Sonia Gandhi's Big Mistake In Statement On Robert Vadra

Robert Vadra does not need to court controversy; it is controversy that follows him around like an unshakeable shadow. Even when he is busy building up his muscles or pumping adrenaline by running through parks in Delhi, media reports are invariably unflattering. Of late though, reports have not been as innocuous as his obsession with fitness. His name has cropped up in a series of dubious transactions. 

Mr Vadra's impatience with the limelight, particularly his antipathy towards the media, has also got him into more trouble - like the time he belligerently asked a reporter "Are you serious?" half-a-dozen times in a row when asked an uncomfortable question. It may not be an exaggeration, then, to assert that the Moradabad brassware dealer's son and the country's most celebrated son-in-law, is perhaps among the more disliked persons in India today.

But each time a new controversy rages around him, the Congress party has dodged questions by fiercely claiming that he is a private citizen being harassed only because of his marital links. The Congress has consistently blamed the BJP for unfairly gunning for him since Mr Vadra is not a public person. "Is it a crime to be son-in-law of the Congress President? Is it a crime for a private citizen to carry on business in India?" These are some the questions that the Congress repeatedly put across to the media each time queries were raised about his controversial land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan. How a nearly penniless "businessman" acquired hundreds of crores of rupees to buy prime land or got the land use changed effortlessly and even had a difficult officer transferred again and again - such questions have never been satisfactorily answered. But then many private individuals have been guilty of such transgressions, and to that extent Mr Vadra's defence was to some extent believable.
 Ironically, it is his mother-in-law, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who tore apart Mr Vadra's "private citizen" mask and exposed him to a new round of hounding by political opponents as well as the media. By coming out sharply in his defence and virtually describing the attacks on him as a BJP conspiracy, Ms Gandhi has established that her son-in-law is not a mere private citizen rightfully carrying out legitimate business. The Congress President inexplicably jumped into the fray making a non-political issue of a property purchase political, thus exposing both her party and family to targeted attacks by their opponents.

Arguably, each time Mr Vadra's business shenanigans have come into the public domain, the Congress's First Family has been dragged into controversy. It was rightly asked if any other businessman would have been able to get CLU (change of land use) certification as easily as the Gandhi kin did. Also, the transactions with hotels promoted by one of India's biggest realtors were equally questionable. But till the London mansion came into the picture, it could be plausibly claimed that the transactions did not involve the Congress Party, only individuals who happened to be associated with the party. 

So in every conceivable way, Mr Vadra has now ceased to be a private person. If, as reports trickling out of investigating agencies suggest, emails were exchanged between arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and him relating to the purchase and renovation of the London property, Ms Gandhi's son-in-law will rightly figure in the tempest. The question will arise why an arms dealer would facilitate a real estate transaction with Mr Vadra unless some consideration or favours were involved. But this is still a subject of speculation and the charges remain to be proved. All that has definitively emerged so far is that Mr Vadra will henceforth face charges not as a mere private citizen but a prominent Congress party activist. 

Just a few weeks ago, a poster carried by Congress protestors assembling at Jantar Mantar showed Mr Vadra's photograph prominently placed between Ms Sonia Gandhi and her son, giving rise to speculation that "Damaad ji" was also joining politics. During the last elections, Mr Vadra had toured parts of his in-laws' constituency driving a motor-cycle, heavily garlanded and widely feted as a party leader. Talking to local media, he had half-heartedly denied political ambition although his body language indicated otherwise.
 It now seems certain that if attacked by the BJP, Mr Vadra will have to put up his own defence with the Congress party formally backing him.That a senior BJP leader's name has also cropped up about association with the same arms dealer has not ruffled the ruling party, as the leader concerned has accepted his long-standing social relations with arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

The BJP's opponents, particularly the Aam Aadmi Party, have echoed Ms Sonia Gandhi's challenge, asking the BJP to produce proof of corruption and arrest Mr Vadra if they have evidence. They are also asking why the ruling party has showered allegations and innuendo, but not charge-sheeted Mr Vadra, leave alone put him behind bars, despite being in power for more than two years. It seems the government is moving cautiously on this because it knows that if its case against a Gandhi family member turns out half-baked, it would boomerang on the BJP. Proceeding gingerly, therefore, the Haryana government has appointed a judicial panel to examine the allegations in the land-fraud case before it files charges in court.

It has been claimed by an AAP spokesperson in a column for ndtv.com that the BJP makes regular allegations against Mr Vadra without adducing tangible proof because it is afraid of Priyanka Gandhi and worries that if she enters the political arena, political equations could change adversely for the BJP. 
 On the contrary, Mr Vadra battling corruption charges and accusations of involvement with arms dealers can only make it difficult for his wife in case she joins politics. The charges against her husband will be used by all those opposed to the Congress and dynastic politics to paint the party in a deeper shade of black. The Congress has been accused of corruption and bribery especially since the Bofors case of 1984. Allegations directly involving a Gandhi family member could put the party permanently on the defensive. In case she enters the political arena, Priyanka Gandhi may have to spend more time trying to clear her husband's name than promoting her party's political agenda.

Over the years, Sonia Gandhi has proved to be an astute politician who never acts impulsively. Therefore her passionate defence of Mr Vadra could not have come on the spur of the moment. Yet the question remains whether she had thought the implications through. With one stroke. she demolished Congress spokespersons' practiced denial of the party's involvement with his questionable business dealings. From now, Congress leaders will have to face regular questions about Mr Vadra's business activities. For reasons best known to her, Ms Gandhi has converted her son-in-law from Citizen Vadra to Congressman Vadra. 

The consequences will have to be faced by both the party and the less-than-communicative Mr Vadra himself.

(Dr. Chandan Mitra is a journalist, currently Editor of The Pioneer Group of Publications. He is also BJP MP of the Rajya Sabha.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.