Rahul’s alchemy in Modi’s Deewar, that’s Gujarat
KHEDA/ANAND/VADODARA: Has Rahul Gandhi changed? Or are the people of Gujarat looking at him differently? Whatever be the case, or the outcome of polls, his spirited campaign against the game’s past-master, Narendra Modi, has come to be perceived as a watershed effort.
Unlike some of his spotlight-seeking party colleagues, Rahul has got the lines right to touch a chord with his audience. His is, to draw a parallel from the film Deewar, the understated Shashi Kapoor act to the PM’s fiery Amitabh Bachchan. Except perhaps the blockbuster Gabbar Singh Tax jibe inspired by Sholay.
The newly-elected Congress president may or may not get the kind of mandate he desires. But he does receive nods of approval for seeking answers on issues that move people. As a young Patidaar in Nandiad, Sunit Patel, remarked digging into a Gujarati snack at a roadside kiosk: “Rahul ke paas mudda hai, jaise Shashi Kapoor ke paas maa thei .... ”
By the same token, the PM’s Bachchan has reasons to feel wronged by Congress tweeples and the likes of Mani Shankar Aiyar. He makes the most of it at election meetings, whipping up emotions to exhort fellow Gujaratis to teach a lesson to those who tattooed him with abuse.
He doesn’t mind engaging in bombast which is shockingly incredible — and reminiscent of his past poll narratives replete with references to Pakistan. Rahul refuses to be provoked and resorts to Munna Bhai-style Gandhigiri: “I won’t utter a word against the PM. I’d defeat my rivals with love...”
But there’s a difference: Modi is the BJP’s sole force multiplier while the Congress leader has Hardik Patel to help lift his party’s challenge. Of the three, the Patidaar icon shines brighter.
What stands out in the din and bustle is Hardik’s youthful appeal. His oratorical skills laced with biting repartee fetch crowds that are a mix of castes and classes. His target invariably is the PM who, for sound political
RAHUL GANDHI MAY OR MAY NOT GET THE KIND OF MANDATE HE DESIRES, BUT HE DOES RECEIVE NODS OF APPROVAL FOR SEEKING ANSWERS ON ISSUES
reasons, desists any direct slugfest with him. Instead, he goes all guns booming for Rahul.
Illustration: To the PM’s Gujarat ka beta pitch, Hardik asks whether the Patel and Dalit youth who lost lives under BJP rule weren’t sons of the soil. He also acted in tandem with Rahul in his attack on the delay in the release of the BJP manifesto.
Travelling across Saurashtra and in North, South and Central Gujarat, I randomly quizzed people on their impressions of Rahul. What prompted me was a stray remark by my cabbie, Kamlesh Sawant. “People are listening to him. They feel they were the real Pappus for not having heard him earlier.”
A Maharashtrian domiciled in Gujarat, Kamlesh is no Congress supporter. So, I bounced his comment off people of different persuasions: politicians, journalists, students, farmers and businessmen. A witness to many electoral battles, Kheda-based freelance journalist Gautam Brahmbhatt dittoed Kamlesh: “Pahle Pappu aata thaa. Iss bar leader aaya hai .... ”
Rahul hasn’t greatly improved as an orator. He speaks in Hindi which is no patch on Modi’s Gujarati that flows like Narmada water. What drives then his new found traction?
The answer isn’t hard to fetch. Finding resonance with the electorate are issues he repeatedly underscores: jobless growth, uneven development, low contractual wages, farm distress, local corruption and rising cost of education. A pro-BJP cumin trader in Mehsana’s Unjha taluka agreed that Rahul’s version rang true about certain ground realities. People connect with him on hearing him raise questions affecting their lives.
In fact, at the PM’s well-attended public meeting on the outskirts of Anand, I ran into Himanshu Shah. A small trader and traditional BJP voter, he seemed upset and mentally removed, unlike the roaring crowds, from Modi’s poll script.
“People here are troubled by many things. I wonder whether the PM knows of it and the possible impending losses for his party,” said Shah. In the same go, he talked of Rahul’s rally the previous day in Anand at which he “talked with his audience rather than lecturing them and going away.” Interaction apparently is the Congress leader’s substitute for oration. He strikes a dialogue, reaches out to shake hands and pose for selfies with listeners. In Anand, he stopped by for a quick bite at a pav-bhaji vend.
But as we stood on a narrow road beside the ground where the PM addressed the meeting, Kamlesh, my cabbie who knows Gujarati, said: Modiji bolte achcha hain. That I thought was the magic of Modi. Can Rahul match it? Or beat it on the PM’s hometurf where the Congress lacks leaders with gravitas. That exactly was the question raised by a pro-change confectionary shop owner in Ahmedabad: “We want the BJP out. But where’s the option?”