Advani vs. the Congress PR Machine

In what looks like a carefully orchestrated series of moves designed by an ad agency, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Manmohan Singh recently began coordinated attacks against Advani.  The Gandhi family is obviously trying to protects its own grip on power; Manmohan, unfortunately, is an academic who has had a politician’s role thrust upon him, a role he is ill suited for.

Advani apparently started it by calling Manmohan Singh weak and without authority.

This apparently either enraged or alarmed the Congress Trinity.  The sheer variety and breadth of statements the Congress folk have made against Advani is surprising.  They’ve called Advani weak, claimed he is a slave of the RSS, said he’s a man of words and not action, and that he has no achievements.

But here’s the thing: whatever he is or isn’t, Advani is patently not any of those things.  And it’s equally obvious Manmohan has been installed by Sonia Gandhi and her children, who hold the only real power in the Congress party.  This perception is so strong that it’s become the topic of jokes in the popular media.

I thought the most interesting statement, though, was when Sonia said Advani had no accomplishments.  This, coming from a lady whose sole accomplishment is her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi.  A sense of irony is seriously lacking.