“Now I want to ask you a vital question: Who should be the chief minister? Please mention just one name. I’m the only person who would know whom you are naming. No one in the party will know. Please speak after the beep.”

~ Rahul Gandhi, President, Indian National Congress

These were the words of Rahul Gandhi that were transmitted to 7.3 lakh party workers across three states, almost like a celestial aakashwani right before a Mahabharata episode. Rahul might not exactly be the person to pull off the perfect ‘main Samay hun’ rendition, but his intention here is clear: Let the party workers weigh in on who should become chief ministers in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

We need to ask two questions here: Will this decentralised approach of picking CM candidates work? Or is this just random idealism which is not meant for this cruel world driven by Modis and Shahs?

After a hard-fought election in five states, the Indian National Congress (INC) has managed to wrest three major states away from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), signalling that the grand old party is finally back in the game. During the campaign, INC was tight-lipped about who their CM candidates would be in case they win. Plus, there was a conscious effort to give prominence to the party as a whole and Rahul Gandhi as the face leading the party.

Going by how the Modi-Shah duo have been functioning, the assumption in everyone’s mind was that Gandhi would be the one taking the final call on who shall be the CMs, in case they won. Because hey, that’s how things work in the real world. Only in theory do the MLAs choose the CM. Obviously, people vote for the party leader, not local candidates, so the party leader chooses the CM. I mean, come on, get real!

But then came this grand Rahul Gandhi voice message out of nowhere which has shattered some beliefs and expectations. Decentralisation is the way to go, apparently. Or at least as far as signalling exercises go.

Let’s not kid ourselves because this is, and rightly so, a signalling exercise. An exercise in political branding, if you will. Theoretically, it sounds like a wonderful thing to let the party workers democratically decide who will be the CM candidate. In an ideal democracy, the elected MLAs would be the one getting behind one candidate or another and decision for the top post would be based on that. But, unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal society. Surprise!

The Indian National Congress is led by an anointed President, not an elected one. As much as the INC would like to pretend like they have a democratic internal party election system, it isn’t. There’s no need to even spell this out. So when anointed INC President Gandhi sends out this grand message of decentralisation, it has to be taken with a swimming pool full of salt. Our broken democratic setup does not allow for such decentralised exercises. Even if someone wants to do it, they will end up like Jay Prakash Narayana’s Lok Satta Party. Or like the Aam Aadmi Party when it was pretending to be democratic. So let’s be clear, Rahul Gandhi’s move is a signalling exercise. And it’s an important one.

The 2019 general election is going to be a personality clash between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Whether the voters like it or not, that is going to happen. “If not Modi then who?” is an oft-repeated question. Followed by retorts of, “Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister? Haha! You’ve got to be kidding!” In such a situation, Gandhi is probably planning to play the BJP game but also trying to change the rules a wee bit. He’s trying to project that his style of functioning is the polar opposite of Modi. This is an important moment for him to put this in motion.

PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah are the ones who take the call on who is to be the chief minister when they win state elections. That is how they caught the public by surprise when they put the proverbial tika of leadership on Yogi Adityanath’s forehead. Zero people expected it. Moves like these make Modi-Shah look decisive. They project an image of, “We know what to do. We know how to rule the roost. Cool? Cool.” Gandhi seems to be responding to them and saying, “Maybe, just maybe, there’s a different way to do things. Bring me a recording device! Let us decentralise!”

Does this decentralisation message make Rahul seem indecisive? Maybe. Does that make him seem inclusive? Perhaps. Does that make him seem like a leader who is willing to listen to others before taking decisions? Definitely. And that is the key factor at play here. Gandhi and his party want to consistently appear as polar opposites of the BJP, even when it comes to taking politically vital decisions like choosing state CMs. Ultimately though, it would be quite a stretch to think that he would go with the names his party cadre is suggesting for three states. This is not an ideal world, remember?

The reality is that potential CM candidates would come to Gandhi with the number of MLAs they have the backing of for the top post. If this factor is not considered, there might be an uncomfortable rebellion at the hands of Rahul Gandhi. He might not want to anger his newly-elected representatives in the first, real instance of victory for the Congress since 2014. That too, so close to the general elections.

All said and done, it’s great to see Rahul Gandhi finally playing the political branding game efficiently. As he said in the press conference on December 11, the ‘naamdaar’ did learn a thing or two from the ‘kaamdaar’.