The Congress could learn a few things from the Indian cricket team.
Two young Indian men are on a unique journey. Rahul Gandhi, 37 year old MP from Amethi and bearer of India's most important political surname has just... Read The Article
SADLY RAHUL GANDHI HAS BEEN A VERY BIG LET DOWN. PLEASE FORGIVE FOR THE QUESTION-HAS RAHUL GANDHI GOT WHAT IT TAKES- TO BE CAPTAIN OF INDIA UNITED TEAM??
( Posted: Tuesday , March 18, 2008 at 20:29 )
David
I feel .. The comaprison just dont is equal. We have to copmare two people who are similar in something!!
Are we trying to say that Indian politics is after all just a game!!
Cheers
( Posted: Tuesday , March 18, 2008 at 16:11 )
shankar
Agreed. 'Gandhi' is the most important political surname of India. It carries the load of dynasty of legendaries. Think of the poor chap Rahul, who is reminded every morning that he is 'Gandhi, He got to do something...got to prove himself....got to live up to the name 'Gandhi'. This is indeed not an easy task to accomplish. On the contrary Mahi does not have any pedigree....achievement is his so is failure. In short it is not right to compare the two.
( Posted: Tuesday , March 18, 2008 at 11:56 )
DR VK BANSAL
"congress could learn from indian cricket team.." but sagarika- gutterbrand politicians cannot be roses!! its upto the generation next of INDIA to be one INDIA UNITED TEAM PLAYING FAIR WITH FELLOW INDIANS AND THEN BEATING THE HELL OUT OF FOUL MOUTH OPPONENTS OF INDIA..BUT LEVEL PLAYING FIELDS FIRST IN INDIA SHINNING.
( Posted: Tuesday , March 18, 2008 at 03:43 )
Kumar
One more area to the ones already listed by Ashish Nandy are reformers - Mahatma Gandhi and social reformers such as Raja Ramamohan Roy - who have helped abolish colonization and child marriages / re-marraiges of young widows. They have all come òrdinary'homes and have felt the pain of the society as ther own and fought to change the status quo.
( Posted: Monday , March 17, 2008 at 19:40 )
basker
Rahul and Dhoni are not equals. Dhoni has come up because of sheer merit and Rahul simply placed there due to his birth. Dhoni is shrewd and has proved that he is a real leader. Rahul is a pampered leader surrounded by innumerable chamchas licking his boot. He has lot to prove. Please donot degrade Dhoni by comparing him with Rahul.
( Posted: Monday , March 17, 2008 at 13:17 )
himanshu
Another thought provoking and debate inspriing article Sagarika, well done! However, I would agree more with Badrinatha Tripathy than you on this. Politics, unlike any other field does not require so much talent than charisma, and rahul baba has lots of it. However, what he does not have is a true udnerstanding of "aam admi". His party is doing tiself more harm than good by trying to portray itself as a "maseeha" of aam admi. Having said that, I also don't agree with you that if rahul had done a five year long padyatrya, he would have been better off. What he really needs is a tactician (someone like a pramod mahajan) who understands politics and knows how to utilise his charisma to turn around a party's fortune. Unfortuantely congress is so plagued by psychophancy that it belives it is very much popular among the public, while the truth is exactly the opposite. With the current crop of leaders, it is hard to imagine if this will change in near future. Probably a string of electoral defeats may help, wake the party up.
( Posted: Monday , March 17, 2008 at 10:11 )
Sourav Chatterjee
Cannot agree more with you. Indian cricket also, was once plagued with this syndrome of dynasties.Next came the dominance of big city kids. Finally,the cricket team has broken this jinx too.
In politics too,we are much better off than we were 50 years ago.Especially in the Hindi heartland,we have seen people rise from the bottom rung of the society to the top political position. The Congress party chief seems to be the only place where we cannot rise above dynastic politics.And this is extremely unfortunate for a country like India.
( Posted: Monday , March 17, 2008 at 07:59 )
Bhavana
Sagarika, Excellent article! I must confess that I have often felt your other works of writing reveal your personal biases (and in some cases strong prejudices) but this writing presents a very reasonable and balanced perspective. And the beauty is that it presents a different perspective of not just the central subject (Rahul Gandhi & congress) but also of the phenomenon that is "new-age India"! Good work!
( Posted: Monday , March 17, 2008 at 06:56 )
Abhijeet Nnady
I beg to differ, Sagarika. Just like in Bollywood, people decide success of a politician. If people don't like a Gandhi and dont vote for him/her, the Congress wont support such a political heir. The party might take time to reject the heir but it will eventually happen. Politicians will start fleeing the party and thus loyalists will have no option but to look for a better alternative. Case in Point, Narsimha Rao. Had he led the party with a better vision and with integrity, Sonia Gandhi would have found terribly difficult to gain stature in the party. If Rahul fails too many times, like the Gujrat and U.P.elections, Congress will start demanding for Priyanka. If she too fails, they will have no choice but look for a rightful heir. Isn't that similar to the film industry. How many times did Eshaa Deol have to fail before she stopped getting movies? Quite a few I say.
Same holds true for Rahul...lets not call him Baba, it reminds me of Sanju Baba!
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