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HomeOpinionRahul Gandhi had another chance to look different from Modi. Comeback shows...

Rahul Gandhi had another chance to look different from Modi. Comeback shows same old problems

Rahul Gandhi's 'interviews' with Raghuram Rajan, Abhijit Banerjee and Rajiv Bajaj underscore all that is wrong with him, mainly the disconnect from ground reality.

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Rahul Gandhi is trying to reinvent himself. Yet again. And he is making the same mistakes. Yet again. The big problem with the Congress leader’s nth ‘comeback’ is that he refuses to leave his big problems behind.

Rahul Gandhi’s slew of ‘interviews’ — with economists Raghuram Rajan and Abhijit Banerjee as well as industrialist Rajiv Bajaj — underscore everything that is wrong with him. His entitlement, amazing ability to live in his own comfortable bubble instead of connecting with the masses, and desire to listen and talk to only those who agree with him have been among his biggest failings. Unfortunately, Rahul n.0 is coming across as no different.

Rahul Gandhi attempting to make a comeback itself is amusing, considering he stepped down as Congress president, despite several in his party pleading him not to, and sulked for a long time after that. Essentially, his exits and entries are entirely based on his whims and fancies, a message that gets reinforced repeatedly.

This latest remodelling shows he is obviously gearing up to sit on the throne again, and for that, he has decided to make his mark by taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

However, while Rahul Gandhi’s intent isn’t wrong, his method is. His idea of trying to corner the Narendra Modi-led government on uncomfortable issues such as the slowing economy and the jobless workers’ crisis is the obvious political move any serious opposition would and should make, but his manner of doing it is silly and ill-advised.


Also read: Lockdown flattened the wrong curve — GDP instead of Covid: Rajiv Bajaj tells Rahul Gandhi


Problematic image, flawed method

What Rahul Gandhi has always suffered from is the burden of his image — of being an entitled dynast, disconnected from ground reality, unable to understand realpolitik, lack of consistency, and refusing to get out of his cocoon. Not many voters have taken him seriously as a politician. I have travelled across several parts of India to cover elections, and found many echoing that sentiment.

Modi’s soaring popularity didn’t help Gandhi’s cause even as he has pitted himself directly against the BJP’s trump card.

What Rahul Gandhi needs, if at all he insists on continuing in politics and leading the Congress, is a complete facelift. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like things are headed that way.

Consider this. Rahul Gandhi is engaging with all like-minded people — his ilk of elite and uncomfortable-with-Modi personalities. Raghuram Rajan resigned as RBI governor in 2016 and has since been criticising the Modi government. Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee’s Left-leaning approach to economy suits Rahul Gandhi and he played a crucial role in conceptualising Congress’ NYAY scheme ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Rajiv Bajaj and Rahul’s families go back a long way and the bonhomie they shared during their interaction was clearly visible.

The Congress scion also held an interaction with public healthcare experts Dr Ashish Jha and Johan Giesecke.

In all these interactions, Rahul Gandhi is operating well within his comfort zone, and not really doing anything to reach out to the masses. Twitter hashtags such as #RahulShowsTheWay weren’t very effective either.

These attempts are nearly as bad as BJP spokespersons interviewing BJP ministers. And Modi gets away with a lot of ludicrous stuff simply because of his popularity and a well-oiled social media machine working round the clock to keep his ‘development man’ image intact. Rahul Gandhi doesn’t have that advantage.

Therefore, what the Congress leader needs to do is connect with his voters, hold virtual rallies, and find a coherent theme to corner the Modi government. Gandhi must also allow dissenting intellectuals and journalists to interview him, and hold free-wheeling media interactions (digitally). Moreover, instead of making it all about his grandstanding, he should focus more on selling the Congress, the good work done by his party’s chief ministers in handling the coronavirus crisis and letting them take the centre stage.

It’s hardly an argument that Prime Minister Modi is the most undemocratic leader and refuses to take questions from the media or get rid of his monologues. But this is all the more reason for Rahul Gandhi to stand out and make an effort to distinguish himself from Modi.


Also read: BJP questions, BJP answers — party’s new social media experiment as Modi govt completes a year


Why Rahul Gandhi?

At some point, the Congress must explain why Rahul Gandhi is investing so much in making a comeback, and if he is, why he is not officially heading the party at an unprecedented time like this.

