zero, it is not easy for a leader of the stature of Rahul Gandhi to withstand such a loss and understand the real reasons behind the debacles hitting the party one after the other.

Congress is not only a party that gave great leaders to the country but also a party that has too many foxy-minded leaders. The average age of majority of Congress leaders will be no less than 65 and with such an average, there is no dearth of rigid mind set and ‘I Know Everything’ attitude which makes functioning of the party all the more difficult and managing it near impossible with Rahul’s age and experience, though he has his mother and the party President by his side.

The mind behind the bifurcation of AP state and Congress stalwart, Digvijay Singh went on to say that Rahul’s timing of leave was not right with budget session round the corner. That is a cunning statement to put Rahul individually in a position of weakness by opening the flood gates to Opposition’s criticism. That is what I meant by foxy-minded leaders. Where was the need for Digvijay Singh to make such a statement? What purpose does it serve Rahul or Congress? In what way will Rahul’s absence during budget session blunt the future of Congress when it is already going through a major crisis as a party? Diggy should have thought all this before he made such comment. But alas! He didn’t, because he wants to project himself as someone who decides what is wrong or right for Rahul and also the party. There are several such leaders in Congress who do more harm to the party than outsiders or the voters.

Leadership style

During this two-week sabbatical that Rahul has taken, he should seriously introspect on his leadership style. A leader is one who knows when to be active, inactive, pro-active and reactive based on various situations and circumstances. Rahul is most of the times inactive, active on very few occasions, very less pro-active and rarely reactive. For a leader who is looked upon as the future of India, the present leadership style of Rahul does no good. He has to develop being active 90% of the time in his party affairs and activities, be reactive where required on issues which he thinks that the ruling party is going wrong, be pro-active in building his own party by weeding out ‘I know all’ dogmatic leaders from his party and be inactive when he wants to contemplate on burning issues.

Get surrounded by right people

It is because of the past leadership that Congress is paying the price by losing heavily in all elections. The party has always played ‘politics’ for party and individuals benefit ignoring the masses. The party also failed to understand the pulse of the post-liberalized India and its young generation of people. They continued to play minority politics which no longer worked. The party Presidents of the past surrounded themselves with leaders who were more of yes men and who got their personal works done for making their ‘families’ richer. All this was ‘okay’ as long as the media did not evolve because there was little or no chance of getting exposed. Today, with the evolution of social media and other electronic media, the party and their leaders are under constant observation by public. Rahul must take all steps to see that he is surrounded by people who are advantageous for the party and the country. He should also review their performance and keep tracking their ground work instead of giving them a permanent seat in the governing body.

It is not required to do multiple things to be successful. If the fundamental issues are addressed properly and the most core activities are done in the right manner, I am sure a new Congress will emerge. It is always good to have a live Congress that puts the ruling party in tenterhooks by asking the right questions in the interest of the people under a rejuvenated and renewed leadership of Rahul Gandhi.  It is good for BJP also to have a strong leader in its opposition so that they watch their steps.

Wish to see a new Rahul emerge after these two weeks of leave. Till then, I would request all the self-proclaimed ‘teachers’ to leave the ‘kid’ alone.