Priyanka jumps to rescue of husband, Congress
Ms Priyanka Vadra's uncharacteristically loud and maudlin defence of her husband has had the limited impact for which it was scripted: It has galvanised, somewhat, her despondent party cadre which had resigned itself to the possibility of a nationwide Congress rout in the ongoing general election. Not only Congress workers at the ground level but also party leaders higher up in the ranks have been excited by Ms Vadra's sudden burst of aggression. Instead of going down without a fight, almost, they have, like drowning men, now clutched at Ms Vadra's every word as if it were the last straw. But the question is: Has this last minute shock treatment come after the patient has already passedIJ Is it a case of too little, too lateIJ Not exactly.
For one, Ms Vadra's verbal assault is hardly ‘little'. In what has perhaps been her most fiery political speech, not just in this election campaign but since she first began canvassing for her mother and brother in 2008, she came out with all guns blazing. Ms Vadra is well within her rights to stand up for her husband, but it would have helped her case enormously if she had some verifiable evidence to back her assertion that the opposition parties have unfairly targeted him to score political points. However, thanks to the Congress's surreptitious efforts to shield its party president's son-in-law and stonewall any investigation into his dubious land dealings, the allegations against Mr Robert Vadra have not been seriously pursued. Nevertheless, what Ms Vadra lacked in facts and figures, she made up with emotions. She told her audience in Rae Bareily, her mother's constituency, how her husband had been hounded by the Opposition for the past two years, how she struggles everyday to explain the public criticism to her children, and how she knows that they will all emerge from the crisis as a stronger unit. And just in case this carefully crafted image of the wronged family was not enough to evoke public sympathy, Ms Vadra laced her speech with a liberal dosage of Nehru-Gandhi nostalgia. She invoked Indira Gandhi and claimed that she had been inspired by her grandmother to face adversity with courage. While it is laudable that Ms Vadra has learnt such valuable life-lessons, her efforts to compare the challenges that Indira Gandhi faced with the charges of questionable land deals Mr Vadra is battling, are hilarious, to say the least.
The other issue about Ms Vadra's speech is timing. Half the voting process is already over and critics have wondered, rightly so, if her belligerence can have a lasting impact — either with the voters or the party cadre. While one may speculate endlessly in this regard, the fact is that in the larger picture, Ms Vadra's defence of her husband, no matter how emotive and strategically delivered, has little meaning. Yes, it can be seen as part of the Congress's efforts to fight the corruption taint, but, overall, the allegations against Mr Vadra make for just one of the many issues troubling the Congress. The party still has no defence for the multi-crore corruption scams that have tumbled out of the UPA's closet in recent years. It also has no response to the criticisms of poor governance and failing economic performance that are the talking points in this election.