William Shakespeare did not write Romeo and Juliet with the politics of India in mind. Else the love-struck Juliet would not have said: “What's in a nameIJ That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
” The office of the Prime Minister does not smell as sweet with Manmohan Singh at the helm as it did when Atal Bihari Vajpayee occupied it, or even when Indira Gandhi ruled, or when the rose-loving Jawaharlal Nehru lorded over the post.
There is everything in a name, with due apologies to the beautiful Juliet and the Bard of Avon. A Rahul minus the Gandhi name could not have called the shots in a party spilling over with seniors having decades of experience, or be spoken of as the best candidate for prime ministership in a party which is more than a century old. He has never held a position of consequence in his life; at least his father was a pilot. A Robert Vadra minus Priyanka Gandhi would have been one more fitness freak and a shady real estate businessman who would have been hounded to the ends of the street by a slew of authorities. The various babalogs the Congress is packed with thrive on their family name. What would a Jyotiraditya have been without Madhavrao Scindia, or a Sachin without Rajesh Pilot, or a Milind without Murli DeoraIJ This is not a judgement on their performance, but just an observation that name matters in the politics of India; it gives one privileged access to the highest levels that thousands of more dedicated and capable party leaders cannot aspire to reach.
The rise of the ‘name' class is true not just of the Congress but others too, except that the grand old party has far too many of these members and has especially indulged them. However, there is a flip side to the issue: Name matters not just by way of family but by performance too. Shivraj Singh Chouhan doesn't come from a political family nor did he get privileged entry to the Bharatiya Janata Party's highest forums. He worked at the grassroots and rose to become the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. From all accounts, he will steer the party to yet another term in office in the coming State election. The same is true of Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh. Their names matter because they are performers, not because they are the privileged.
One can argue that Vasundhara Raje, who is tipped to displace Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan and head a BJP Government, rose within the ranks of the party because she belonged to the Scindia family, the most illustrious member of which was senior Jan Sangh leader, ‘Rajmata' Vijaya Raje Scindia. Vasundhara's entry and rise in politics can to some extent be attributed to family connection, but remember, unlike the Nehru-Gandhis, the former royalty does not rule (pardon the pun) over the party — not even at the State level. Her political roots are as deep as that of an ordinary worker who has toiled for decades and knows his area of work like the back of his hand.
But all this is old hat, so why are we talking about it todayIJ Because, as the country awaits elections to four major States in the coming few months and the lok Sabha election thereafter, it's become even more evident why Juliet was wrong. (We must not be too harsh on her, though. People bitten by the love bug are given to making silly remarks and doing even sillier things.) Because name matters, Narendra Modi is important and the BJP with him as the prime ministerial choice has developed a clear and present advantage (as various public surveys are showing) over the Congress. Because name matters, Congressmen are goading a reluctant Rahul Gandhi to take on Modi. Because name matters, the Congress is seeking to pit Jyotiraditya Scindia against Chouhan. Finally, because name matters, the Congress is at a loss in Chhattisgarh because it has no name — Ajit Jogi is too crafty to be fully trusted and a few other potential candidates were unfortunately eliminated in a Maoist attack a few months ago.
The BJP knows that it has got the name-and-face strategy right for the prime ministerial post and for the leadership of States that will see Assembly elections in the coming months before the year-end. There is one State, though, where it has yet not succeeded: Delhi. There's everything in a name here too, and the Congress has Sheila Dikshit to exploit it. She too comes from a political family but is unique in that she has over the years since becoming the Chief Minister in 1998 strengthened her hold to a level where she is not dependent on the Nehru-Gandhis for political survival. Remember the aftermath of the last Assembly election when the party High Command took days to decide on a candidate for the chief ministershipIJ Her detractors did just about everything to ensure that she did not return at the helm, and some of those detractors had the eyes and ears of the High Command. But the Nehru-Gandhi leadership simply could not ignore her.
She has also flourished because the BJP has not been able to project a credible alternative in the State. The names that are floating today simply don't seem to catch the imagination of the voters — including those who wish to see the end of the Congress regime in the State. It does not mean that these local BJP leaders, who are informally considered potential chief ministerial candidates, have not performed well. It's just that name matters, and their names do not seem to have the kind of gravity which is needed to elevate the party to a position of power.
There is still time, though time is running out. Modi is scheduled to address a rally in Delhi in a week's period, and the party is pulling out all stops to make it a mega success. How nice it would be if the BJP had a face and a name to present before the voters then.
Various recent surveys commissioned by media groups have shown that the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress in Delhi is set to lose a significant number of seats but that the BJP is not going to be a beneficiary to the extent it ought to have been. Assuming that the survey results reflect the ground reality, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party is set to eat into the non-Congress votes that would have come to the principal Opposition. One reason for that: The AAP has a name and a face in Arvind Kejriwal — and his name matters. If the BJP projects a strong chief ministerial candidate (and not necessarily from among the bunch of known hopefuls) before the people in Delhi soon, the change would be electric for the party and the AAP could find itself edged out in a contest between two strong public figures.