· Serohi Rattan

RAHUL:: IMPRESSION -- TO -- DEPRESSION

RATTAN S. SEROHI

FREELANCE POLITICAL ANALYST & ACTIVIST

Rahhul Gandhi (not related to independence leader Mohandas Gandhi) self styled political heir to Nehru-Gandhi dynasty suffers a blow with party's defeat in Uttar Pradesh and three other states.

Congress Political Party grabbed the background of Indian National Flag for their party symbol. It is beyond logical imagination that one political party is permitted to use the national flag as the background of their party symbol, while other are forced to choose Lotus, Elephant, Cycle……etc. Main opposition political party slept over the issue all these years and failed to raise this issue which gave eye catching symbol advantage to the Congress Political Party. Than one family grabs the Surname of the ‘Father of the Nation’ GANDHI, getting the benefit of psychological benefit, in the minds of emotional Indian voters. The family name ‘Nehru’, ‘Khan’ (Smt. indira Gandhi's husband's name was Feroz Khan) etc are all lost in wilderness. Even during the recent election campaign Priyanka Vadra was called as Priyanka Gandhi, most of the time, to play on the sentiments of the voters.

Rahul Gandhi, a parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh, is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has dominated Indian politics since independence from Britain in 1947. His mother is Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born Congress party president; his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated in 1991. Though congress highlights Mr.Rahul Gandhi, as their future prime minister candidate, the influence he could make on the common man of India is questionable. People are not confident or rather don’t consider Rahul as a strong leader who can lead India. Also a large percentage of people believe that congress party is concentrated on Gandhi family and the family politics controls the congress party. Recent elections in five states of India gave a stunning blow to Rahul Gandhi who had staked his political future on reviving his party's fortunes especially in the populous and politically important northern state. India's governing Congress party was badly beaten in a key state election Tuesday, a sharp rebuke that could cripple the already embattled national government over the final two years of its term. The results in Uttar Pradesh, where Congress leaders had hoped to triple their seat count, are a blow to Gandhi's aspirations to be taken seriously as a national leader. The poor results forced Rahul to face press with the statement that "I stood in front, so it is my responsibility". Rahul admitted defeat.