RAHUL FINDS HIS VOICE
When a moderator asked during Rahul Gandhi’s interaction at UC Berkeley how he’d counter the “1,000 BJP workers sitting on computers to show him up as a reluctant and stupid politician”, the Congress vice-president said he’d engage in more conversations to make people understand who he really was. On the party president issue, Rahul said he was ready to assume the mantle.
The two statements are indicators that the Gandhi scion, unlike in the past, is finally ready to be the pragmatic politician who is willing to bend and adapt. He conceded that PM Narendra Modi was a better communicator than he, but also attacked the BJP government where it must hurt—on jobs, economic growth and communal violence.
There were other pointers to the turf where he wants to take on the Modi juggernaut. He started his speech by equating liberals like himself with the tribals whose wisdom saved them from the tsunami in the Andamans in 2004. He praised Modi’s ‘Make in India’ but criticised its orientation, saying it only promoted big businesses.
Rahul was also surprisingly candid in admitting that arrogance and a disconnect with the people since 2012 had led to the downfall of the Congress. For the first time—even if to take credit for bringing peace to J&K—he admitted that he’d been working closely with the Manmohan Singh-led UPA governments, a departure from earlier stands that he was unfairly blamed for UPA government decisions.
But perhaps the most striking admission was that he needed the party’s “talented old brigade”. “His so-called young talents have failed him everywhere. Let’s see if this is an honest realisation or simply a bid to placate us to ensure a smooth ascendancy to the throne,” says a Congress MP.
His sweeping remark that India runs on dynastic inheritance betrayed that he was perhaps willing to jettison earlier efforts to hold elections to the Youth Congress and primaries to select candidates for elections. The new spin on dynasties, possibly to justify his impending promotion, brought a gush of vitriol from the BJP. I&B minister Smriti Irani called him a “failed dynast”, who’d chosen to speak about his “failed political journey” in the US as India was not listening. Whether India was listening to Rahul or not, the saffron party had certainly tuned in, with its top leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, and several cabinet ministers launching a fierce broadside soon after the Berkeley event. “The BJP always says that what Rahul Gandhi says/ does is not important. But I am surprised that all their spokespersons, and even a cabinet minister, held press conferences to counter what he said in the US,” commented Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot.
—Kaushik Deka
The BJP may say Rahul doesn’t matter, but they lined up to attack his statements in the US