We Are Family

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsDelhi is a city of name-droppers. Everyone 'knows' or needs to know someone- from school admissions, to driving licenses, to walking your dog in the park, nothing can be done without being able to drop a name, preferably at least two.

So it really should come as no surprise that our budding leader Rahul does some name-dropping too. It's not enough to simply have the power surname (ask any descendent of the Mahatma and you know that's true).

It's also an old family tradition - father Rajiv frequently referred to his mother Indira in speeches (remember the 'giant tree' reference), and sometimes even remembered (or was that reminded everyone of their Naani, I forget). It's the name, not whether you jeetenge or loosenge, that counts in the end.

Sonia Gandhi began her memorable foray into Indian politics in 1995 with her speech about her husband. 'Aap meri vedna samaajhte honge- ki mere pati ke marne ke chaar saal baad unke kaatil abhi zinda hain'. (You will understand my pain that 4 years after my husbands' death, his killers are still alive), she said in Amethi. Had the Gandhis, not the Congress party been in power the killers would have been found and dealt with, presumably (this was way before Sonia asked for clemency for one of them in 2000).

It's the general drift that Rahul gets. Ipso Facto, says the purely logical prodigal: if the Gandhis, not the Congress party had been in power in 1992, the Babri Masjid would not have fallen. We have, as proof of that, his memory of a conversation that if the structure was in danger of falling, Dad had told Mom of his plan B to save it.

You may say he's silly- but I think he's kind of smart- Rahul actually understands that the reason his family finds itself back in power every few years or so- is not so much its own popularity- but because the spectre of that other great family of our nation, the Sangh parivaar (also known to Rahul as the 'BJP logon') that frightens so many.

And true to expectation- BJP leaders - clearly missing all the ironies and inconsistencies of Rahul's statement- the fact that Rajiv Gandhi had himself ordered the re-opening of the Babri Majid for a Shilanyaas, also that it is unlikely he had such a rhetorical conversation with Sonia in his lifetime that ended more than 18 months before the Demolition.

Instead of saying the statement is anti-logic, the BJP's spokesperson VK Malhotra says Rahul's statement is Anti-Hindu. "We are shocked to see how this young man and his party can stoop so low to please Muslims that they can go all out to insult sentiments of the Hindu community," he ends. Yet another twist in the many turns the BJP's stand on the subject has taken, including Vajpayee's own shame and horror in parliament the day after the demolition fifteen years ago.

P.S.Maybe Chachoo Sanjay had some idea of what this country needed after all- 'Family' planning. The political kind, though.

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About the AuthorSuhasini Haidar Suhasini Haidar is Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu. Earlier, she was a senior editor and prime time anchor for India's leading 24-hour English news chann...Read Morefirst published:March 24, 2007, 20:10 ISTlast updated:March 24, 2007, 20:10 IST
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