"In the long-run we are all dead", once said John Maynard Keynes. Reading about Rahul Gandhi's recent jibe at Narendra Modi, claiming that the incumbent prime minister had invited his predecessor to have an "hour-long Economics lesson from Dr Manmohan Singh" made me think that one can very well be dead not only in the short-run - as compared to the 'long-run' as mentioned by Keynes - but also when one is very much alive and aspiring at least apparently.
Let me at the very outset pronounce my opposing views on Rahul Gandhi. In 2012, I had written my first blog post on Rahul Gandhi when he stopped short of making any mark as a "successful Indian politician" by failing to lead his party - the Indian National Congress - to victory in the assembly polls in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, also one of the politically significant ones in the country.
My second blog post on the Gandhi scion, written just after the worst ever drubbing faced by the Congress, was much more personal and sympathetic about the physical, psychological and emotional captivity that Rahul had to live with all his life, thanks to the greed for power of the leaders of the party he leads as its vice president.
Ever since he returned from his much talked about 57-day sabbatical, Rahul seems to have mastered the art of being the typical Indian politician - the usual street smartness without much substance and an iota of statesmanship.
What's the harm if Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought some advice on the economy from his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh, who happens to be an internationally acclaimed economist? Moreover, Dr Singh steered India out of the economic mess in the early 1990s.
In many of the world's mature democracies there is either a well defined handover process during change in governments - as is prevalent in the United States when the president-elect works very closely with the outgoing head of state for weeks together to ensure a smooth transition in power - or the ruling and the opposition parties work in tandem despite the acrimony and competitive politics during the elections.
In the Westminster system, which is followed in India, it is often said that the British prime minister knows the leader of the opposition much more than his/her spouse. If that is the essence of the democratic relationship between the ruling and the opposition parties in India then why can't an incumbent prime minister invite his predecessor to seek advice.
In fact, Prime Minister Modi set a nice precedence when he called on Dr Singh immediately after assuming office, so did Dr Singh when he called on an ailing Atal Behari Vajpayee to wish the nonagenarian leader on his birthdays. Even Sonia Gandhi called on the former prime minister to condole the death of his long-time companion Rajkumari Kaul.
Competitive politics may be the call of the day but nothing can be more unfortunate if that killer instinct of achieving short-term gains comes in the way of civility and interpersonal relationships between the political actors in the country. Moreover, there is no harm in learning even if it is from a political adversary. As Albert Einstein reportedly said, "The day you stop learning is the day you stop living."
Political animosity between former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Jayprakash Narayan is well known. JP, as the social reformer was known, was arrested during the Emergency and in return he made sure that Mrs Gandhi was ousted from power. However, before JP's death in 1979, when Mrs Gandhi called on him, the Lok Nayak wished her well and said that he hoped that the former prime minister's future would be brighter than her past. Political equation never came in the way of JP's affection for his "Indu" - the daughter of his friend Jawaharlal Nehru, despite their longstanding political differences.
Reading the news report on Rahul Gandhi's diatribe against Mr Modi, I find that the Gandhi scion has also criticised the strict disciplinarian practices of the hardline Hindu organisation, the Rashtriya Sayamsewak Sangh or the RSS, stating that "Discipline is an excuse for suppressing individuality." Mr Gandhi probably forgot that his grandmother Mrs Gandhi and uncle Sanjay Gandhi did exactly the same during the Emergency, and his father Rajiv Gandhi tried to do the same by introducing the infamous Defamation Bill in 1988, which was later withdrawn.
Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant.
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com
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