My brother Rahul,
You may not know but my sister is a great fan of yours! To me, you are my brother by virtue of being Rajiv uncle’s son. And, therefore, both of us – like millions all across the country, and the world – wish a lot for you! And, expect a lot from you – and rightly so.
Thus, when my sister made a comment on my previous piece “Why is India incredibly helpless, always?” on the recent Bombay serial blasts and in reference to your reaction in same regard that “Rahul should know better what that 1% failure of the government means in tackling terrorism as he has himself suffered a lot because of this 1% lapse in security by losing his father”, I thought you must pay attention to her and amend the things required to be at your end at the earliest.
Rahul, you are destined to become the next prime minister of the country if the Congress / UPA manages to retain power at the Center, which it will in all likelihood. And prime ministership, as you too know well – is not a position; it is a responsibility – lots of that, in fact! Those monumental responsibilities – coupled with accountability – will be towards the country and its citizens and also towards your own party and coalition. As you know, Prime Minister is The Leader of a country, and the “buck stops with him/her”.
Now, Rahul, imagine that you have become the prime minister and are faced with a similar – may be worse – situation of terror attacks on India. (No one believes that 13/7 was the last in sequence of attempts of terrorists.) Even then will you try to defend intelligence failure by making such remarks? And will that not amount to admitting the failure of your government in utilizing the mammoth infrastructure built to deal with all such eventualities? Moreover, do you believe that only admittance will suffice and exonerate you of your accountability towards maintaining peace and security in the nation? And, will the world not wonder at you and your government’s credibility to govern?
On the contrary, Rahul, I am sure that you will beforehand itself ensure that an effective anti-terror mechanism is functional and India is safe and secure and peaceful. Because, you very well realize that tackling terror is a “zero-error” and zero-tolerance” business.
So, Rahul, would you now care to “clarify” your statement in the press and let people know that you did not mean to disrespect the victims and their families and certainly did not try to defend the indefensible intelligence and administrative failure of the government in preventing the always-anticipated terror attacks?... Do it; you will benefit immensely in the long run by regaining whatever respect you have lost in public eyes, and hearts.
Rahul, as I said, India has lot of expectations from you – and rightly so. You have the fortune of inheriting the political gene pool of Nehru-Gandhi families and are all set to become the next prime minister of the country, as important in the global arena as India. But for this almost certain dream to come true, you will have to demonstrate to the nation and the world that you truly deserve the top post. Not that you have not already done so; however, you need to do more – much more.
You should start, Rahul, by strengthening Congress’ foundation in the political field and regaining its national party identity. Congress’ national base has got eroded badly. Reclaiming it would be a huge challenge. To make it happen you have to have dedicated politicians with high degree of integrity and support at state headquarters who would in turn work at the grassroots level and organize the party and make it strong enough to stand – and win – on its own. Congress cannot claim to be a national party by walking on coalition crutches – and being in coalition clutches, therefore! “Coalition compulsions” will otherwise keep pulling down the Congress and it will never be able to reclaim its foothold in the national political landscape.
Rahul, for this huge task, you need credible and able people – politicians. Politicians who are young, educated, clean, and have a dream and ambition for India – and not for their own self. As you too know, India is at the cusp of great things in the world. Being touted as one of the major powers of the world is a great responsibility as well as we will be required to live upto that image. By being seen as an utterly corrupt and chaotic country, a country which lacks courage to defend itself is going to be hugely detrimental in the progress of our country, both economically and politically. India will never be regarded as a “developed” and powerful nation – forget about the global leadership role that it envisages for itself - in the foreseeable future and that would be a big setback to all our global aspirations.
At the micro-level, Rahul, i.e., at the public level, the single most important expectation from any government at the helm is good governance. A government which is capable of delivering on its promises and needs of the people and society. A government which is courageous enough to maintain country’s dignity and security amidst growing fundamentalism and extremism. A government which will reverse India’s impression of being a “soft target” and will showcase to the evil elements that India will not tolerate any breach in its safety, security and peace and will not suffer losing even a single life to terrorism. A government which will exhibit “zero-tolerance” towards sinister plans of terror forces and will ensure a “zero-error” anti-terror mechanism to prevent even that 1% attack chance.
Rahul, I don’t have to tell you the obvious things that you are in a position even without being the prime minister today to actualize all the necessary things – for the Congress and the country, and in the process, enhance you worthiness as the future prime ministerial candidate of the country.
India is a young country and a young prime minister like you, Rahul, will do wonders, about which I do not have even 1% doubt! But you need to prepare yourself, sincerely and seriously…Rajiv uncle, and Sonia aunty & Priyanka, of course, besides my sister and I would be very proud of you J
