“Rahul Gandhi is out to materialise Mahatma Gandhi’s dream. After 1947, Mahatma Gandhi wanted to dismantle Congress. Rahul Gandhi is doing the same.”
These had been the phrases of a assured PM Narendra Modi within the yr 2017, when he was main the Bhartiya Janata Party’s electoral march for Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. These had been the occasions when BJP celebration males, following their supreme chief’s stand, ridiculed Rahul for being immature and a novice in politics, as somebody who was unaware of the bottom actuality and posed no problem to Narendra Modi. Rahul’s each motion – election speech, look and even disappearance from the general public eye – had been made enjoyable of. The Congress chief, who just isn’t actually endowed with public talking expertise, was made a laughing inventory. So a lot so, that the BJP stored dismissing him as a problem or perhaps a roadblock to PM Narendra Modi’s electoral ambitions. It wasn’t solely the BJP, however even the media and political pundits thought of Rahul’s purported ineptitude the largest cause for BJP’s thumping victories within the final two Lok Sabha elections. The voters, too, appeared satisfied by the BJP, media, and pundits on Gandhi.
In 2022, Rahul Gandhi tried to vary this narrative. He sought to re-launch himself with the 3000-km Bharat Jodo Yatra, touted because the Congress’ largest outreach programme in over a decade. The BJP dismissed the Kashmir-to-KanyaKumari march as one other failed try at reviving the grand outdated celebration and Rahul Gandhi’s one more image-makeover train. Gandhi, nevertheless, stunned opponents, media and observers with the alacrity he confirmed on the yatra. He engaged podcasters and social media influencers like Samdish Bhatia, Kamya Jani Punjabi for interactions — a method the BJP has been utilizing since 2014 to ring a bell with the millennials. Gandhi bagged small however constructive media protection. By the time he and his supporters reached Delhi, there appeared a way of rejuvenation and hope within the rank and file of the celebration. The yatra — backed by the likes of Raghuram Rajan — pressured the BJP to take a second have a look at Gandhi. Instead of outright mockery, the BJP’s assaults had been measured and cautious.
Another impact of the yatra was seen within the BJP’s all-guns-blazing assault on Rahul Gandhi when he accused the Narendra Modi authorities of misusing central businesses to suppress dissent, in England. The celebration’s comebacks had been uncharacteristically sharp, thus proving it takes Gandhi extra severely than it publicly admits.
Just when the BJP was specializing in the onslaught in opposition to Gandhi’s allegedly ‘anti-national’ feedback on international shores, a court docket determination modified your entire political narrative on its head. Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to 2 years in jail for making an obvious casteist comment in 2019. He was disqualified from the Lok Sabha the following day. The Centre and the BJP had no function within the disqualification. However, the general public notion could not work like this.
The leaders of the Grand Old Party stand their finest probability to construct on Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification and switch public notion of the Modi regime as ‘undemocratic’ and suppressive. On social media, pro-BJP handles have already began defending the federal government arguing their celebration had no ‘locus-standi’ on the matter.
A second main final result of the choice might be a attainable unity among the many main Opposition events. Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress NCP, RJD, JDU and some others have already condemned the motion in opposition to Gandhi. More than that, it would enhance their insecurities in regards to the alleged use of central businesses by the federal government. The disqualification would possibly function a second to push Opposition events in direction of the elusive anti-BJP alliance.
The disqualification, in its third final result, can function Rahul Gandhi’s second of victimhood. This phenomenon has swayed public sentiments in favour of politicians — Indira Gandhi (Tussle with Syndicate in 1969), Jayalalithaa (Battle for celebration chair with Janaki Ramachandran in 1988) and VP Singh (Shifted to Defence From Finance in 1987) and so on.
All that Congress has misplaced is a single Lok Sabha seat. The BJP, then again, has so much to handle inside and out of doors Parliament.
Disclaimer: Views Expressed Are Personal Opinion Of The Writer.
