The daughter-in-law test

Sonia and Rahul arrive at the Patiala House court on Saturday. Pic:Yasir Iqbal

Sanjay K. Jha and Rasheed Kidwai,TT, New Delhi, Dec. 19: At a 10-minute hearing that has already been discussed far, far longer, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were granted bail today in the National Herald case with a judicial observation that at this stage, the charges did not appear serious.

A jubilant Congress, patting itself on the back for its dual strategy of bowing to the judiciary and blasting Narendra Modi, is working on plans to use the issue to galvanise its demoralised ranks.

The BJP wondered what the brouhaha was all about, reminding the Congress that its leaders have got only "bail, not a medal".

Which leaves one question unanswered: did Sonia live up to her own declaration of December 8?

That Tuesday - a day after Delhi High Court had ordered Sonia and Rahul to appear before the magistrate's court - Sonia had thundered: "I'm the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi. I'm not afraid of anything or anybody."

To which, the BJP had retorted: "Sonia Gandhi of 2015 is not the Indira Gandhi of 1977."

A mixed picture emerges, if the yardstick of 1977 is applied to what unfolded today.

In the absence of 24-hour television news channels, not many other than Sonia and a few officials had seen Indira at close quarters on October 3, 1977, when the ousted Prime Minister was arrested for the first time on the charges of pressuring a company to secure 114 jeeps for campaigning and foul play in awarding an oil-drilling contract when she was in power.

Sonia was at 12 Willingdon Crescent, preparing tea for her mother-in-law around 5pm, when CBI superintendent of police N.K. Singh knocked on the door.

"Handcuff me!" Indira had shrieked at Singh, insisting (some say roaring): "I will not go unless I am handcuffed."

As Sonia watched, Sanjay, Indira's younger son, made phone calls to Congress supporters. From another phone, R.K. Dhawan, Indira's personal secretary, called up local media. Some reporters of that era recall getting calls from Maneka Gandhi, Sanjay's wife, who was part of the Surya magazine, telling them that if they rushed to Indira's house, they would get "great copy" (journalese for reports).

Today, there was little provocation for Sonia to scream like her mother-in-law. Yet, Sonia did manage to send a stern message after leaving the court: " Hum mein se koi bhi darne wala nahi hai (None of us is going to be frightened)."

Sonia's words were melodramatic like those of Indira but the delivery was more restrained.

The absence of live television in 1977 worked both ways. Indira managed to turn the arrest into the Janata government's historic blunder without the aid of sensational footage.

On the other hand, live broadcast might have backfired. With the country still smarting under the weeping wounds of the Emergency and accounts of atrocities spilling out after months of censorship, the sight of Indira screaming for handcuffs could have left many with a "just-desserts feeling".

Besides, eventually, Indira was arrested without handcuffs - a climbdown that would not have looked good on television. She was released overnight on bail.

Sonia is not usually given to displays of emotion that evoke labels like "Drama Queen". The December 8 thundering was an exception.

Indira, too, was shy initially but in active politics, she underwent a dramatic transformation. Her political instinct was matchless - in Bihar's Belchi in 1977, she put it on awesome display by riding an elephant to cross a river and meet Dalit victims of atrocities. The elephant literally trampled her political rivals, the jumbo ride being credited with a big role in her subsequent election victory.

Sonia is yet to pass - or even take part in - the Belchi test. In 2004, Sonia had stunned Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the rest of the country, not through dramatic shows of strengths but through padayatras that largely stayed under the national radar.

Besides, the sources of the trouble then and now are different. The Morarji Desai government directly activated and pursued Indira's arrest while the Modi government has not done so yet. Subramanian Swamy, the main complainant, filed the Herald case before he formally joined the BJP and before the Modi government came to power.

The political landscape is no longer the same. Indira, even after the 1977 defeat, was the biggest mass leader of the country. The Congress was then bruised but still the biggest party; the Janata Party was a hastily put-together entity full of factions and ambitious rivals. Today, the Congress is much diminished in a multi-party scenario.

In the immediate context, the biggest difference, of course, is that there has been no order yet to arrest Sonia and Rahul. They could have refused to furnish the bail bond, which might have sent them to jail unless the judge changed his order.

But sources said opinion within the Congress was that such a step would create an impression that the leaders were locking horns with the judiciary. Not to mention the practical problems of housing Special Protection Group commandos in the prison cells.

The Congress has been at pains to claim that its battle is against Prime Minister Modi, not the courts. The entire focus today was on rubbing in that distinction.

While thousands of workers were asked to stay put at the Congress headquarters and make a noise about political vendetta, the best available legal team and the best-known faces were sent to the court to attend to the formalities.

Almost every senior leader was present, reinforcing the united backing to the Nehru-Gandhi family. In that respect, a common factor is that a family member still has the capacity to mesmerise the Congress rank and file and evoke unquestioning loyalty.

The party exploited the opportunity to the hilt to enthuse its workers and insist that the Modi government was tormenting their leaders. Demonstrations complete with clashes, baton-charges and jail bharo were organised in almost every state - a rare occurrence for the Congress these days.

Sonia and Rahul proved that they have the party firmly in their hold. But getting the nation behind them will be a much tougher battle.

The stress was on underscoring the political factor. The exercise began with the furore in both Houses of Parliament, followed by a whisper campaign about the possibility of Rahul and Sonia not seeking bail.

The prospects of Sonia and Rahul going to jail changed the complexion of what was a judicial formality. Congress leaders claimed that supporters across the country got "emotionally charged".

The CBI raid on the Delhi chief minister's office and the plot to topple the Arunachal Pradesh government acted as bonus points amid the cries of vendetta.

Sonia and Rahul targeted the Prime Minister instead of dwelling on the merits or demerits of the case.

Returning from the court, Sonia told reporters at the party headquarters: "I appeared in the court with a clean conscience, like any law-abiding citizen should do. The law of the land applies to every citizen without any prejudice or fear. I have no doubt the truth will come out. We are accustomed to the attacks and malicious campaigns of our political rivals; this has continued for generations and yet they have not been able to wipe us out."

Sonia added: "The incumbent central government is also targeting us deliberately by unleashing all agencies against us. None of us is going to be frightened. We will continue our fight...."

Rahul, too, stuck to the straight and the narrow. He said: "I respect the judiciary. Modiji gets false charges slapped on us and thinks that the Opposition will surrender. I want to tell every citizen of this country that I and the Congress party will never give in."

Not exactly the "handcuff-me" stuff. Nevertheless, a signalling of their readiness to wage battle.

Prison in 1977 was seen as an "antechamber of power" but there's no guarantee that history would repeat itself in 2015.

Perhaps, the prevailing realities demand a pragmatic leader in 2015, rather than a daughter-in-law stuck in the same mould as the Indira Gandhi of 1977.