An Open Letter To Rahul Gandhi

BLOGS / Sundeep Dougal

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POSTED BY Sundeep ON Dec 15, 2011 AT 02:04 IST , Edited At: Dec 15, 2011 02:04 IST

Pratap Bhanu Mehta in the Indian Express, last week:

Dear Mr Gandhi: The elections in Uttar Pradesh are, understandably, your major preoccupation. It is difficult to predict the result. But even if you do well, will India have reason to celebrate? Electoral success will show that you are better than the opposition. But that bar is now so low that it is almost an embarrassment to trumpet that one is merely better than the opposition. In 2009, the Congress got as propitious a mandate as any party could have expected. There was hope and expectation. The opposition, both on the left and right, was decimated. But what did India gain? It frittered away the good times. Instead of using growth to lay a secure foundation for the future, and create conditions where the scourge of poverty can be removed, we undermined the prospects for growth. We have high inflation, worrying public debt, slowing growth, uncertain currency prospects, falling investment, crushing interest rates...

Your party may not have some of the worst, exclusivist tendencies of your rivals. But you have not found ways of transcending the traps of identity politics that have kept India small...

Your party is trapped in two illusions. First, governance and politics are different issues. Second, only those policies that specifically address poor people affect the poor. You wreck the macro-economy in the name of the poor, and then cheat the poor because you refuse to govern...

Read the full piece at the Indian Express: Tomorrow's Battles

POSTED BY Sundeep ON Dec 15, 2011 AT 02:04 IST , Edited At: Dec 15, 2011 02:04 IST

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	HAVE YOUR SAY \| READ ALL 7 COMMENTS

7/D-121 Dec 20, 2011 08:19 PM	Abey Rahul ke naam pe Letter tho lekh diya...per us gadhe ko padna bhi to ana chaiye?! Pavan Hyd, India PERMALINK \| LIKE (3) \| DISLIKE (0) \| REPORT ABUSE
6/D-48 Dec 18, 2011 07:49 AM	Amul Baba has the genes , MJ Akbar hits the nail on the head. Rahul Gandhi has thrown expensive specialists into a war room to plan out minute strategy; demographic experts have become flush with funds. http://www.columnspk.com/curious-gamble-of-rahul-gandhi-by-m-j-akbar/ Competence is not the primary measure in current Congress mathematics. Family is. If Pranab Mukherjee had the right genes he would have been prime minister, and in the mould of the person he admires most in recent Indian history, Mrs Indira Gandhi. But he does not have the genes. And that is that. gajanan Sydney, Australia PERMALINK \| LIKE (5) \| DISLIKE (0) \| REPORT ABUSE
5/D-56 Dec 16, 2011 11:49 AM	budding leader?? Is that a joke?? Wait for the UP election results. Behenji would deliver a nice kick on his baby butt. Amit Tucson, United States PERMALINK \| LIKE (2) \| DISLIKE (0) \| REPORT ABUSE
4/D-53 Dec 15, 2011 01:46 PM	>>In 2009, the Congress got as propitious a mandate as any party could have expected. There was hope and expectation. Doesn't it speak volumes about the so called ‘intelligent’ Indian electorate as all corruption whether 2G, Air India, CWG etc., all the weakening of democratic institutions (including the parliament), slowdown of infra development and ZERO reforms happened in UPA 1. Mr. Mehta, you were among the cheerleaders of the UPA 1 then. RSM Delhi, India PERMALINK \| LIKE (2) \| DISLIKE (0) \| REPORT ABUSE
3/D-36 Dec 15, 2011 11:01 AM	The article pre-supposes that Rahul Gandhi wants to solve the country's problems.What Rahul Gandhi wants is power and not redressal of problems.If even people like Mr Pratap Bhanu Mehta cannot discern that Rahul Gandhi has no capabilities in any field,it is a tragedy.Compare him to an young man like Arvind Kejriwal to understand how dangerous it is for a person of Rahul's calibre to rule this country. S.S.Nagaraj Bangalore, India PERMALINK \| LIKE (10) \| DISLIKE (0) \| REPORT ABUSE