The Quiet Revolutionary

A revolution is underway in India. The man leading the charge is neither a fiery ideologue nor a gun-toting guerrilla. Instead, he is the scion of one of the world's most famous political families. But Rahul Gandhi, 38, has set out to disrupt the very system that created his power. At first glance, he is simply trying to restore the 125-year-old Indian National Congress—a party once led by his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his father, Rajiv Gandhi, and now run by his mother, Sonia Gandhi—to its once lofty position as India's dominant political group. But his tactics are game-changing: insisting on grassroots activism, building deep connections to rural India and trying to democratize the hierarchical Congress party itself. If he succeeds—a big "if"—India could soon undergo a kind of political big bang, ushering in a new model for developing countries: combining a well-functioning democracy with good government and economic growth. And if that works, Rahul will probably also ensure his own political future as the head of the nation.

Already Rahul, as he is known throughout the country, has been widely credited with Congress's big win in last month's elections. Not only was he, as Congress' general-secretary, the party's main campaigner—he spoke at 125 rallies across the country in six weeks, compared with 75 for his mother and 50 for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was also its master strategist.

His approach—fully endorsed by his mother, the party's president—was risky, presenting Congress as a national party that stood for secularism, good governance and growth. Such tactics were in sharp contrast to the mainstream of Indian politics for the last 20 years, in which parties based on caste, ethnicity and religion had flourished. During those decades, Congress officials had made alliances with these regional groups in order to maintain their access to power, privileges, perks and money. But this strategy had also ensured the slow decline of Congress as a national force, ceding ground to parties based on identity politics. Rahul was convinced that to regain Congress's old strength, it must contest elections alone as much as possible—especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These two states, which together send 120 members to the 543-seat lower house of the Indian Parliament, are crucial to any party's chances in New Delhi, and Congress had virtually become nonexistent in those areas.

Before the election, the conventional wisdom had it that Rahul's choice to go it alone would be a huge blunder. But it paid off—spectacularly. Congress more than doubled its tally in Uttar Pradesh, from nine seats (out of 80) to 21. And the party made serious inroads into several other constituencies. In Bihar, even if it only ended up with two seats, it managed to take away big chunks of votes from caste-based parties and reduced powerful regional satraps and minor coalition partners to insignificance. Elsewhere Congress swept the polls. The result? "This is Rahul Gandhi's moment," says Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Center for Policy Research, a New Delhi think tank. "He rose above the narrow identity politics of his opponents and showed that Indians long for inclusiveness and tolerance. He has changed the rules of politics."

Rahul also broke ground by pushing forward a slate of young candidates—a rare move in a country where age is venerated and 80-year-old politicians are a common sight. He bet that with 70 percent of the country under the age of 40 and half under 25, youth politics had reached a tipping point. And again he was vindicated. Most of his fresh faces won. Just as significantly, many of these newcomers had emerged through an open and democratic selection process in the party—and were thus seen as more connected to the grassroots than usual Congress hacks.

One such winner was Rahul's close aide, Meenakshi Natarajan, a biochemistry graduate from a small town called Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. Natarajan couldn't have been more different from a typical Indian politician. Nobody in her family had ever served in politics. She traveled in crowded public transport, lived in a small rented apartment in Delhi and devoted her time to energizing students and young people to join the party. All this was unheard of in India, where candidates typically travel in 20-car convoys with hundreds of hangers-on. "The world missed the significance of our baby steps in democratizing Congress's youth organizations," says Natarajan. But the voters didn't. Rahul is "creating space for fresh ideas, competence and youthful energy," says political analyst Rajiv Desai. "If he can pull it off, this will eventually make the old timers and power brokers irrelevant in the party."

Since the election, calls have grown within Congress for Rahul to take a seat in cabinet or become prime minister himself; even Singh has said that he would try to persuade Gandhi to join the government. But Rahul has politely declined the offers so far, saying his focus remains the party. This has only enhanced his public image. According to Sam Pitroda, who was an aide to Rajiv Gandhi and is considered the father of India's telecom revolution, and now heads the country's National Knowledge Commission, "Rahul is not here for any short-term goals. He has a long-term vision. He is methodical, analytical, hardworking and humble."