What that tells us is that most of the Gandhi family rule was peppered with scams, improprieties, colossal foreign policy blunders and personal misbehaviors overshadowing any achievements they may have had.
It is therefore mindboggling as to how and why has the Gandhi Family remained relevant to Congress. It is probably a combination of the family faithful and bankruptcy of alternate leadership that is responsible for it. Of course we as a society suffer from a collective Stockholm Syndrome and identify the entire freedom fight with the Nehru / Gandhi family. The family acquired too much money and political influence over the last 100 years that the Congress find it difficult to imagine life without them.
Without going into the history of corruption inflicted on our hapless nation by the family, we can say that the latest accusation against Robert Vadra is possibly the worst. I will try to explain the gravity of it. When Rajiv Gandhi was brought down in the Bofor’s scam and eventually assassinated, the family went into hibernation. Later in the 1990’s inability of a non-Gandhi leader to take control brought the family back into play and with a vengeance. A powerful coterie of “chamchas” protected them by carefully projecting a mystique of personality and mirage of “competence”. The family and the coterie and enjoyed all the riches that came along with power. Of course a totally inept BJP helped them.
However eventually everyone notices that the emperor is naked. But the chamcha coterie was not going to give up the fight. Sonia’s illness is treated with a greater degree of secrecy than our defence establishments. Her inability to govern and complicity in various mega scams has been protected with a pitbull like viciousness and focus. Rahul’s ineptness is kept from spilling over and the nation is teased and tantalized with the possibility of the Rajkumar stepping in and saving the day. They had all the help they could get from our corrupt and compliant pseudo-secular media. However, no matter what they did, the sheen had started to come off. But they always had a “bramha-astra” – Priyanka. She has always been dangled in front of Congress supporters as someone who can step in and save the day. Of course her ineffectiveness was exposed in the last UP elections. Nevertheless, it is the prospect of leadership rather than reality, which is still keeping the Congress in play.
However, with the latest scam involving Vadra who is one step away from Sonia puts Congress in an indefensible position. The entire Congress machinery is trying to put a fig leaf on a mountain of evidence. What we have to see is for how long are Congressmen going to continue to defend this family. At what point do they say that the family has now become a liability and are more trouble than worth? When do they say that the family is now hurting us rather than helping? When do they say that while others have been forced to resign or get sent to jail for scams (Natwar Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Kanimojhi or Raja) Vadra is being protected? When are the Pranab Mukherjee supporters and others who are loyal Congressmen but not family loyalists going to stand up and say that enough is enough?
If Congress has to stay relevant, they need to dump or sideline the Gandhi Family and its chamchas. I would say the time is now. Of course being a BJP supporter I would want them to stay on the course of self-destruction but India does need a viable national alternative to BJP if the regional party vultures are to be kept at bay.
Meanwhile, the aam aadmi, the media and BJP need to continue their unstinted support to Kejriwal and make sure that he is safe and protected from grievous harm. The BJP need to use this to their advantage and that will be discussed in another post.
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