Commentary/ Venu Menon

The Congress needs to do more than put up a Barbie doll candidate

Sonia Gandhi's formal entry into the Congress, symbolising her plunge into party politics after an era of simulated aloofness is peculiarly anti-climatic. The lady had kept the nation guessing so long about her real intentions that when she finally did declare them, the effect was less than cathartic. She seemed suddenly to be totally miscast in the role scripted for her by self-serving Congressmen.

The truth is, Sonia derives her mystique from being Rajiv Gandhi's widow and not his political heir, a distinction that is lost on the ambitious coterie propping her up to advance its own cause and firm up the sagging political fortunes of the party.

Sonia has not progressed much since the loaded speech she delivered at Amethi some time ago in which she lamented the slow pace of the probe into her husband's killing. That five-minute oration, which projected her as the flame-keeper of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, amounted to a gawky attempt to parade her credentials and qualify herself for big-league politics. From that instant, the mystique started to fade.

Sonia emerged in the stark contours of daylight for what she essentially is -- an Italian woman staking her claim to a pre-eminent role in Indian politics. The foreigner was invoking the authority and sanctity of her marriage to an Indian to legitimise her political ambitions.

So long as she remained in the background as the former prime minister's widow with a marked distaste for the rough and tumble of politics, Sonia enjoyed a certain relevance, even power, within the Congress. A subtle quality worked in her favour: her aloofness from politics invested her with political importance.

The 'Amethi declaration' and now her primary membership of the party have changed all that. By intent or effect, Sonia has now positioned herself as a contender in the leadership stakes. The role scripted for her by desperate Congressmen bent on saving their party from oblivion has left her more vulnerable than before. Sonia is a sitting target for the forces of Hindu nationalism.

The BJP will prey with relish on her foreign origins. She will be prime fodder in its campaign to woo the amorphous Hindu constituency that has sprung up in the wake of the temple movement, especially now that the rath is poised to be wheeled out. She will be projected as antithetical to Indian nationalism.

There are other handicaps. Sonia Gandhi is untested before the electorate. Her main selling point -- her link to the Nehru-Gandhi family-may count in the family's pocket borough of Amethi but not in the perceptions of the larger polity. No one can be sure how the dalits or Muslims perceive her. If the Congress seeks to regain these lost constituencies it will need to do more than put up a Barbie doll candidate.

Stepping out of the shadow has other implications for Sonia. She has lost her neutrality in the faction-ridden interior landscape of the Congress. The coming months will witness an intensification of the power struggle within the party.

What kind of a challenge does Sonia Gandhi pose to Sitaram Kesri? He has the advantage of office on his side. Kesri can take a leaf off the survival manual of Narasimha Rao who proved his ability to use the party constitution to secure his position and checkmate his opponents. There is no reason for him to be unnerved by Sonia's absorption into the party. Leverage rather than righteousness of purpose will serve as his best weapon.

Bofors has not lost its potential to embarrass the occupant of 10 Janpath. The CBI investigation has been at the core of speculation as one of the reasons for Sonia's abrupt entry into the party, though the Congress is not exactly a safe haven for those on the run from the law.

Still, if Sonia covets the party presidency then Kesri must be wary of attempts to mobilise grassroots sentiment among party workers. Sonia could succeed where onetime high-profile descendants like Arjun Singh had failed.

But she will need more than mere nostalgia for Rajiv Gandhi to enthuse party workers. She will need to go beyond being simply a prop to his memory and display leadership capacity in her own right. She cannot allow herself to become an instrument in the hands of a coterie.

If the BJP is getting ready to roll out the rath, the Congress is preparing to unfurl its own totems. Sonia Gandhi derives her relevance among Congressmen from her status as a totem. A totem is sustained by myth and sentiment and superimposes its presence on the surrounding landscape. It is solitary and insular even as it has the power to draw others to itself. By definition, a token stands above the rough and tumble.

Sonia's entry into active politics diminishes her utility as a totem. Politics is the demystification of myth. As a full-fledged Congresswoman, Sonia has set in motion a process of erosion of the mystique that once surrounded her. Now she will be judged on her ability to play the one-upmanship games that Congressmen play. The Congress leaders who venerated her in public as the custodian of the Rajiv legacy must now see her as a contender for the party leadership.

For Rajiv's widow, this symbolises the end of a glorious reign of silence. It may be difficult in future for Sonia to wield the sort of influence she has commanded till now. The myth has come face to face with hard reality. The invocation of Rajiv itself has a element of historical naivete. During his tenure he frittered away the mandate that followed his mother's assassination, a mandate that was restored partially and posthumously through a sympathy wave that followed his own murder.

Whether the Rajiv mystique still works on the voter is a moot question. And Sonia as an embodiment of that mystique may be a political fallacy nurtured by desperate Congressmen in the grip of doomsday hysteria.

Tell us what you think of this column