Little bit of history to remind you why Rahul is in politics and why his expression of fear is genuine.

In a recent campaign talk, Rahul seemed to have expressed his fear of being assassinated. The blogosphere was soon flooded with posts and comments ridiculing Rahul. Some wrote that Rahul does not deserve sympathy. I found this lack of compassion very strange. I am a vehement opponent of nepotism of any form, but I believe that you need to give credit to a guy who ventures into politics despite the toll it has taken on his loved ones. Rahul's grandmother was assassinated by her very own security guards who played with him while he was a kid and his father was brutally assassinated within 7 years from the tragic death of his beloved grand mom. Perhaps Rahul was expressing his genuine fears about his occupational hazard. Perhaps, this is also why he was very reluctant to enter active politics until recently. 

I personally think by merely entering active politics Rahul has shown courage. Why else do you think he came to politics, when it took away from him two of his loved ones within a span of 7 years and rendered his mother ill? It is another issue that he might be using his family's tragedy as a sympathy scorer and an eventual vote scorer but remember he is a human being first and a politician next, lets us show some genuine compassion towards his loss, but it doesn't have to be in the form of votes - votes can be cast based on lot of other things than mere compassion.

A little bit of history of the post-Nehru congress party can help one understand that Rahul is into politics less for any personal gain and more for the party's sake.

When Indira Gandhi became prime minister everyone thought that she will be a puppet in the hands of some senior congressmen who backed her candidacy for the prime minister's post... it was understandable because, none of the senior congressmen at that time had a party-wide acceptance, leave alone a nationwide acceptance and by backing Indira, they hoped to gain de facto power. But Indira proved them wrong. She became a dominant force both nationally and internationally. She had admirers even in opposition camps. After Indira's assassination, the congress party was in a similar flux. They had no noticeable leader with a wider appeal. So they had no choice but to call in a totally under prepared and unwilling Rajiv, who was popular among Indian masses, thanks to his family, to take up the top post. He took it up reluctantly, but he was the one who sowed the initial seeds of economic development by abandoning license raj and kick-starting the Indian IT industry.

After Rajiv’s assassination, the congress had brought itself to a similar flux yet again. They had no noticeable and agreeable second-in-line. But thanks to a sympathy wave, the congress came back to power albeit with a minority government and Narashima Rao was reluctantly handed over the PM’s post. Everyone hoped that the Cong government will fall down soon as it didn't have an absolute majority. But Rao was a political genius, who showed to Indian politicians that a minority government can run its full course of 5 years without interruption. Unfortunately, he didn't have many supporters and that only got worse over the years. There was no able replacement for Rao within the party either. So the senior congressmen went back to the "family" to ask Sonia to join politics. If anything, that was the most shameful moment for the congress leadership... in a country of 1 billion Indians they couldn't find one who was not a naturalized citizen? That was only a reflection of how weak and ineffective the congress top brass was.

But ironically, Sonia was able to win back some votes for the congress and put them back to power. But luckily for India, she didnt take up the role, even though she is still the de facto prime minister of India. So now that Manmohan Singh is getting old and unlikely to contest (figuratively speaking… I know he has only been a member of the Rajya Sabha) for a third term, they need a replacement. Sonia, although is at the helm cannot take up the top post (the Indian constitution will not allow it)… so who is next? Is there any noticeable person in the congress who can claim to have a nationwide awareness leave alone nationwide acceptance? Had Mamata Banergee not been ill-treated and kicked out of the Congress, she would have been that type of charismatic candidate with a nationwide appeal… but that is not the case. So, my point is, Rahul is in politics not because he is desperate or his mother is desperate but the congress needs him so badly. In fact, he, I think, is doing the congress a big favor by getting into that role. If history has taught him anything, it is that getting into politics can give him power but at the cost of his life. That is what he stated.

Now the bigger question is why is it that the congress is unable to field a genuine congress leader as a prime ministerial candidate? And why is it that parties like BJP and CPI(M) are able to keep nepotism at bay and keep fielding new successors for their respective party’s top role?