Rahul Gandhi gave up the post of Congress president a long time ago. Right now, he is just another parliamentarian. This raises a question: Why is ‘just another’ Congress MP taking on the mantle and trying to emerge as the torchbearer of his party during a pandemic, when so many of Congress’ chief ministers are actually fighting the crisis in their respective states?

This again points to the same problem — entitlement. Rahul Gandhi, by virtue of being Rahul Gandhi, will act as per his fancy, choosing to walk out when he is upset and deciding to waltz back in when he wishes to.

Not that him leading the Congress is anything short of a disaster, but the right thing to do when you want to hog all the limelight is to first at least take on the responsibility and accountability of a crucial position.

The Congress leader needs to think hard, entirely re-imagine his approach to politics, and stop being so self-indulgent, if at all he wants to remain a politician. Because this way, he harms the Congress by repeatedly reminding the voter how ineffective its leader is.

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80 COMMENTS

  1. I mean who are you ‘Mr. Columnist’ to judge Rahul Gandhi? He is a person who is always in front of people. Good or bad he is there. Let people of the country decide whether he is worthy or not. We never see the other angle in which he takes the blames and trolls and unlike the fascist Modi govt, he never blames back or jails anyone.
    Why is that one perspective formed about a person can never be changed? All the “critics” in the comments who trolled RG in different ways, I have a question for them. Are they all perfect in their profession? Don’t they make mistakes? Isn’t there a process of learning for them?
    Its very easy to sit back on the couch and troll people ( irrespective of their profession and status) and equally hard to step into the real world and do the task.
    By the way, even Modi isn’t doing a great job. And worst of all, he doesn’t even have time to learn anymore😂

  2. Why are you trying to prop up an immature person who isn’t a leader material. Columnists like you are nostalgic about the perks that used to be thrown at darbaris to write columns and create a positive opinion about the Royalty.
    Time have changed and darbar is a history now so please get used to the present reality.

  3. If I were Rahul, 2 main issues concerning our nation our society would be the priority. Tax base increasing from present pathetic 6^ therabout and next stop freebies and instead up skill and re skill. Corruption and dyanst next. He should lead austere life. No family and be a monk. Yes for public service to society The leader has to keep his family away. U will see him re emerging.

  4. Rahul is very glad to continue as the “de facto” Congress President but is scared to take over as its “de jure” President. Its the same old bimari. “Power without responsibility.”

  5. The author is spot on. The lockdowns and especially the migrant crisis was a very good opportunity for the Congress to win over the people of India. With their vast network across the country they could have organised food distribution programmes to the migrants. Instead, we never saw or heard of Rahul Gandhi during the initial lockdown period.
    From his video conferences and other public interactions, I think Rahul Gandhi is of a below-mediocre intelligence. He has lost credibility and he only helps BJP in getting votes. Whenever he opens his mouth, those who voted BJP are glad that they voted BJP.

    • How long khangress can whip a dead horse. Lot of people who had supported khangress earlier are now asking, why the joker is still there. I told them, the moron is still there because of his illiterate Italian barmaid mummy ji. There is no other reason. And the leadership will be shared only by the ghandy phamily.😁🖕

  6. I beg to differ on the author about Rahul Gandhi’s disconnect and his problems continuing the same way. First of all, the media is not giving him true credibility and allowing him to present the facts for obvious reasons. That is the reason why the chap has to resort to social media and not approach journalists. The same case was reported during Rafale deal alleged scam when politicians claimed that no media was allowing it to be exposed and hence they had to undertake physical visits to different parts of the states. Also, it is RG who has visited the migrants, spoken to them to know their woes. But of course the media never projected it the way it should have. About the leadership aspect, RG is trying to take charge not because he gave up and is desperate, but someone has to. If such was the case with the Congress about leadership, it would have never given opportunities to Manmohan Singh and other previous leaders and projected themselves.

    • “Also, it is RG who has visited the migrants, spoken to them to know their woes. But of course the media never projected it the way it should have. “- Did you see the photos of the migrants that Pappu visited on the streets of Delhi arriving in a SUV? Did not know Pappu had sold his Aaloo-se-Sona banane waala machine to his followers that these poor migrants could come to meet him for the photo-shoot on Delhi’s streets, in a airconditioned 70 lakh SUV! No wonder people like you are so devoted fans of Pappu.

  7. It appears the author is nudging congress to change its leader and fight Modi…..perhaps the author’s worry?

  8. it seems that print started judging personality of leaders like other media which become either mouthpiece of bjp or pm

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