Sonia Gandhi and the Gandhi- Nehru Legacy

Rudrangshu Mukherjee on the picture above, taken while Mrs Sonia Gandhi announced her resignation from the Lok Sabha:

Things are different, as this picture records, during the announcement of the second act of renunciation and the reiteration of the importance of values over office. This time Rahul Gandhi is on the spot with his mother (Sonia Gandhi). The emphasis is clear: he is with his mother not only when she is announcing her decision but also as a co-sharer in the values she is formulating as her creed. A public event has also become a personal-family statement. The presence of Rahul Gandhi, as captured in the picture, seems to convey the message, “We Gandhi-Nehrus are different even though we are members of the Congress. We set the standards for the party and the nation and have done so down the generations.” The camera, by moving from Sonia to Rahul, seems to capture that movement across generations.

Priyanka’s almost peeping presence completes the picture. She is poised ambiguously, indoors but looking out. The door to the public arena, in which her mother and her brother stand, is ajar. The future beckons. Maybe it doesn’t.

A picture says many things. Maybe it doesn’t.

More, on Sonia Gandhi's resignation (with comments by yours truly) here.

Tags: India, Politics, Sonia Gandhi