My grandmother had a habit of poking me in the back whenever I slouched, telling me to watch my posture. Sage advice, and it seems Rahul baba’s grandmother, in the little time she had with him, also gave him advice on posture – or rather, on posturing. Because – on September 27, 2013 – Rahul Gandhi strode briskly into Ajay Maken’s press conference at the Press Club and left Maken feigning surprise when Rahul announced that he was opposed to the ordinance issued by the Congress top brass. Was this a face-saving exercise or political shrewdness?

Call it what you will, at the end of the day the fact is that Rahul’s move smacks of pre-election posturing. And Rahul wasn’t alone in this posturing. Several members in the Congress camp also seemed to develop cold feet in the run-up to Rahul’s U-turn.

There was Minister of State, Communications & IT and Shipping, Milind Deora.

There was also special invitee to the Congress Working Committee, Anil Shastri.

And the seemingly more genuine Priya Dutt.

The above tweets do make for positive reading but one only needs to read between the lines to see that both Shastri and Deora seem more concerned about image building rather than fighting corruption.

Even Sheila Dikshit is reported to have informed the Congress High Command that the ordinance would be damaging to Congress poll prospects in Delhi. Once again, it doesn’t seem to be about ethics, but rather electioneering.

So, though Rahul may have finally found himself on the right side of public opinion, his motivation in opposing the ordinance this belatedly has to be analysed. While his intelligence has often been called into question, one would have to believe the worst of poor Rahul to accept that the ramifications of this ordinance dawned on him so late in the day. After all, this is the man being groomed as the UPA’s Prime Ministerial candidate and is the Congress’ Vice President, and while the position of Prime Minister has diminished in importance through the largely-silent reign of Manmohan Singh, Rahul would have had to have been living under a rock to have been this out of the loop. Seeing as he was very much in and around the country, this excuse is inadmissible. So what caused this belated, yet vehement, realisation? Common sense? Negative noises from the President’s office? The Opposition? Or a perceived public backlash?

Starting with the widespread backing received by the India Against Corruption campaign and culminating in the recent Supreme Court order debarring convicted politicians that set off the current fracas, the opinion of the country with regard to corruption has been made amply clear.

Rocked by scams involving its own ministers and the ministers of its coalition allies, the Congress has been waging a desperate battle to portray itself as a party which is against corruption. However, in trying to push through the ordinance in question despite vociferous opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress has come out looking anything but trustworthy.

In a different time, this popularity hit would not have been much of a deterrent as it would have been balanced out by the political mileage gained from protecting the patriarch of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lalu Prasad Yadav, against the SC ruling. However, with the RJD’s fortunes waning, elections around the corner, and Modi scoring above Rahul in public perception, this volte-face comes across as a desperate attempt by Rahul Gandhi to revive his flagging fortunes and project himself as a bold leader who is capable of leading India in a new direction. That he threw Manmohan Singh under the bus to do so might seem like an act of dissent, but in reality this a carefully choreographed attempt by the Congress to get itself out of the clink – having up to this point backed itself into a corner.

Has anybody been fooled? I certainly hope not because it would mean that we, the Indian public, really are as gullible as Rahul & Co. must have thought we were when they were concocting this whole charade.

The obvious winner of the ordinance fiasco thus far is the BJP. But is the BJP really sincere in their opposition or is it once again just a matter of opportunistically playing the “good guy” in a scenario so far bereft of one?

To answer that, one must go back to the SC order which triggered this whole series of events. Once the SC order barring convicted netas had been issued, it was only a matter of time before the political establishment hit back. This began with the Samajwadi Party playing icebreaker by being the first to voice their disagreement. Once the proverbial ice was broken, the dissidence snowballed with politicians across party-lines uniting in their opposition against the order. The BJP was no exception to this. After the August 1, 2013 All Party meeting, convened only days before the Monsoon Parliament session was to begin, Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP’s official spokesperson issued this statement – “If you are arrested, you cannot file nominations regardless of trial or conviction is a sweeping judgment. It gives enough abuse to the Opposition or the government in power to detain all the political opponents one day before the nomination starts [sic]”.

After the second All Party meeting, held on August 12, 2013, it was announced that the government had received unanimous support from all parties concerned to make amendments to the Representation of People Act to nullify the SC order. In fact, after the All-Party meet, the leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, in reference to the SC order barring convicted netas is reported to have said – “The judiciary of this country allowed Italian marines, who are accused in the murder case of fishermen, to vote in Italy but the same judiciary did not allow a person who is convicted even for a day here. He has no right to vote. This is wrong”.

None of these statements portray a party taking a strong moral stand against corruption. Thus, it should come as no surprise that when the Representation of The Peoples (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013 was moved in Parliament it was pushed through within about 15 minutes. The same Bill was unanimously passed in the Rajya Sabha where the Opposition forms the majority.

Since the current Lok Sabha has an abysmal record when it comes to passing Bills, what was the nature of this Bill which managed to unite our netas in approval? An amendment maintaining the right of jail birds to contest polls, of course.

However, a second amendment to the Representation of The Peoples Act was scuttled by BJP opposition at the last minute. This move, rather than being a sincere statement of ethics and morality, seems like a politically shrewd move to gain the upper hand over the Congress. However, the BJP’s stand prior to this gives a hollow ring to their self-righteous crowing.

What is clear is that everyone is keen on keeping up appearances during an election year rather than actually tackling corruption. Posturing here, posturing there, an eyewash everywhere. The sad fact of the matter is that our netas aren’t interested in India’s best interests but rather in India’s vote. Expect business as usual to resume post-elections.