Turbocharged And Touchy-Feely, It’s A Made-Over Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi made his electoral debut from Amethi in 2004. A reluctant politician, I still remember how driving from the Lucknow airport to Amethi, it was Priyanka Gandhi who was goading him on to wave more aggressively to the crowds milling on both sides of the road showering rose petals on the brother-sister duo.

He went on to win Amethi but he remained an indifferent politician as was obvious when he made a high- profile visit to the two adjacent villages of Bhatta Parsaul near Greater Noida in May 2011. The villages had witnessed widespread farmers’ protests in May 2011 when their land was being forcibly acquired by the Mayawati state government. Police firing resulted in the death of two farmers, and 40-year old Rahul Gandhi arrived there four days later to get a first hand impression of what happened. I was part of the press contingent who covered his visit. The farmers were not particularly enthused by his presence only because they felt that he had done little during his six-year tenure in Parliament to gain their confidence. Several farmers saw him as a dynast who enjoyed power without a sense of commitment.

We are now witnessing a turbocharged Rahul Gandhi, who has finally agreed to accept the constitutional post of the Leader of Opposition in Parliament with cabinet rank allowing him to select parliamentary committees and also be part of selection committees that decide heads of crucial institutions including the CBI, CVC, CIC, EC and the NHRC.

In his new avatar, he is reaching out to the people, conveying to the public at large that here is a leader who is willing to show concern and compassion for the problems that they are afflicted by.

He visited Hathras on July 5 to meet the families of victims of the victims of a stampede that caused the death of more than 121 lives. His trip, stopping at Aligarh to commiserate and provide support with two families who lived there, and then went on to write a letter to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath asking him to provide the affected families the “best possible compensation”. He was the first senior Opposition leader to visit the site where the accident occurred.

Just prior to his visit to Hathras, he went to Gujarat where a Congress office had been attacked and party workers attacked following his comments during his reply to Motion of Thanks to President’s address in Parliament that the BJP do not have a monopoly over Hindu religion, that “aap Hindu ho hi nahi”. His speech triggered a political firestorm as he accused the BJP of spreading “violence, hatred and lies” which were against the basic tenets of Hinduism. During his Gujarat visit, Gandhi gave a clarion call that in the next round of elections, the Congress would sweep Gujarat as they had won Ayodhya. It was obvious that he was willing to take the fight right into the lion’s den.

During the last 10 years, Gandhi has been consistent in his criticism of the BJP-RSS combine and the brand of poisonous Hindutva they have spread. It has been an uphill battle for him during which period he has been a victim of cruel jokes and crude propaganda. In order to offset his “Pappu” image, he undertook the ambitious Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar through the slogan, “Nafrat ke bazaar mein, mohabbat ki dukaan”. This was followed by the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai which focused on social justice. There was no shortage of naysayers insisting that he should have focused on strengthening the Congress party, but these yatras did succeed in presenting us a persona of a decent and accessible leader who provided a softer alternative to Modi’s muscular nationalism. During this lengthy walkathon, he did not hesitate to pass the mike around to the public in order to listen to their comments and grievances.

Next, he paid a day-long visit to Manipur where ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities has claimed more than 200 lives since May last year. This was Rahul’s third visit, a contrast to the prime minister who has still to visit the state. Gandhi lost no opportunity at taking a dig at Modi urging him to visit this strife-torn state and offer some solace to the people.

He seems determined to become the “people’s politician”. Whether it be meeting Agniveer victims or visiting the New Delhi railway station to meet aggrieved locomotive drivers in order to understand first hand their grievances, he is willing to hear different points of view unlike Modi who only believes talking down to the public.

He also made a high profile visit to his constituency of Rae Bareli on July 9 where he met the family of a solider killed in Siachen and offered prayers at a Hanuman temple. The temple visit was significant because the BJP had put up posters and banners across the city questioning him on his religious identity and whether he considered his Hindu voters to be violent.

During the last year, Rahul Gandhi has been trying to create a new social base by reaching out to the Dalit and OBC vote bank. This is true across all parties and there is little doubt that the OBC representation in the 18th Lok Sabha has increased from 23% to 26% matching that of the upper caste representation. Dalit representation has increased from 15.8% to 16.2% while Adivasis represented a minor increase from 10.3% to 10.7%.

Success for the Congress party can only come about if they pay much greater attention to two key issues. The BJP may have lost 20% of the seats it had won in 2019, but it has lost only 0.8% of its vote share. The CSDA-Lokniti post poll survey points out that despite ten years of anti-Muslim bashing and an autocratic rule, the BJP in 2024 still succeeded in garnering a vote share amounting to 23.59 crore which is 70 lakh more votes than it did in 2019 when it received a vote share of 37.36% of vote share which was 22.9 crore voters. No doubt the Congress vote share increased from 19% to 21.5% even though it contested only 100 seats but the fact is that much more work needs to be done on the ground to break the stranglehold of Hindutva ideology.

The other crucial problem will be just how the Congress party will deal with their regional allies. Rahul is known to consult very few people and is often known to take impulsive decisions. He cannot afford to forget that what he says and does will have a bearing on other political parties.

The upcoming state elections will go a long way in proving what impact his initiatives have had on the ground. There is little doubt that the BJP has reached saturation point in states of Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. Success in the upcoming elections in Haryana and in several other assembly elections will go a long way in helping reinforcing Gandhi’s leadership and that of his regional allies. Already the present Congress leadership seems to have pushed the party to the left and it is hardly seen as a centrist, upper-caste party any more. Gandhi will need to take all factions together and that will require much more skill than he has shown so far.

The job of keeping the INDIA alliance will prove a tricky one and what shape it will take in the days to come remains unclear. They need to keep it together in order to be able to fight Modi both inside and outside parliament.

Rashme Sehgal is an author and an independent journalist

Published on: Saturday, July 13, 2024, 03:23 AM IST