On the last day of the Congress party's 3-day Chintan Shivir(Deliberation Camp) in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, from January 18-20, 2013, attended by 400 Congressmen and women from all over India, the long-awaited announcement for the heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi to take over the command of the dynastic party was made. Although the Congress Working Committee put its formal stamp on the elevation of Rahul as the Vice-President-number two in the line-up after the mother Sonia Gandhi as President, it is expected that given her advancing age and health issues, he will call the shots. There was nothing surprising and earth-shaking about the development as he was practically virtually number two even as general secretary-though one of many in the heirarchy. However, the wave of jubilation and bursting of fire-crackers displayed by sycophants, including tearful senior leaders, seemed to suggest as if half the battle of the next general election of 2014 has already been won with the advent of Rahul.
Rahul Gandhi's own acceptance address had a high emotional quotient, devoid of any cohesive, clear vision. Some media comments called it "hollow rhetoric". His startling disclosure that when his mother came to his room in Jaipur after his appointment, she cried, saying "power is a poison"; one must beware of it. It is reported that she also bitterly cried when her husband Rajiv Gandhi was about to assume the office of Prime Minister after the assassination of his mother, Mrs Indira Gandhi, then PM. Mrs Sonia Gandhi clearly did not want him to drink the "poison of power". However, if she genuinely, sincerely believes in the poisonous nature of power, why is she in it for so long? Is she not regarded as India's most powerful woman who wants to perpetuate her hold on it for the dynasty as long as possible? Doesn't she want her son Rahul Gandhi to be the next Prime Minister? What about the perks, privileges and pre-eminent position that power ensures? Are there any indications that she uses the power primarily for empowering the deprived, the dispossessed, the impoverished?
Rahul Gandhi's own acceptance address had a high emotional quotient, devoid of any cohesive, clear vision. Some media comments called it "hollow rhetoric". His startling disclosure that when his mother came to his room in Jaipur after his appointment, she cried, saying "power is a poison"; one must beware of it. It is reported that she also bitterly cried when her husband Rajiv Gandhi was about to assume the office of Prime Minister after the assassination of his mother, Mrs Indira Gandhi, then PM. Mrs Sonia Gandhi clearly did not want him to drink the "poison of power". However, if she genuinely, sincerely believes in the poisonous nature of power, why is she in it for so long? Is she not regarded as India's most powerful woman who wants to perpetuate her hold on it for the dynasty as long as possible? Doesn't she want her son Rahul Gandhi to be the next Prime Minister? What about the perks, privileges and pre-eminent position that power ensures? Are there any indications that she uses the power primarily for empowering the deprived, the dispossessed, the impoverished?
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