How did Sonia Gandhi do it? My answer is she did it by being an outsider. The 2009 election triumph establishes the triumph of the outsider, the non-professional over the insider professional. Manmohan Singh is also a non-political outsider and Rahul Gandhi is just an apprentice who may become a different sort of professional. Being unprofessional, Sonia Gandhi missed out on the hoary mythologies, the macho posturing, the fake ideology covering up the greed and the concupiscence. She saw the continuing importance of the rural vote in 2004, which most parties missed. She thought two steps ahead when she wrong-footed Sushma Swaraj and her ilk by not taking up office of Prime Minister. She saw the primary political importance of keeping the coalition together, leaving the executive functions to Singh.

Manmohan Singh also brought a different style to politics. His quiet but confident and soft-spoken manner beguiled many into thinking that he was a soft touch or just an errand boy of Sonia Gandhi. This is why the Left got it wrong on the nuclear deal and walked out of the coalition and into oblivion. This is why the BJP tried to denounce him as a weak prime minister, little realising that strident speech making or even peripatetic chariot riding are not marks of what makes a good executive.

Rahul Gandhi was the third non-professional person. He behaved totally unlike what was expected of him. He could have listened to the sycophants who wanted him to lead the party. His uncle Sanjay Gandhi grabbed power illegitimately and many of the ills of the Emergency were due to his impetuosity. Rajiv Gandhi was much better behaved, both before being inducted into Parliament and even after. Rahul has got his head down and slogged away in the party hinterlands. His abstinence from office is what has attracted attention. If he stays the course and works at the party rather than in the government, he will set a high standard. The Congress may be in power but as a party it has no organisation below the top. If he repairs that defect over the next five years, then taking office will be a cinch.

... contd.