Heralding a nervous era in Congress

‘Tamasha-1’ of the Gandhis' which was running to packed studios of the TV channels in the country for the past one week or so, ended in three minutes inside the Patiala House Court room, when the Metropolitan Magistrate Loveleen granted bail to them along with three other accused, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandez and Sumab Dubey on Saturday. The hearing began at 3 pm and ended at 3.03 pm.

The court staff disclosed later: “They stood in the corner where the accused stand.” That said it. For the first time after Indira Gandhi’s episode, the Gandhis had to face a court of law in the country like ordinary people and whatever their body language might suggest, they did not like it. No doubt they came out and flashed their smiles.

But, it was with a clear sign of relief writ large on their faces and this could be attributed to the fact that even they are not sure on how to go about the case. It is the dividends they are looking at, of course. Even in planning their appearance, the Gandhis personally were not sure whether to make this a huge political spectacle or a toned down move.

The party leadership which had been sending conflicting signals since Friday over public mobilisation ultimately gave in to Priyanka Gandhi's intervention in favour of driving down to the courts and walking down the last few yards. Insiders say that the move to walk down from the party headquarters to the courts complex, a mile away, was finally dropped as it could have led to trouble on the way with party workers going astray when confronted by the police.

There was no fear of going to judicial remand at all as the case of National Herald is still in a pre-charge stage. But the Gandhi's tried to drum up support for such a scenario too. Alas, reading their script right, other political parties, however opposed to Narendra Modi or BJP, did not step in as has been anticipated in their support. This came as a dampener to the Gandhis in a way.

Strangely, coming out of the courts, the legal counsels of the Gandhis, Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, later blamed the media for creating a spectacle. It was a simple case of cheating filed against the Gandhis by a litigant who had no locus standi at all, and the Gandhis, as law abiding citizens, were only doing their duty in attending the court, they said.

They, however, did not disclose whether the Gandhis' would repeat the strategy in appearing for every court hearing. The next hearing is on February 20. They only stated that an exemption from personal appearance was not sought. The Gandhis are enjoying the spotlight more than any – whether they are guilty or not – as they could at least create a euphoria among the party cadres. How far would they like to take this is anybody's guess.

If they are jubilant over the whole coverage they are hogging now and prefer to treat a bail as a victory over Narendra Modi, they are clearly wrong. The charge that the ruling party is targeting the Opposition does not exactly stick here as no one is mixing up both - Herald case and vendetta politics - except for the Congress leadership.

The real issue is whether they was any illegality in acquisition of the huge assets of the Associate Journals Private Limited by Young Indian controlled by the Gandhis, and this would be decided by the courts in due course. The courts are yet decide on the merits of the case and the Congress leaders have to keep that in mind. In litigation, it is the process that could be more painful.

Because, if they chose to repeat Saturday's theatrics, the Gandhis will be forced to look for more excuses every time they appear in court. Crying vendetta always might soon be perceived as crying wolf. There could be several political leaders in this country who must be smiling today at the "ordeal" of the Gandhis, having been the “victims” of Congress' own vendetta politics in the last decade.

At the end of the day, it should be business as usual for Gandhis. So should be with Narendra Modi, too. Monday when the Parliament meets again, the Gandhis would be watched by the people. Now that the ruling party's "vendetta politics" resulted in bail to them, what would be the excuse they would be seeking to stall the proceedings of the House? It would be also interesting to watch how the party would take on the government on the streets because that is what they proclaimed coming out of the court.

Sonia Gandhi said "we are prepared to take on our rivals just as we did since long. Centre is deliberately targeting the opposition using government agencies. None of us is going to be afraid of the same. Congress ideology, values and our commitment to the poor will continue.” "I respect the law. Modi gets false allegations levelled.

If he thinks we will be afraid, we are not. We will continue to fight for the poor," Rahul Gandhi said. "Congress party is united in support of what Soniaji and Rahulji said just now. We stand for certain values and ideas" former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said.

Converting a legal battle into a political war is a tough game. Vendetta angle must be substantiated first. The Opposition needs to be won over. People must be convinced. It is a long script. Election time is war time. It could easily bring rivals together against a common cause. Peace time is different. The Congress should know better if it expects sympathy from its counterparts.

There is a difference in moral heroism and political heroics. The bail to Gandhis is like a shower and it does not make the whole monsoon. It will be injudicious on their part to treat it as a moral victory. Coming to Subramanian Swamy, one could only say that it was ridiculous on his part to argue that the bail should be conditional and their (Gandhis') passports be seized.

Why does he expect them to run away or flee? That was stretching imagination a bit too far. But for today, all the plaintiffs and the defendants alike are happy. Swamy is gearing up to prepare his arguments for February 20. The BJP too must be happy that it is bailed out of a potentially irksome situation. Imagine, just in case, the Gandhis being denied bail and becoming the guests of Tihar Administration.