Rahul a deliberate politician: Newsweek

A 'clamour' is rising within the Congress party for Rahul Gandhi to assume a leadership role ahead of crucial elections in Uttar Pradesh and most Congressmen believe that he is the key to rescuing the party in the state and bolstering national prospects, a leading US magazine has said.

In a write-up in its New Year issue on Rahul and the daunting challenges that Congress faces, the influential Newsweek magazine says when he steps out into spotlight, he will face huge expectations.

'India's masses of poor and underprivileged are surely ready to give him their good wishes. But their loyalty has
limits. They will want Congress and its members to aggressively pursue policies that reduce India's grinding poverty, a daunting, long-term task, to say the least', it says.

The write-up is part of Newsweek's 'Who's next in 2007' series, which looks at the upcoming personalities in the
world of politics, business, arts, science and education most likely to make impact in 2007.

In this context, it quotes Manvendra Singh, MP of Bharatiya Janta Party as saying Rahul is an amiable person - "But it is unfair to put so much pressure on him to turn around a dead party in Uttar Pradesh."

Rahul, the magazine says, is acutely aware of the privileges and burdens that come with his name. 'Now he will have to commit himself to putting it to work for his party and his country', it adds. 

Describing him as next 'great hope' of the 'dominant' Congress party after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and
Rajiv Gandhi, the magazine says few people enter politics with the advantage of being Rahul Gandhi.

'Scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Rahul, 36, was a handsome, tech-savvy newcomer when he was elected to
Parliament from Uttar Pradesh state in 2004', it adds and says he has so far kept himself busy nurturing his constituency and learning the ropes of parliamentary and party politics, safely away from the media glare.

'But a clamour is rising within the party for him to assume a leadership role ahead of crucial state elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year', it notes.

'A majority of Congress politicians', Newsweek says, are considered 'loyal sycophants', and they believe Rahul is
the key to rescuing the party.

'Rahul Gandhi has many ideas that can serve the country well', it quotes Madhu Goud Yaskhi, a Congress member
of Parliament, as saying. 'He is deeply secular, has clear ideas about education, health care and development and is very down to earth. He should be inducted into the party leadership or government'.

Like other Gandhis before him, Newsweek says, Rahul entered politics to follow a family tradition. Unlike his father, mother and grandmother, Rahul is not a reluctant politician, but a deliberate one, it adds.  

'He is already one of his mother's key advisers and confidants, and managed her landslide victory in a by-election
earlier this year. Sonia would like Rahul to take over a party leadership post, such as head of the youth Congress, but has said publicly that the decision is his to make', it says.  

Rahul, Newsweek says, hasn't yet agreed to take up the Uttar Pradesh campaign, and quotes political analysts as saying his hesitancy is understandable: "Reviving Congress's fortunes in the state would be a tough, maybe even futile job."

Three other caste and religious-based parties are now entrenched in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul doesn't want to get tagged
with a major failure in the early stages of his political career.

Rahul, the magazine says, has long kept a low profile, though it's getting harder to maintain as Congress members
increasingly treat him as a center of power. 

'He grew up in a sterilized security bubble, and seldom strays from it. He rarely speaks to the media. Critics
suggest, perhaps unfairly, that he's little more than a dilettante', the magazine writes.

Despite his pedigree, it says Rahul wants to be a regular guy of sorts. He's a sportsman, is keen on rifle shooting and cricket and has a Spanish girlfriend named Veronique whom he met while studying in England.

'He has shown no visible promise, not even symbolic gestures, of [being] a good leader'.

It faults Congress for failing to 'democratise' its leadership, saying that it 'pathetically clings to the Nehru-Gandhi family'.

He has not made any stirring speeches in Parliament, and his views on big topics like foreign policy, finance and rival Pakistan are not known, the magazine says and quotes him as saying that he'd like to create a 'new brand of politics' in India, which would not divide people on the basis of caste or religion.