Keep up the good work Rahul!

We have a lot of "Young Turks" in the Indian Parliament now - Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Akhilesh Yadav, to name a few. Most of them are children of career politicians and have got entries into Parliament without too much work at the grassroots or party level. By and large I have been pretty disappointed with the performance of these young guns so far. With the exception of Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul's father Rajiv was a reluctant politician.  He had the Gandhi family legacy thrust down his throat after the death of his brother Sanjay in an air-crash in 1980. Rajiv was a pilot with a commercial airline at that time, and was "persuaded" by his mother Indira Gandhi to join politics full time. Almost immediately, he became Prime Minister of India when Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984. Rajiv had almost no grassroots political experience or track record when he became PM.

Rahul Gandhi has had a less tumultuous entry into politics. He has had his mother Sonia, and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look up to, and has quietly worked his way into a situation where he has built his own credibility as a moderate leader. He has not sought high office, and has instead chosen to work for the party and the "masses".

Rahul's latest initiative, where he took up the battle on behalf of tribal groups in Orissa, has drawn a lot of attention in the press. A group of tribals declared victory yesterday when the mining company Vedanta was refused permission to expand into their territory. One may or may not agree with Rajiv's causes. However there is no doubt that he has demonstrated leadership qualities, and has shown remarkable maturity in dealing with people and issues.

Rajiv Gandhi started his political career with a huge mandate and a lot of promise. However his promise fizzled out quickly as he became another run-of-the-mill politician, and frittered away some huge opportunities to demonstrate his leadership - the Shah Bano case comes to mind immediately. Rahul has started his career with a lot of promise, and he will definitely be the leader of our country one day. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that he will convert the promise into long term performance.