Can Rahul wake up

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Rising from deep slumber? Well Kumbhakarna did it. And the bumbling giant brought Ravan’s Lanka crumbling down from on high and paved the way for the storied and triumphal return of Rama to Ayodhya…. Don’t you just luuuv that story?

And then there’s the apocryphal tale of Rip van Winkle, of course. Except, by the time he woke up, the world and everything that he had known in it, had changed. Irrevocably. Completely. So too, the Congress party, finally rubbing the sleep out of its eyes… Maybe, just maybe, the party, so long on the wrong side of history is finally waking up to the reality that if it doesn’t get its act together, then that’s where they’ll stay – a forgotten footnote, the party that was.

The time is now. History, is a harsh and unforgiving mistress… and elections, no less remorseless in the manner in which the people cut everyone down to size, be it king or commoner, silver-tongued orator or mumbling stutterer. Need a little bit of luck, don’t you think, when you go back to the people as you make the pitch, a dab of mawkish sentiment, clearly overlaying the promise of the carrot dangled, of sharing riches when your man comes to power.

Although, come to think of it, what the good people of Delhi were thinking when they first let Rajesh Khanna, (recently deceased and surprisingly widely mourned) lose by a thousand odd votes to L K Advani – who subsequently gave up the seat – and then voted him in, the second time in a wave of support, still defeats me.

One covered that campaign out of sheer curiosity. His superstardom coincided with the awkward coming of age teenage years. I wanted to see what the mawkishly sentimental Anand, who irritated me on screen beyond measure but seemed to have everyone else entranced, was like in his political avatar; Only to discover that the man we saw on screen was a complete sham in real life too.

Feet of clay, would be the understatement of the century. Reeking of rank, stale whiskey at noon… Trust the Congress of old to pick ‘em. What could this, celeb – or for that matter any other celeb – possibly have to offer? A smile, a wink, a crinkling of the eyes? That only goes so far! Doesn’t put food on the table, does it? Or jobs, education, healthcare, liveable cities; or meet the aspirations of the young and the restless…

This time, there can be no excuses, no room for mistakes, no candidates that fit the sugar daddy criteria. We all know the cold, hard, brutal truth. Come 2014, with the rise and rise of regional leaders, steadily eating away into once solid Congress fiefdoms, and the patchwork of anti-Congress governments growing ever larger across the electoral landscape, the governing party faces the multiple whammies of double anti-incumbency, charges of paralysis of governance and most damaging of all, corruption. Will it be a wipe-out?

Clearly, the Congress is in need of a brand new strategy, a saviour. Can that man be Rahul Gandhi? Despite the UP and Punjab wipe-outs – and Rahul having the grace to accept responsibility for the defeat - the return to centre-stage of the youthful Gandhi has perceptibly lifted spirits in party circles. Most of the old guard as well as the young who have waited for the political novice to grow into adulthood, repose their faith in the Gandhi tag as the one sure thing that sets them apart from the rest of the crowd, the mantra that can energise the rank and file, mobilize the voter across religion, caste and creed.

The buzz in Delhi is that Rahul is coming in as Vice-President of the all powerful AICC. Others say he could even take over a ministry, possibly rural development. But even before the formal announcement, a string of Congress leaders from this BJP run bastion have already been summoned for consultations. There’s much work to be done in a party, that in Karnataka, more than other state units, has seen stalwarts working at cross-purposes, sniping at each other in an unseemly fight for the upper hand when the need of the hour is not doddering old men afraid to hand over power to the i-pad wielding GenNext but a coming together of all disparate forces.

Then again, fresh legs are one thing, but young minds with fresh ideas willing to take risks and hone savvy strategies are even more central to the cause. The party’s infusion of new blood in the state Youth Congress units, many say, hasn’t had the traction that was expected. One, they could be Khanna-like, all smiles, and little else. And two, today’s young people would rather have jobs than throw everything they’ve earned into the risky political milieu that marks our political environment where back-stabbing rather than support is the name of the game. Can Rahul do what he couldn’t in UP, Uttarakhand or Punjab?

Fact is, despite the deep divisions within the BJP and the rise of a new political leader in the form of former chief minister Sadananda Gowda, who has surprisingly seen not just the Vokkaligas but a rainbow coalition of castes and groups, all non-Lingayat, coalescing behind him after he quit office, the BJP is still no pushover.

Former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is a formidable opponent. He can deliver the consolidated Lingayat vote, that’s some 13 per cent of the total vote share to the BJP, in the blink of an eye. That he has managed to put another Lingayat, notwithstanding the doubts over whether he will be more loyal to him or to his visceral enemy Ananth Kumar, the Congress’ hopes of being able to use the Lingayat card against the BJP has lost its currency.

Unsettlingly, the hitherto surefire Congress vote bank, the minority card of the Muslim vote which can make a difference in over a 100 constituencies state-wide, has been served a body blow after the party’s inability to ensure the victory of Iqbal Saradagi in the elections to the upper house. The JD(S), in contrast put up one Muslim and he won. Hands down.

Making sure that no-one’s missed the point, the savviest politician in the state, former prime minister and chief minister, H D Deve Gowda held a rally where he cherry-picked the Muslim community and paraded them all last weekend. The red faces in the Congress were too many to be counted. The danger of the JD(S) running away with Old Mysore– and by tying up with backward leader Sriramulu, maybe, even bringing in the north – is all too obvious.

Its attempt now to counter the BJP’s clever tapping of caste and class, by having a Lingayat for its CM and a Kuruba as one deputy and a Vokkaliga as another , however much of a lightweight in their own personal capacities, may seem a great strategy.

But a word to the wise, collective leadership sounds fantastic on paper. But can leaders like Parameswar & Co put the greater good of the party above that of the individual? And winning Karnataka isn’t enough. Or it could be the lone Congress redoubt in a sea of unfriendly faces. Karnataka once again, on the opposite side of the divide.