The Reluctant Politician

Much has been said about Raajneeti and how it is comparable to the Mahabharata and the Godfather; the performances, the dialogues and the screenplay have all been critically reviewed. But what stayed with me was how Ranbir’s character Samar Pratap Singh, the reluctant politician, actually becomes the kingmaker.

I can’t but think of the parallels with the Gandhi family, first Rajiv Gandhi and then more specifically Sonia Gandhi, who stayed away from the limelight for years. I have asked myself many a time, what finally made Sonia Gandhi take the plunge into mainstream politics?

For years, the Italian wife remained in the shadows of Rajiv Gandhi, a commercial pilot by profession, who reluctantly joined politics after younger brother Sanjay Gandhi’s death and was propelled into the forefront after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, Sonia’s decision to stay away from politics in an attempt to protect her children Rahul and Priyanka was understandable. Honestly, Sonia, the Italian widow didn’t quite seem to fit the image of a politician ready to take on the reigns of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

What came as a shocker for most of us was her decision to assume the controls of the Congress party in 1998. Sonia was constantly criticized by the opposition for being Italian-born, of speaking Hindi with a foreign accent and having nothing but the Gandhi name going for her. And yet, she steered the Congress-led UPA to a thumping victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

For a moment, it seemed that Sonia too had been seduced by the lure of power to move out of the shadow and step onto the political front. And yet again, despite being unanimously voted to lead the government, she unexpectedly declined the post of Prime Minister. On the eve of the inauguration, amidst intense insistence and persuasion, she said, “I request you to accept my decision and to recognize that I will not reverse it…. It is my inner voice, my conscience.”

What then was the motivation for someone like Sonia Gandhi, who by default had become intrinsically linked to politics, to take on such a daunting task of leading a party that was on such shaky ground?

In a country where everything is politicized, whether it is the Naxal attack or the Bhopal tragedy verdict, I wonder where she fits in. Ranbir in one of the final scenes in Raajneeti says that he always wanted to stay away from politics because it brought out the worst in someone, making them manipulative and scheming. Ranbir, the shrewd Arjun in Raajneeti, plots and plans till he avenges his father’s death. In the great Mahabharata of Indian politics, which character is Sonia Gandhi?

Source: http://in.yfittopostblog.com/2010/06/09/the-reluctant-politician/