'P

RASHANT' means pacific. Prashant Bhushan is anything but. 'Rahul', according to early Upanishads, means conqueror of all miseries. Rahul Gandhi knows he doesn't fit the bill though he does deserve applause as the rare opposition leader who dares to stand up to Prime Minister Modi's wilful rule. Prashant and Rahul thus strangely share a destiny. Should they unite their enormous energies, they may well save Indian democracy from getting crushed by a strident right-wing state.

Let's figure out if indeed there's a meeting ground for the two. The Congress though reduced to less than 10 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha remains the only party with reach from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

The Congress also represents a history of things that have gone wrong with India over the last several decades, which in turn have paved the way for