Rahul hugs hate away but tough love wins elections

Congress president is projecting himself as a formidable candidate against Modi government in India

Those who love Modi can see no wrong and will not be open to any criticism. The reverence is absolute which is unhealthy because it lets culpability off the hook.

The issue in India today is not caste or religion or even the gratuitous acts of violence that get attention but are all nourished by a dangerous dichotomy. The syndrome of reverence for politicians on the one side and blind hatred on the other has created such a massive divide it has become a crevice in Indian society. Never has this polarisation been so overwhelming in its toxicity and it is sharply reflected in the two-man confrontation that now eclipses everything or stains it…the Modi-Gandhi endless war. No one else counts and have been made secondary to the enunciations of a prime minister who inadvertently promote his adversary by recognising every comment he makes and rising to the bait and a young untried greenhorn who is earning some respect for taking on the chin every clod of dirt thrown at him and coming back for more. Congress President Rahul Gandhi hugs Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Modi uses it as a weapon in a public rally by scoffing it. Result: more publicity for Gandhi.

This absurdity spirals beyond control and is spurred on by a media that just cannot have enough of it. What Indian democracy witnessed last week in the 12-hour marathon of a parliamentary session where the accusations against the prime minister in justifying the no confidence motion were valid but drowned into becoming inconsequential by histrionics and theatrical conduct was unprecedented. It was a non-event ballooned into a second coming. The bear hug Gandhi gave Modi and the subsequent wink became of the essence.

Now whether it was the Rafale deal with France, the outrage on Andhra Pradesh over the step-motherly treatment from the Centre, the ease with which brigands cheated the banks and vanished to London or the failure to provide 20 million jobs these demanded answers. Mr Modi was oratorical but said nothing of value. Knowing full well that this was a battle he could not lose since the numbers were already in the bag and then some, he could afford to take the Mark Anthony ‘friends, Indians and countrymen’ route and not really be accountable.

It is here that the divide kicks in. Those who love Modi can see no wrong and will not be open to any criticism. The reverence is absolute which is unhealthy because it lets culpability off the hook. Those who hate him are hostile to the point of paranoia, refusing so completely to acknowledge his strengths and his achievements, the strides India has made in four years and the eminence the country has gained on the international scale.

The ‘tails’ or flip side of the Modi coin is Rahul Gandhi. Call him a clown, an undergrad kid on the block, an upstart or a buffoon, the love hate equation also plays a role albeit in a different fashion. Nobody hates Rahul Gandhi. You either mock him or you endure him. Fact is he is hanging in there and with every passing moment gaining traction. As chartered accountant Koshy George responds on a piece I wrote: “Rahul Gandhi is much maligned. His late dad was thrust into power. At least this ‘boy’ is willing to be in the trenches and fight on unashamed. May I ask: young David faced a giant goliath with five stones and a slingshot. What is wrong if an “inexperienced, incompetent, ignorant dares a 56” chested giant?”

The underdog syndrome, the Rahul Gandhi scrubbed youthfulness, his cheeky approach to the high and mighty, they are paying off.

In an exercise in Delhi last week on the day of the motion I invited 10 young people from the common man variety to listen to the debate in Parliament which is still on. Four domestic helpers, one cleaner, one gardener, one office boy who had an off day, one delivery boy for pizzas and the gardener’s two friends who are jobless.

All ten had an opinion; all ten were pro-Modi because there was no alternative. The first two hours passed with a stoic patience in listening to the lengthy speeches and lower house of parliament Speaker Sumitra Mahajan trying in vain to control the unruly conduct that manifested itself every now and then.

No change in the vote. 10 to 0. Then around lunch Rahul Gandhi began to speak. He genially insulted the PM, then upped the stakes by attacking him squarely on the French Rafale deal and went a step further by stating for the record that the PM explain why he supported big businessmen. The assault on the PM rode on the back of statements by Rahul Gandhi that the Modi regime had promised $25,000 in every account and 20 million jobs to the youth, neither of which happened. As Gandhi went hoarse the ten little witnesses began to have a visible change of heart.

Whether Prime Minister Modi’s impassive expression was adequate defence against the gloves off aggression one cannot say but even as he stonewalled sand and held his own with his now well known enigmatic smile, my ten had broken into 7 and 3. The minority but more vociferous and now into argument with the seven who having discovered they have lost three quick wickets were on the backfoot. Even more, it was only Gandhi from the opposition ranks that all ten wanted to hear. To them and no one else is the face of the anti-Modi brigade.

These are little factors but they express themselves in the coffee shops and the little conclaves of the average joes when they sit together.

As the prime minister droned into the night the group of ten were six and four. The cleaner has decided he likes Gandhi’s honesty.

Will that be enough for India?