'It will be good for India if Rahul Gandhi retires from politics, gets married'

Delhi: Historian and writer Ramachandra Guha has said that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi should retire from politics.

He also said that Rahul should get married and that 'it would be good for him'.

To quote from his interview to The Economic Times - "There are still very many people — too many, I would say — who think that the Congress can revive as a national political force. But my sense is that what we are probably seeing is the BJP emerging as the only national party in the foreseeable future. The BJP, in terms of its role in Indian politics not in terms of its ideology, will be like the Congress in the 1960s and '70s. There will be some challengers — the Communists in Kerala, the Trinamool in Bengal and the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu — but the BJP will be overall dominant. That was exactly how the Congress was — the Communists came to power in 1957, the DMK in 1967, the Akalis became quite strong in Punjab — but overall there was no national alternative."

On a question on Congress' reinvention, Guha said - "...Outside the Congress echo chamber, there is a sense that the Gandhi family is useless. Rahul Gandhi is an object of ridicule and contempt by people who would otherwise be attracted to a liberal Congress point of view. There are intelligent, sensible people in the Congress but they are so dependent on the Gandhis. I have been struggling to understand this dependence. Is it a kind of infant-mother syndrome? Is it because they think only the family can help revive the party? Is it financial dependence — do they control the purse strings? It is mystifying. It is possible that in the next general election, due to anti-incumbency, the Congress may go from 44 to 70 or 80 or even 100. But they can't become a major force again..." and added, "...It is a lingering death, it is a terminal illness. Rahul Gandhi should retire from politics, get married and start a family. That will be good for him. That will be good for India also..."

At the same time, Guha pointed out that the 'BJP cannot think that it will be uncontested'.