Why Rahul Gandhi is a misfit in Kapil Sibal’s public limited company

Plagiarism is sacrilege in journalism. It’s a death wish if you steal from eminent lawyer Kapil Sibal, no less. But the former Union minister’s article in Hindustan Times is too compelling a read to resist this temptation and do a bit of creative deconstruction.

The article is about the brand value of a large public limited company with a huge base of shareholders, and how its CEO must serve their interests as well as the consumers’.

Kapil Sibal is a very creative man. He could be India’s first ‘cell phone poet politician’ who had taken to writing poetry on his mobile phone in 2007-08. As I reported in The Indian Express, he would write on love, law, T20, trust vote in Parliament, and whatnot.

That’s why I am tempted to take some liberty — prosaic, not poetic — with his HT article. Imagine the company he wrote about is a political party like the Congress and its CEO, Rahul Gandhi. Replace ‘consumers’ with ‘voters’, ‘BOD’ or board of directors with ‘Congress Working Committee’, and ‘shareholders’ with ‘political workers’.

Rahul Gandhi would be a misfit as the CEO of this company, going by Sibal’s expectations. If he must have Gandhi as the CEO, he may consider writing on NGOs next time.

Rahul Gandhi, CEO of Congress Ltd Co.

Sibal’s HT article makes for a fascinating political read. “It is imperative that BOD with an articulate, enlightened, efficient and dynamic CEO is grounded in reality…. CEO must be adept at the art of managing contradictions and cognisant of…crises requiring quick resolution. Running a large enterprise is a 24×7 commitment, which means that apart from managing contradictions, CEO must be constantly vigilant and be on the job at all times,” Sibal writes.

Rahul Gandhi doesn’t seem to have any quality of Sibal’s CEO. Gandhi hasn’t shown the ability to manage ‘contradictions’ and quickly react to the ‘crises’, leading to the fall of Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh and now bedevilling Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Instead of managing ‘contradictions’, he is becoming instrumental in an internecine war, allowing his camp followers to target veteran leaders.

As for 24×7 commitment, Congress leaders are still heaving a sigh of relief that Gandhi was in India, and not on his usual foreign jaunt, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a nationwide lockdown. Imagine what a great time Sambit Patras of the BJP would have had, if Rahul Gandhi had to be evacuated from abroad through the PM’s Vande Bharat mission. Wonder if the former and would-be Congress president has read Kapil Sibal’s advice for CEOs who wish to revive their companies’ brand value.

Congress’ declining brand value

The senior Congress leader further writes: “Autocratic managements are sustainable only in the short-term. Managements that hoodwink the consumer ultimately lose their sheen. CEOs making misleading public statements, especially when false data is advertised with intent to induce the consumer to buy products, end up destroying the credibility of the corporate entity.”

Think of this comment while picturing the BJP as a corporate entity and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its CEO. Doesn’t it sound like a Congress leader’s desperate hope? Yes, it does.

Yet, Sibal’s piece on a corporate entity’s brand value doesn’t inspire much confidence in the context of the Congress. The former Union minister points out how the management of a large public corporation with a huge base of shareholders must listen to them. “To continue to enjoy their confidence, the corporation’s processes and decision-making must be transparent, pursuant to a broad-based consultative mechanism,” he writes.

Rahul Gandhi-led Congress management is known to be indifferent to shareholders, small or big, who can’t get access to him. As for consultative mechanism, Gandhi lieutenant Rajiv Satav recently appointed Hardik Patel as the working president of Gujarat Congress without even seeking Sonia Gandhi’s close aide Ahmed Patel’s opinion, as party insiders claim. At a CWC meeting, the entire Gandhi family launched a broadside against Congress veterans after R.P.N. Singh suggested that the party should attack PM Modi’s policies and not him.

The failed ‘product’

Sibal’s write-up does offer some solace to Congress leaders because it reminds them of how Tatas, “despite the rough and tumble of the corporate world, still enjoy the trust of stakeholders“. But the leaders might end up feeling nervous if they read on.

The former Union minister says that an important strategic element necessary for the company’s growth path is its ability to ensure that its quality products are pushed to increase their market share. “A product in which the consumer has shown little interest must be discontinued and in time after the inventory runs out be replaced by a quality product. Attempts to continue with products with diminishing returns only add to the losses of the corporation.”

Ask a Congress leader to identify the ‘product’ that the party needs to discontinue because the consumer (read voters) has shown little interest in it. Everyone in the principal opposition party knows the answer but wouldn’t say it — not publicly.

“Before thinking of launching a product, an in-depth market survey be done and an assessment made of its potential appeal to consumers in the context of a competitive market. Shareholders start losing confidence and offload their shares when they find that the corporation is launching products that have little value, both in terms of quality and durability,” adds Sibal.

Sonia Gandhi remains adamant on re-launching a product that has been repeatedly rejected by the consumers. No wonder Jyotiraditya Scindia has already offloaded his shares and Sachin Pilot is in the process of doing the same. 

Hardcore Congressmen like Kapil Sibal would continue to showcase the company’s (read his party’s) brand value, hoping that the CEO would eventually learn. Incidentally, the popular TV serial actor he had defeated in Chandni Chowk in 2004, Smriti Irani, went on to defeat his CEO in Amethi 15 years later. It’s for incorrigible optimists like Sibal that Kashi Nath Singh wrote in Kashi ka Assi several years back: “Congress ka hkka toh kab ka bujh gaya/ ek hum hain ki gurguraye ja rahe hain.”

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