Karnataka weather
proving too
hot for Rahul
By Vivek Sharma
Rahul wakes up in the morning, looks into the mirror. and lo and behold, he sees Modi instead. He bolts out of his living room in Karnataka and declares himself as the future Prime Minister of India. Everybody has the right to dream. Just let your mind be lulled to sleep. Your inner desires will then make a believable vision sequence. This is called dream. Enjoy it! Work for it. But, never be foolishly carried away by it. Rahul’s dream and the bribe-for-vote scam will somehow hit the Congress in Karnataka. Many in the Dr Fixit-ted opposition feel hurt by Rahul’s dream. When it was Gujarat, Congress leaders were puff-chested. They thought their newly elected party president would chest-butt 56-inch -famed Narendra Modi out of the poll ring. But, the results pricked the Congress’ bubble.
Rahul had to breathe in a lot of air to give his sunken chest a respectable 42-inch swell to handle the post-defeat media barrage. It is natural. Gujarat remained the Bharatiya Janata Party’s citadel despite Congress using Hardik and Jignesh to launch personal attack on Modi with the mission to humiliate him, upset him and make him err. But it didn’t work against Modi as he chose the air route over them, landed right on the Sabarmati and reconfirmed his popularity amidst people’s claps and opposition’s jaw-drops!
Gujarat repeat in Karnataka
Karnataka is not going to be a different breathing exercise for Rahul. He tried all the tactics which Modi had tried during the Gujarat poll. But, his unique try was his daring to hammer how he was the future prime minister of India—I saw Pakistan smiling right behind him.
But, he was more organised this time, had done quite a bit of data-mining to present himself updated, committed only a few minor bloopers and tried to establish himself as Modi’s parallel. This is an old tactics—when you can’t match a person’s quality, become his opponent to stay in news. This is called the law of ‘opposite intimacy’—opposites cling together like AB. You call A and the B comes to your memory. But, Modi has successfully been able to convey to the masses that he is matchless and way ahead of Rahul so far despite Rahul’s repeat personal attacks to gain that coupling proximity!
However, the big bribe-for-vote scandal involving Congress legislator down south ahead of Karnataka elections, only confirmed anti-Congress sentiments among the youth and the rural populations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP’s top poll spin doctor Amit Shah made the best use of the scandal in the last lag of the campaign. They say first impression is the last impression. But, poll dynamics say—the last impression is the indelible impression. This swings things in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karanataka. Those who can’t decide will say its a close fight.
Why Rahul is a bad idea
When you say farmers are demanding a “potato factory” in Firozabad and then blame the Modi government for farmers’ plight, nobody is going to take you seriously. Social media will manufacture jokes on the same line—Rahul ne kaha tiles ki kheti karvayengey, lohey kee nadi bahayegey etc. This leaves a bad spot on your image. This is what makes Rahul a bad idea in politics.
He embarrassed his party when he hugged a wrong person in a photo-op during his visit to a hospital at Una in Gujarat to meet the young Dalit men who were stripped and beaten by a group of cow vigilantes for skinning a dead cow. Do you think, Dalits will take his political hug for sympathy then? No. This is where Rahul suffers. Not only this, he hugged a woman, mistaking her for a relative of the victims. The woman, who was unrelated to them, had a criminal record including cases of extortion and rioting. Will this serve the cause of woman and Congress quoted ‘fight for justice’ then? No. The opposition and the media will find an opportunity to run breaking news the whole day. It hits your image. This is what makes Rahul a bad idea in politics.
It was a classic case in Mumbai. He was delivering a pep talk to the students at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. But, the goof-up man did it again. He said, "One day you're going to run this country, run the institutions, you will be the Steve Jobs in the Microsoft…." The video clip went viral and Rahul once again suffered an image bashing. Everybody wondered as to when Jobs joined Microsoft after co-founding Apple Inc?
When the Congress was mounting an attack on the BJP in parliament over the thrashing of Dalit youths in Gujarat's Una, the camera caught Rahul napping with his forehead resting in his palm. The Congress had cornered the BJP then by terming it as his meditative stance. But Rahul's act gave the BJP a chance to blow the issue and butcher his image. This makes Rahul a bad idea in politics.
In response to President's address in Lok Sabha, Rahul referred to Chairman P. Venugopal as "Madam Speaker". But, he realised his mistake and apologised. Rahul was reading out from a paper and the one who wrote it must have assumed Sumitra Mahajan to be in the chair that day. It was hardly a gaffe but it confirmed the impression that he reads out speeches written by others. This makes Rahul a bad idea in politics.
While slamming the NDA government for criticising Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme in Parliament, Rahul called it just NREGA, removing Mahatama Gandhi's name. While Rahul fumbled and corrected his statement, some members of the Treasury benches shouted, "Bhool gaya, bhool gaya.”
All these events show that Rahul Gandhi is trying to do what he is not able to. Yes. Many people appreciated the way he danced to the tribal beats in Karnataka. It was really awesome and showed that he may be a bad politician but a fairly good dancer. This makes him a bad idea in politics.
Taking cue from Modi
During the Karanataka poll campaign, he tried to touch the emotional chord like Modi often does referring to his upbringing and chaywalla days. But when you don’t mean what you say, you can’t move the crowds with your emotional incursions.
Rahul tried to play the same chord, “ My mother is Italian, she also lived larger part of her life in India. She is more Indian than many Indians I see. My mother sacrificed for this country, she has suffered for it.” But the BJP can always tear apart such claims by bringing in how Maneka Gandhi was thrown out of her in-laws place after Sanjay Gandhi’s demise. Maneka was even deprived of the property share and had to live with Varun in a room without furniture. Who made a bigger sacrifice—Maneka or Sonia? It is obviously Maneka.
There is something terribly wrong with Rahul as despite his best efforts, he commits a silly mistake and exposes himself. Now making a statement that the BJP has copied Congress’ manifesto only shows how immaturity hasn’t still left him. He should refrain from making irrational remarks, like, “PM Modi has anger inside him, he has anger for everyone. I am a threat to Modi, that is why he is angry on (with) me.”
There is nothing wrong if you promote yourself. But, it is utterly wrong when you launch a personality attack on somebody and paint him negatively. In the case of people like Modi, who have a huge fan-following in India and abroad, Rahul’s rudimentary remarks only expose him and affect him negatively. This is what makes Rahul a bad idea in politics.
What should Rahul do
He should take a break and introspect. Make necessary corrections and rise above anti-Modi politics. Anti-Modi politics is keeping Rahul’s better side hidden. Everybody has a better side. You can’t just dismiss one to be 100% fool. There is no doubt if Rahul gets the right advisers, he can gradually develop into an averagely good leader. The rest depends upon whether he is able to have a better vision for India. For that he will have to shed the pseudo secular mindset—Speaking for Muslims and bashing Hindus is secularism. Well, if he is able to do it, he can probably rank among the progressive leaders of our times. What we have seen so far is only the bad side of him. Rahul too should give it a thought. That is possible but seems improbable until he hops out of the anti-Modi fix.