Can Rahul reform his party - and system?

Instead, he wants to delineate his outlook for this "beehive" of a country, different in his view from the concept of a lumbering elephant, which is usually projected in contrast to the energetic Chinese dragon. For Rahul, the beehive comprises a billion-plus people who are throbbing with energy. It is this energy which he wants the industrial magnates to tap.



Inclusiveness is obviously the central feature of this vision. But, in case the CII mistakes this assertion as a socialistic plea for the empowerment of the downtrodden at the expense of the rest, Rahul clarified that he wants to take along everyone - the struggling poor, the aspiring middle class and the thriving business community which, he said, provided the "cutting edge" of advancement. This certificate to the mercantile class marks a sharp departure from the Congress's earlier patrician disdain for the grasping businessman.

It is clear that Rahul's viewpoint is different from Sonia's, whose emphasis has been on a paternalistic allocation of doles and jobs to targeted groups selected through caste-based reservations. Hence her insistence on reviving the idea of including castes in the census data after a gap of eight decades.

In the last few months, however, Rahul appears to have influenced his mother to shed some of her left-leaning predilections and speak of the "aspirational" middle class. Considering that he represents the future, it can be assumed that he will take the Congress along a path which defies a neat left-right classification.

In a way, it is fairly revolutionary since Rahul intends to overhaul the entire system by taking the power away from MPs and MLAs and investing it in the village pradhans or heads of the local panchayats. Earlier, too, he had spoken of his wish to do away with the coteries or select groups of people in the parties, including the Congress, which take all the decisions.