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It’s game on as Modi is way too competitive to let Rahul Gandhi ‘hug’ the limelight

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The pressure is well and truly on the Prime Minister to pull out a trump card or two when he addresses the Lok Sabha later in the evening.

New Delhi: It’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi who usually grabs eyeballs with his histrionics and oratory. But Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s hug to the PM during the no-confidence debate has given the BJP leader serious competition. The pressure is now on Modi to deliver a memorable speech later in the day, which can match or surpass Gandhi’s performance.

Modi has lately taken to playing the victim, successfully peddling the ‘rest-versus-me’ narrative, and was expected to do precisely that in his speech, considering several opposition parties have come together to move the no-confidence motion against his government. But Gandhi’s near-Mahatma-like speech, where he said “you can call me Pappu, but I don’t hate you”, followed by the now famous hug, has already set a big-hearted precedent, leaving Modi with little choice but to either up the victimhood ante or just steer clear of it.

Political speeches nowadays are rarely about substance, with style and spectacle being far more dominant, as was the case with Gandhi’s Friday speech as well. The PM always manages his histrionics in a way that helps tide over the lack of substance or depth in his speeches. But it can’t get more dramatic than the visual of Gandhi walking across the floor of the House to give the PM a hug. Modi will, thus, either have to pack a punch with substance, or raise his melodrama pitch higher by several notches.

There is little doubt this is an important platform for the BJP to push its electoral agenda, and nobody is more adept at doing it than the PM himself. He will list out his government’s welfare initiatives, will harp on his government being pro-poor, and will use the opportunity to take on the Congress and highlight its record of corruption and misgovernance. But with the hug dominating the discourse, these won’t quite be enough.

Besides the theatrics, Gandhi also focussed on launching a frontal attack on the government and the PM, listing out the negatives and also claiming the BJP’s own MPs are unhappy with the government. The PM is unlikely to let any of this go, and will be tempted to go on the offensive in an attempt to rip the Congress apart.

However, let us not for a moment forget that the PM has what Gandhi does not – the people’s mandate, huge popularity and tremendous goodwill among the electorate. Let us also not forget he knows how to manipulate the discourse effectively, and establish a connect with the voter instantly. While Gandhi’s words and speeches almost never translate into votes for his party, Modi has managed to swing many an election with his effective, feisty speeches.

Gandhi’s hug has been the highlight of the day so far, but Modi is way too competitive to let the Congress scion have his day under the sun. The gloves are off, the game is on.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Rahul looks quite like a Clown while performing such a foolish act, whereas PM IS UNDISTURBED by such a silly act. Telangana CM said he is a bafoon.

  2. cortisol was released in the mind of modi. rahul hugs modi so that the skin upper layer nerves receive the signals of the hug mesage and informs the mind to CALM DOWN, COOL DOWN! As a result the cortisol production would be stopped and modi will not be under stress. So this is the quieting strategy of rahul!. I spoke on stress management recently and revealed the hug strategy to all students in our city.

  3. cortisol was released in the mund of modi. rahul hugs modi so that the skun uppwr layer nerves receive the hug mesage and informs the mi d to CALM DOWN, COOL DOWN! As a result the cortisol production would be stopped andmodi will not be under stress. So this is the quieting strategy of rahul!. I spoke on stress management recently and revealed the hug strategy to all students in our city.

  4. Why do you people feel that only you or a PM or a Rahul are intelligent. Maybe your arrogance doesn’t allow you to understand. People are more intelligent than you jokers. People gave a mandate in 2014. Let people again give their mandate in 2019. Who is bothered with your observations.

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