Mr Rahul Gandhi’s comment that he was not “obsessed” with becoming prime minister hardly helps him project himself as a politician who is not interested in becoming prime minister. He has not said he would never like to become prime minister.

That would have been something astonishing. Merely saying that he is not “obsessed” with becoming prime minister does not take away anything from the clear advantage as the son of Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of Indira Gandhi and great grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru he has been exploiting to catapult himself onto the political centrestage. His comment that he was not “obsessed” could therefore only mean that he knew sooner or later it was coming to him anyway.
Mr Rahul Gandhi has been in politics for the past eight or so years. He has been trying hard to stand on his feet, to create a public persona that would help him tell the world that he was not rising in politics merely on the strength of his bloodline but on his own strength. But he has not been successful in his endeavour. At the root of his trouble is the hypocrisy of his persona. On one hand, he goes out and does things in order to convince people that he is a man of the masses, that he is only as much worthy as the masses decide he is. He will go and eat with Dalits or farmers or victims of calamities. On the other hand, he will occupy the seat next to the Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi, sometimes looking more important than the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. How has he come to occupy such an important position but on the strength of his bloodline?
If Mr Rahul Gandhi were really honest and wanting to stand on his own, he should not have accepted the pre-eminent position in the party. He should not have relied on his mother to promote his career. Imagine what happens if Ms Sonia Gandhi today disowns him. Where will he be? Let him think out of the crutches of dynasty. Let him show to the world that he has the vision and maturity to some day lead the country. He needs to ask unrepentant sycophants such as the party general secretary, Mr Digvijay Singh to stop suggesting publicly that Mr Rahul Gandhi is fit to be prime minister. Back in June 2011 Mr Digvijay Singh had declared that Mr Rahul Gandhi was experienced and mature enough to “take over prime ministership now”.
What was the experience of Mr Rahul Gandhi? He has been an MP for seven years but an MP without the kind of performance that can be called excellent. He has made statements in the Lok Sabha occasionally, but they have drawn attention more because they came from Mr Rahul Gandhi than for anything else. He has not made any significant impact as a crowd puller by virtue of his oratory or visionary statements. Crowds come to him because he is Rahul Gandhi.
As for maturity that sycophants say he has already acquired, we have to only see how immaturely he speaks to the people and the media. At the beginning of his party’s campaign in Bihar during the Assembly elections in the state in 2010, he told the media that Nitish Kumar was doing “good work”. As the leader of a political party competing with the Bihar Chief Minister’s party, the Janata Dal (United) there could have been nothing more immature than this, but then only a few months later, Mr Digvijay Singh declared him mature enough for prime ministership. Examples of Mr Rahul Gandhi’s lack of maturity are too many. In the elections in UP, he introduced Mr Sam Pitroda, the man behind the telecom revolution in the country, in these words, “Badhai hain woh”  (He is a carpenter by caste). Mr Rahul Gandhi’s intention in mentioning Mr Pitroda’s caste was to gain OBCs’ sympathy. Was openly mentioning caste a sign of maturity?
Mr Rahul Gandhi would do better to decide whether he wants to grow by virtue of his bloodline or his own work. He is seeking advantages of both, which shows that he is not completely honest. He is rising within the party thanks to his mother’s indulgence. It is not just Dr Manmohan Singh who is keeping the seat warm for Mr Rahul Gandhi. It is Ms Sonia Gandhi as well who is doing so. But Mr Rahul Gandhi is trying to show that he is rising by virtue of his own merit.
He is living in a world of self-deception. There is more than good chance that he may one day become prime minister. In spite of their knowledge that eighty per cent of his eligibility comes from his bloodline, people may vote him to the highest executive office. But he may not last long there. Despite the gigantic sympathy wave for Rajiv Gandhi after Indira’s assassination, people rejected him at the next election because he proved to be lacking in vision and control of governance. Much like they used to say about Rajiv Gandhi they say about Mr Rahul Gandhi – “He is a nice, naïve man”. Mr Rahul Gandhi must break out of the bondage of bloodline to show he has real merit in him to rise to the top entirely on his own.