Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi touches the emotional chord in the 'Obama Moment' in his speech at the Chintan Shivir at Jaipur
25/01/2013
Newly-appointed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi gave an emotionally-charged speech at the Birla auditorium, Jaipur while addressing the All India Congress Committee session on the last day of the ‘Chintan Shivir’. Congress vice president touched an emotional chord among many with references to his mother, party chief Sonia Gandhi, and his father and grandmother, and his frank critique of the party's functioning and of the ills of the "system". In an emotional speech in Jaipur, Rahul Gandhi said: "The Congress party is my life. The people of India are now my life. And I will fight for the people of India and for this party." The 1,200 strong gathering of Congress leaders and activists at the Birla Auditorium in Jaipur erupted in hurrahs and some leaders were seen wiping away tears after Rahul Gandhi's speech. "As a boy I loved to play badminton because it gave me balance in a complicated world. I was taught by two policemen who protected my grandmother and were my friends. They killed my grandmother and took away the balance in my life... I felt pain like I had never felt before. My father was in Bengal and he came back. The hospital was dark, green and dirty. There was a huge screaming crowd outside as I entered. It was the first time in my life that I saw my father crying. He was the bravest person I knew and yet I saw him cry. I could see that he too was broken… In the evening I saw my father address the nation. He was terrified of what lay ahead of him. But I saw a glimmer of hope. That hope has brought India where it is today." As a message, the speech invoked two points, one about voice and subaltern politics, and the other, about ambiguities of governance. The linking metaphor was one of the families. Rahul invoked the family at three levels. He talked of his mother, the Nehru- Gandhi family, and Congress party as the largest family in India. Congress, he claimed magisterially, was the party that listened to voice. "Everybody told us that it cannot be done. Everybody told us that if you want to get rid of the British you have to use violence. And the Congress Party said no, we are not going to use violence. We are going to use non-violence. And we defeated the biggest empire of its time and we sent them home. This was energy behind of Freedom Movement. Voices. Millions and millions of our voices…" Some excerpts from the speech - "But there are many challenges ahead. The voices of a billion Indians are today telling us that they want a greater say in government, in politics and in administration. They are telling us that the course of their lives cannot be decided by a handful of people behind closed doors who are not fully accountable to them. They are telling us that India’s governmental system is stuck in the past. It has become a system that robs people of their voice, a system that disempowers instead of empowering… Why does this happen? It happens because we don’t respect knowledge. We respect position. And it does not matter how much wisdom you have, if you do not have a position, you mean nothing. This is the tragedy of India... Until we start to respect and empower people for their knowledge and understanding, we can’t change anything in this country." "And every single day all of us are faced with the hypocrisy of this system. We all see it. And then we pretend that it is not there. People who are corrupt stand up and talk about eradicating corruption; and then people who disrespect women everyday of their lives talk about women rights." "The answer is not in running these systems better. The answer is to completely transforming these systems…Yet, I am optimistic… I am most optimistic and excited because I see the energy, the passion and capability of our youth." "Last night everyone congratulated me. Many of you came and hugged me and congratulated me. Everybody congratulated me. But last night my mother came to my room and she sat with me and she cried. Why did she cry? She cried because she understands that the power so many seek is actually a poison. She can see it because of what it does to the people around her and the people they love. But most importantly she can see it because she is not attached to it. The only antidote to this poison is for all of us to see it for what it really is and not become attached to it. We should not chase power for the attributes of power. We should only use it to empower the voiceless." "I’d like to end again by saying that for me the Congress Party is now my life. The people of India are my life. And I will fight for the people of India and for this Party. I will fight with everything I have. And I invite all of you to stand up and take on this fight." Rahul Gandhi’s speech is source of celebration at least within Congress. A Congress which was in suspended animation between Manmohan's reticence and Sonia's illness suddenly felt a surge towards the future. There is a sense that Congress has consolidated itself around a future leader. The future can now be seen as battle between Rahul and Modi. While dynastic succession as a ritual was clear, Rahul's speech was the subject of mixed responses.