The Priyanka Papers

CAN PRIYANKA GANDHI Vadra save Congress? Hope springs eternal among the Congress faithful. She does look like Indira Gandhi, say party loyalists. What else? She has charisma, an easy way with people, they add.

Party loyalists strain to find more. What about Priyanka’s electoral record? She won the Wayanad bypoll by a land­slide. Congress chose Wayanad for her because, according to Census 2011, 49.99 per cent of the constituency’s voters are Muslims (28.65 per cent) and Christians (21.34 per cent).

CPM, a longtime ally of Congress, said bluntly that Priyanka’s victory in the Wayanad bypoll was due to a “communal Muslim alliance”. Its politburo member A Vijayaraghavan declared at a par­ty district conference in Wayanad on December 21: “Two persons have gone from Wayanad [Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi]. With whose support? With the strong support of the communal Muslim alliance. Who were in the front and back rows of the processions of Priyanka Gandhi? The worst extremist elements in the minorities were in them. They were with the Congress leadership.’’

Priyanka’s debut speech in Lok Sabha during the Constitution debate may have been underwhelming but she showed no signs of nervousness. For a debutant, that was impressive. The content of the speech wasn’t.

Here’s what Priyanka said: “Today, people of the country are demanding that there be a caste census. The caste census is essential so that we know the condition of everyone and policies can be made accordingly.”

It was disappointing to hear a 52-year-old leader use the discredited political weapon of a national caste census. The idea was first mooted under the Morarji Desai government in 1979 when Priyanka was seven years old. The Mandal Commission was set up on January 1, 1979. It submitted its report on December 31, 1980.

Priyanka’s grandmother Indira Gandhi wisely ignored the Mandal Commission’s recommendations. Priyanka’s father Rajiv equally wisely also ignored the commission’s findings when he became prime minister.

It was left to VP Singh to dredge up the Mandal Commission report a decade later when he was briefly prime minister. In his 11 months as prime minister in 1989-90, VP Singh weaponised the Mandal Commission in a way that, 35 years later, it remains the principal cause of caste divisions in society.

Rahul and Priyanka have shown none of their father Rajiv’s or grandmother Indira’s wisdom. Instead, they have emulated VP Singh’s use of caste as a political weapon, dividing Indian society further. If she were a true progressive, Priyanka would have counselled brother Rahul on the dam­age a national caste census could do to India’s social fabric.

Priyanka’s speech contained other regressive ideas. She said: “Lateral entry and privatisation were working to weaken the reservation policy.”

This is an argument against injecting merit into an inert bureaucracy. Her father Rajiv inducted in his Cabinet professionals from out­side politics and the civil service. The idea was progressive though the re­sults were mixed. But this was 40 years ago. Handled well, lateral inductees today is the way forward. Two Union ministers, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and IT and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, both lat­eral inductees, demonstrate how a structured policy can bring profession­alism and efficiency into government.

Apart from advocating regressive ideas like a national caste census and stopping lateral entry, Priyanka has a poor electoral record. Rahul put her in charge of the Congress campaign in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly election. She contrived to reduce the Congress vote share from 6.25 per cent in 2017 to 2.33 per cent in 2022.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it was the Samajwadi Party, helped by infighting within BJP, that caused BJP’s tally to nearly halve from 62 seats in 2019 to 33 seats in 2024. Despite a weak BJP performance, and seat sharing with the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, Congress couldn’t capitalise. Its Lok Sabha vote share in UP rose marginally from 6.36 per cent to 9.46 per cent.

The most feudal factor in Priyanka’s entry into Lok Sabha, however, is that it normalises the idea of political dynasty. Instead of widening the choice of Congress can­didates available to serve Wayanad’s 8,17,420 people, it re­stricts that choice to one family. First Rahul, now Priyanka.

Politics is not business, films or the professions. It has an obligation in a democracy to promote choice and merit. Rahul’s poor development record in Amethi and Wayanad and Priyanka’s unsuccessful campaign record in UP demonstrate why the two siblings represent entitlement, not meritocracy.

caste censusCongressdynastic politicsIndian ParliamentIndian politicsPriyanka GandhiRahul Gandhi