So, What’s So Great About Ahmad Patel?

Congress MP Ahmad Patel has made it to the Indian Parliament as its member an impressive number of times – thrice in Lok Sabha and four times in Rajya Sabha (excluding his victory earlier this week). By this parameter itself, he could be considered a successful politician. Extended innings in the Indian Parliament would typically earn a Member of Parliament a Cabinet berth. However, Ahmad Patel has never been a minister and has kept away from media, even during the ten years of rule by Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.

Besides his not having occupied any ministerial berth, when one hears the name ‘Ahmad Patel’, one strains to identify typical memories associated with successful politicians in a democracy  – memorable speeches in or outside Parliament, their views on matters of national importance, conviction, clarity of thought, leadership. And one draws a blank!

So, what’s so very special about Ahmad Patel that the recently concluded election which led to his entry an eighth time in the Parliament, may have been the most high profile election ever for Rajya Sabha? Well, he’s the closest aide of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian born Indian politician who during ten years of United Progressive Alliance rule, was considered the most powerful Indian.

Sonia’s larger-than-life image

There is history to the extended period of Sonia’s invincibility. When her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, as is typical of the Congress party, the “loyalists” cried for her entry into politics. She did not, till 1998. From when she had married Rajiv and moved to India, she has largely been a mystery. Her entry into politics in 1998 did not lift the secrecy around her either. With no experience as a politician, administrator or even as a professional, she made a backdoor entry to the post of President of India’s oldest political party. The few in the Congress who protested her appointment were quickly shown the door. In a robust democracy such a sudden ascent to the top based solely on surname would probably not have lasted long at all. However, within months, Sonia was projected by the usual suspects in the media as a challenger to the then Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, a seasoned and very well-regarded politician. At best, such a comparison is as audacious now as it was in 1998. She has also been party president for the longest period, with no one in the party or media questioning the mystery associated with her since she settled in India. But this obviously has been carefully managed.

As has been a norm since decades, media is influenced by the Congress to tow their line, and sections of the media willingly do so! This worsened during ten years of UPA rule, with some media houses becoming extensions of the party itself. It was well known that the then Prime Minister used to seek Sonia’s consent on all major matters. To formalise this absurd and embarrassing arrangement, an extra-constitutional body, National Advisory Council, headed by Sonia, was formed to “advise” the government. With reports of her not having obtained even high school education, one wonders how she led the NAC and what possibly she could have advised the government – with a Cambridge-education Prime Minister and an impressive number of Ivy Leaguer ministers – about that the government hadn’t already thought of.

With her offering expert advisory to the UPA, there were numerous situations where her role as “advisor” could have been questioned – be it the 2G scam, coal scam, chopper scam, not to mention demanding return of the Italian marines convicted of murder from the Italian government when they were allowed to go to Italy to celebrate Christmas with their families in the middle of their jail sentence. Sonia is Italian by birth and India has given her what she could not have imagined in her wildest dreams. Wasn’t it her duty to influence the Italian government for securing the return of the marines? Yet, literally no one in media even asked uncomfortable questions. Her silence on her son in law’s shady land deals too went unquestioned. She was the uncrowned queen of India from 2004 to 2014.

The importance of Ahmad Patel and what his defeat would have meant for Sonia

Ahmad Patel is Sonia’s closest aide. He may well have been the master strategist behind the cultivation and retention of her image, both nationally and internationally. This explains the importance of the secretive Ahmad Patel, and Congress leaving no stone unturned to ensure his victory in the election held this week. For MLAs to be house-arrested in a resort before an important vote is not new to Indian politics. But the drama of Congress housing 44 MLAs in a resort far away from their home state, with no access to phones and visitors for over a week is unprecedented. Given the backing he has from Sonia, Ahmad Patel’s defeat would have been interpreted as Sonia’s own MLAs questioning her invincibility within the party. That’s not going to work either for Sonia or for the Congress in its present avtaar – a party revolving around her and her family. Sonia famously advised her son the night before his appointment as party Vice President that power is poison. Power clearly is also very intoxicating for someone who’s held as much of it for as long as she has. On its part, the Congress isn’t prepared for a party free of Nehru-Gandhis. For decades the Gandhi glue has held most of its ambitious people together by accepting what is doled out by the family while suppressing their biggest aspirations.

The disqualification of two votes by MLAs keen to demonstrate their new-found, even if loose, loyalty to Bharatiya Janata Party did lead to Ahmad Patel making it to Rajya Sabha by a single vote. But this election was based on disqualification, not on popular vote (in spite of strenuous efforts by the who’s who of the Congress). Congress, specifically Sonia, won the battle, but the war has been lost. It is likely that Sonia’s days as a powerful force in Indian politics are numbered.

The most promising way for Congress, and India

Healthy opposition to the government of the day is one of the essential elements of a democracy. It’s not in India’s interest for its largest Opposition party (even if a small fraction of the ruling party in terms of strength in Lok Sabha!) to be obsessed with a family, and not the 125 crore Indians they are elected to serve. Sonia’s leadership of her party hasn’t exactly enhanced its image – a Lok Sabha tally of 44 seats is an irrefutable indicator. Under Sonia’s leadership one can also recall several shameful moments in the Indian Parliament, both while Congress has been in power and when it’s been in Opposition. Sensible minds within the party would do well to discard the mother-son duo (and anyone else aligned with what they represent in Indian politics) and evolve the party into a mature political force. With the government and the Opposition competing with each other to serve the country, it’s the masses that will benefit.