TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
Having experimented with different forms of public oration and different modes of public communication ranging from dramatic narration about a slum woman called “Kalavati” to celluloid enactment of the intention to “tear the Criminal law Ordinance and throw it into dustbin”, Rahul Gandhi now seems to be trying to connect with his audience through the medium of grandmother tales and seeking dividends in the name of Indira Gandhi, contemporary India’s most celebrated woman, who happened to be his grandmother.
Conjuring up the charisma of Indira Gandhi and demonstratively asserting his famous family lineage through repeated references to “Daadi”, Rahul recently chose the occasion to recall how, when he was a child, his grandmother used to narrate to him the stories of her visits abroad and he went on to narrate one such story of his grandmother’s visit to Germany during the Hitler era. It is a different question, however, to what extent the young audience addressed by Rahul was aware of Hitler or Hitler’s Germany.
The adage goes that one of the greatest liabilities for any mortal being is to be born to great parents. Certainly, Rahul is visibly under pressure to live upto the heritage of his Nehru-Gandhi lineage but while overdoing his act, he forgets that some of his family icons like his grandmother and more so, his great grandfather have been role models for as many as three generations of post-independence Indians, many of whom have read and know more about Nehru and Indira than Rahul does.
One wonders, for instance, whether Rahul is aware that while he himself is a Harvard drop-out, his great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru was hailed as one of the two greatest 20th century alumuni of Harrow School, the second one being Sir Winston Churchill. And while “Mama” Sonia may not have made big fuss over son Rahul’s dismal performance at school and college, “Papa” Motilal Nehru made no secret of high academic expectations from son Jawahar and threfore, soon after Jawaharlal’s admission into Harrow, Motilal had written a letter saying “Son, all those who pass out from Harrow keep boasting for the rest of their lives that they are Harrow alumuni. But, I wish to see the day when Harrow boasts to the world that Jawaharlal was their alumuni”.
Meanwhile, as Rahul Gandhi sets out to take Narendra Modi head on and to achieve so, he leans back on his ancestory, he would be well advised not to be selective like, for example, conjuring up his grandmother Indira Gandhi but conveniently ignoring his grandfather Feroze Gandhi. While appealing for votes to Indian youth, Rahul would do well to be informed that Feroze Gandhi was a great political icon of the Indian youth in 1950s and this fact was also acknowledged by Feroze Gandhi’s estranged father-in-law Jawaharlal Nehru whose Prime Ministerial authority had suffered its first major setback as a result of unraveling of “Mudra” scandal by Feroze Gandhi.
It is an ironic coincidence that to fulfill the dream of his mother, Rahul has to take recourse to stories about his grand mother. And, while the common man watches with amusement, Umapathy raises hand in a lyrical salute “Maa Tujhe Salaam!’’
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