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Congress President Rahul Gandhi interacts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his speech in the Lok Sabha on 'no-confidence motion' during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi. Image Credit: PTI

 Comment: 

Rahul Gandhi is the president of the Congress Party  -- he has been in politics for nearly 15 years; his father, grandmother and great grandfather all ruled India as Prime Ministers.

Gandhi was born and brought up in the public eye yet India is still puzzled as to what he stands for.

Gandhi has been seen in varying avatars. Currently he is the ‘Shiv bhakt’ undertaking the arduous and gruelling Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. He took a vow to undertake this pilgrimage after a near-death escape. 

This Gandhi avatar has the upset the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) no end as it endears Gandhi to the convinced Hindu voter, which the BJP considers its fiefdom.

In his earlier avatar, Gandhi would often portray himself as the ‘angry young man’ complete with a day-old stubble and rolled up kurta sleeves out to change the Congress system.

Perhaps, age –  Gandhi is 47 and the irony of the privileged dynast out to change the system, which had placed him as a precious heirloom at the apex — dawned on him and he jettisoned that avatar.

'Pappu'

The BJP under Modi and Shah expended enormous resources on an industrial scale to ensure that brand Gandhi was devalued as they projected him as "Pappu" (buffoon).

The BJP IT cell produced lies, jokes and memes to convince India that Gandhi was a ‘Pappu’ as I revealed in my investigative book ‘I Am a Troll: Inside the BJP’s secret digital Army’.

However, the obsessive attacks on Gandhi made by the BJP have ensured that the ‘Pappu’ image is history.

Consider this: the BJP fields 17 Cabinet ministers on an average after every Gandhi attack to convince people that Gandhi is “irrelevant” and a “failed dynast”. 

 “Smriti Irani [pictured here] has clung on to the Modi Cabinet after varied demotions because she is the official troll minister to Gandhi. Her frustration is that Gandhi has never responded to her shrill and hysterical attacks.”

Gandhi is now taken seriously because he is the only politician in India who has been consistent in his opposition to Modi.

Even in his "love guru" avatar when he crossed the aisles in Parliament and delivered the ambush hug to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi was trying to showcase his brand of inclusive Hinduism as opposed to the Hindutva agenda of the BJP.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi hugs Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his speech in the Lok Sabha. (July, 2018 - PTI)

Gandhi has been relaunched as many times in politics as I would have had hot breakfasts, but it’s only now that he has shed his image of being a reluctant politician.

Rahul: No rabble rouser

Unlike Modi, Gandhi is no bombastic orator, but perhaps the public mood is changing as people realise that fiery speeches and empty promises don’t deliver “acche din” (good days).

Perhaps, India is just tired of a loud voice hectoring them endlessly. Gandhi these days is perceived as genuine and sincere. 

Modi seems spooked by Gandhi as he obsessively makes personal attacks on the Gandhi family.

He called Sonia Gandhi a “jersey cow” and used awful slurs on the entire family.

When Gandhi taunted him, saying he was running a “suit boot ki Sarkar”, Modi jettisoned the Land Act.

The BJP had passed the land acquisition act which was attacked as being anti-poor.

Gandhi’s mocking of the monogram suit costing 10 lakh rupees (Dh50,945) that Modi wore during former US President Barack Obama’s visit saw the suit being auctioned off.

Gandhi has upped his social media game to catch up with the 900-pound gorilla BJP and has been consistently targeting Modi on the billion-dollar Rafale deal, which he alleges was done personally by Modi to award a sweetheart deal to a billionaire crony.

Gandhi has also repeatedly called out the lynchings that have become endemic during the Modi raj. Trouble is that Gandhi needs to have consistent focus to convince the voters. If you want to play at the top of the political league in India you have to be a 24/7 politician who is not allowed time off.  Gandhi seems to be slowly reconciling to this reality that he can’t vanish for vacations every three months. 

While Gandhi during the Gujarat campaign indulged in what the BJP viciously termed a “temple run,” visiting and praying at a record number of temples, the voters seem to like it.

The Congress is trying to ensure that the BJP cannot lay sole claim to the Hindu voter. This led senior leader Randeep Surjewala to say that Gandhi was a “janeu wearing Brahmin” (sacred thread).

Gandhi’s well thought-out move not to cede this space to BJP has got them so inordinately upset that Modi’s ministers are now claiming that Gandhi has not gone to Mansarovar and is uploading fake pictures. New low for political discourse in India, but par for the course in election season.

Gandhi has a daunting task ahead to take one of the richest political parties in the world to the top. 

He also seems to have a short attention span where his team and aides are concerned. They fall out of favour alarmingly fast. Gandhi is still totally dependent on his mother’s team. Her political secretary Ahmed Patel has been made Congress treasurer as the party’s war chest is totally depleted. His foreign outreach is managed by Sam Pitroda, his father’s friend. The heirloom politicians of Gandhi’s own generation still seem to require adult supervision of the Sonia Gandhi team.

Modi has a track record now of low to mediocre governance. His demonetisation was an utter disaster, the rupee is hitting new lows against the dollar and petrol prices are at an historic high. The agrarian crisis is spinning out of control, and there are no jobs for the army of young people looking for employment.

Gandhi needs to put Modi on the mat for his dismal governance. But Modi seems to be Teflon-coated with his neat headline management. The only thing Modi is manufacturing is new enemies dubbing citizens “anti-nationals” and “urban Naxals”. Gandhi needs to call it out.

Elections are a mere six months away and Gandhi needs to ensure that his alliances are in place.

But, as a Congress leader points out “the Gandhi family has first name recall in every remote village in India.” Whether that is a good or a bad thing is debatable in the new India.

Swati's book “I am a Troll - Inside the BJP’s secret digital army” has received international acclaim. Her twitter handle is @Bainjal.