Five signs that Rahul is finally learning to tackle Modi

Some would say that a Rahul Gandhi speech or interview is more predictable than the fate of cars in any Rohit Shetty film. Apart from the monotonous jap of ‘system’, the junior Gandhi’s interviews are sprinkled with phrases that rarely make sense (remember the gem about ’escape velocity’?), long K-serial like pauses which culminate in statements so absurd that they wouldn’t even make it into a K-serial.

Add to that lack of media skills, a hectoring personality like Arnab Goswami, Rahul Gandhi’s first ever TV interview in the poll season was an inevitable debacle that came second in Congress’ list of all-time PR nightmares only to that other infamous Rahul boo-boo about Muzaffarnagar riot victims being wooed by the ISI.

However, as the poll season heats up, Rahul seems to have brushed up his verbal skills in a last ditch attempt to stall the Modi ‘wave’. Proof being his not-so-subtle dig at the Gujarat CM’s long-time refusal to acknowledge his wife. Sure there are no cheeky ‘shehzada’, and ‘damaad ka karobar’ type of political metaphors, but it’s as close as Rahul has ever come to taking direct aim at Modi.

Possibly emboldened by the fact that he couldn’t do any worse than his earlier interview, Gandhi was quite at ease during his second outing with Headlines Today editor Javed M Ansari on Saturday night.

Though there were glimpses of the old ripe-for-Madhur Bhandrakar film analogies (eg: Gareeb sadak nahin kha sakta, Gareeb ko ek platform chahiye take-off karne ke liye), he mostly played on the right foot during most of the interview.

Here then are five reasons that show Rahul baba managed to pass his latest test – if not with flying colors, then at least a respectable grade.

One, he gave that dreaded ‘system’ an overdue holiday. Rahul’s constant railing against the ‘system’ - given he is the crown prince of the very same - made his statements about corruption seem borderline laughable. By leaving it alone, he for once didn’t come across as a dynast in denial, his every word undermined by personal hypocrisy.

And his new favorite word, ‘shakti’, i.e. empowerment, is a far, far better choice (at least in its Hindi iteration).

If you look at the Congress’ achievements, they would be instances of when the people have been empowered. This has been a trend since the freedom movement. During the freedom movement, people were empowered. During the green revolution, the people were empowered. During the telecom revolution, we gave them the power. And now, with the rights based paradigm, we have empowered the people. Our objective is that the country should be run by as many people as possible. 

Yes, that’s both overkill and and overestimation of his party’s role during the independence, but those sins are routine for politicians.

Two, Rahul offered his most coherent response to Modi till date.

Till now his strongest line of attack has been a student Marxist’s version of class warfare. ‘They’ want to be with the rich, ’they’ travel in AC cars and live in AC apartments, ’they’ shop in glitzy malls. While the ‘others’ stand across the road and see ’them’ grow by leaps and bounds as they die from hunger and poverty. Perfect to get impressionable college kids to vote for him as a general-secretary of the students’ union, but as strong poll pitch? No.

This time, Rahul cut down on the hot air and stuck to factoids. Rahul even did a Kejriwal and pointed to the humongous amounts of money being spent in a lavish, elaborate BJP media campaign. He then pointed out how the real Gujarat miracle is the growth of one industrial house from a Rs 3,000 crore enterprise to a Rs 40,000 crore enterprise. How Modi handed land the size of Vadodara to a certain business house for a paltry Rs 300 crores when its actual value runs into thousands of crores. And then he went in for the kill:

“Coastline the length of the Mumbai coastline was given to him. now, you talk about the state. Textile industry is finished. I have interacted with diamond cutters of Gujarat. They are perishing. Their children are dying of hunger. The farmers are crying. The state has maximum labour disputes. But, there is marketing. They come on tv and talk. So, this is the reality of the Gujarat model - favour two or three industrialists. It’s very simple. can you name any other industrialists in Gujarat ?”

The result: Rahul, for once, sounded like a real opponent, serious about taking his rival down.

Three, Rahul talked economic policy without once sounding like an irate NGO activist.

He set aside the vague talk about development and jobs to speak plainly about his economic vision:

We are talking about a manufacturing corridor from Delhi to Mumbai, Mumbai to Chennai, Chennai to Bangalore and from Delhi to Kolkata. We are building a manufacturing backbone. roads, power, water, dedicated freight corridor. We are collaborating with Japan. We are trying  to build the backbone of this country on the basis of manufacturing. Crores will find employment. Today everything is ‘made in China’. We want to change that to ‘made in India’. We believe that you build infrastructure, but if the human resources are not prepared, then what is the point? Where is our pool of human resources? In the villages, in rural India, among the poor. If you haven’t prepared them, then what can possibly happen later?

A ‘manufacturing corridor’ at least as concrete as Modi’s 5F idea which supposedly will have the world will queuing up to buy clothes designed and created in say a cotton-producing district like Vidarbha.

Fourth, he offered the strongest explanation to date of his decision not to declare himself as the Congress’ Prime Ministerial candidate. Gandhi has been extensively criticised for chickening out in the face of the BJP’s clarion call - that is anointing Narendra Modi and daring the Congress to fight him. In contrast, Gandhi’s earth-shattering silence on his PM ambitions has been mostly read as reluctance and even fear.

Rahul finally went on the offensive last night:

“If you read our constitution, it says the prime minister will be chosen by members of Parliament. What we see now a days- a prime ministerial candidate, is not really constitutional. MPs choosing a PM after the elections is constitutional. If our MPs choose me, then I will not back down from taking on the responsibility. But, the people have not voted yet. If I say, at this point, that I want to be Prime Minister would amount to me disrespecting the people of this country. In a way, I’m a servant to the country and I work for the people of the country and I respect them.”

In another words, the elevation of Modi as PM nominee is a mark of Modi’s hubris and BJP’s shameless pandering to the same.  Unless, Modi comes up with something better than his repeated pleas to become India’s ‘chowkidaar’ Rahul gets to win this humility round.

Five, Rahul nailed his ‘I’m just human’ moment. Like a sixteen-year-old being questioned about his first, awkward date, smile, he blushed and smiled when asked about the woman in his life. In contrast to Modi’s controversial silence about his personal life – and BJP’s strained attempts to make his ‘bachelorhood’ a sign of his saintliness – Gandhi came across as a real guy.

He said that he will indeed marry when the right girl comes his way, and talked charmingly about the role of destiny. As Bollywood well knows, India loves  a good love story, and Rahul held out the tantalising hope of a real-life one – the poor little rich boy still waiting for his dream girl ! The cherry on this particular cake: the on-cue blush when informed by Ansari that “thousands of Indian girls” are waiting for him to choose.

So Mr Gandhi you have done well. But have you done well enough to win? Unlikely. But at least the Congress now has a real leader. And given the state of the party, that’s pretty good news right now.