Priyanka’s personal prestige and political fate hang in balance in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh

After Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has put her personal prestige at stake in Himachal Pradesh. Would she succeed on 12 December when the state Assembly results would be declared?

Priyanka, informed sources said, is confident of victory and often heard telling the party leaders to give their 100 per cent without bothering too much about the outcome. She leans on Lord Krishna who had said, “The meaning of Karma is in the intention. The intention behind the action is what matters. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.”

Temperamentally, Priyanka is more on uncle Sanjay Gandhi mould with her spontaneity, risk-taking ability and reliance on a core team. Since joining formal politics in 2019, Priyanka has not been shying away from putting her credibility at stake time and again. While major electoral success eludes her, Priyanka continues to generate a lot of interest and support within and outside the Congress Parivar.

Of late, when Sonia Gandhi relinquished her long stint as interim party president and Rahul Gandhi staying focused on Bharat Jodo Yatra, Priyanka has been a central piece in the Congress politics and often seen functioning from 10, Janpath, i.e. whenever she is campaigning in Himachal. Team Priyanka in Himachal consists of virtually who’s who in the hill state. Apart from AICC in charge Rajiv Shukla, Priyanka has been trying to strike a balance among regional satraps such as Mukesh Agnihotri, Pratibha Singh, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and others. She has deftly used some of the ‘star’ campaigners in 68 constituencies of Himachal such as Sachin Pilot, Bhupesh Baghel and AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

Old timers recalled how the year 2019 had, in fact, begun on a promising note for the Congress. It had won Assembly elections held in the previous year in three states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh — giving the party something to cheer about. On 24 January 2019, the Congress had formally inducted Priyanka as an All India Congress Committee general secretary. She was dubbed a “game changer” and a “brahmastra” by her party colleagues and a section of the media.

Congress workers were upbeat. This was the moment they had been waiting for so long. But other forces were at play too. Just as Priyanka was set to hold her first press conference in Lucknow on 14 February, a convoy of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force came under attack in Jammu and Kashmir, leaving over 40 troopers dead.

The response would come on 26 February. The announcement of general elections was on the cards when the Indian Air Force struck deep inside Pakistan, destroying a terrorist camp in Balakot. India had struck back within a fortnight. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen as a man of action who had dared to get even with Pakistan without caring for international opinion or repercussions. The “Ghar mein ghus kar mara” narrative brought a great deal of satisfaction and pride to Indian citizens across the country.

For days, Priyanka struggled to come out and pick up the threads to launch her poll campaign. By the time the 2019 general elections concluded, the Modi-led BJP had won another decisive mandate. The Congress finished with a paltry tally of 52 of the 543 parliamentary seats where elections were held.

Priyanka made three crucial mistakes between March and May 2019, blunders that continue to haunt her for the rest of her political life. One, it was amateurish to have toyed with the idea of contesting against Modi — and then back out the day Modi held a mesmerising show of strength at his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.

The contest did not eventually happen — but the damage was huge. Voters in Uttar Pradesh and the rest of the country were quick to grasp that Indira Gandhi’s granddaughter had chickened out, fearing defeat.

Congress insiders insist that Priyanka was keen to contest from Varanasi but Rahul and Sonia vetoed the idea, saying it would not be prudent to start her political career with a defeat. Apparently, the party’s in-house surveys had shown that Modi was unbeatable in Varanasi and Priyanka deferred to her family’s decision.

Priyanka’s second folly, a mix of inexperience and candour, was to have described the Congress as a “vote katua” in Uttar Pradesh. She told a journalist in the middle of the elections to the 17th Lok Sabha that Congress nominees in the heartland state had been chosen keeping in mind their potential to cut into the BJP’s votes. Even a cursory look at the caste profiles of Congress candidates would have confirmed this — but a public pronouncement, followed by heated TV debates, made Priyanka look like a goofy greenhorn.

Finally, the third and her biggest political mistake was to have accepted the thankless job of AICC general secretary in charge of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The grand old party was short of organisational network, credible leaders and resources — virtually everything in the region. There is a Nigerian proverb that says, “When the mouse laughs at the cat, there’s a hole nearby.” In Priyanka’s eastern Uttar Pradesh story, there was nothing of that sort.

Priyanka repeated the mission Uttar Pradesh in March 2022 when Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls saw her holding 206 public meetings. The Congress finished with just two Assembly seats. Amusingly, throughout the election period, she kept trying to win the minds and hearts of Congress workers — rather than voters.

Another obvious problem with Priyanka is that she has always had too much on her platter. The AICC general secretary is expected to be constantly on a firefighting mission. In Punjab, she was seen as Navjyot Singh Sidhu supporter while in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot is seen as Priyanka’s preferred choice. Priyanka is also expected to be a social media warrior, pro-active on Twitter, and use 24×7 television news to her advantage to take on the combined might of the highly skilled and resourceful BJP.

A cursory look at Priyanka’s life explains why she is considered a harbinger of hope and promise, at least within Congress circles. In 1999, she had on her own demolished Arun Nehru, a close relative and former Congressman turned BJP nominee, who was pitted against the Nehru-Gandhi family retainer, Captain Satish Sharma.

In India’s 76 years since Independence, the Nehru-Gandhis have led the Congress for 59 years. Congressmen of all hues and shades look up to the family as unquestionable leaders and, in return, expect electoral success. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira, Rajiv and Sonia, no member of the Nehru-Gandhi family has failed or abruptly opted out of politics. As a result, Congress leaders blindly follow them and do not wish to look beyond the Gandhis. It is now up to Priyanka Gandhi to deal with this perception — some call it an illusion of grandeur and prove the political instincts of Congress activists right. Would 12 December 2022 be such a day?

The reviewer is a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. A well-known political analyst, he has written several books, including ‘24 Akbar Road’ and ‘Sonia: A Biography’. Views expressed are personal.

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