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Rahul Gandhi 2.0 is saying the right things but lacks in preparation to take on battle-hardened Narendra Modi in 2019
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  • Rahul Gandhi 2.0 is saying the right things but lacks in preparation to take on battle-hardened Narendra Modi in 2019

Rahul Gandhi 2.0 is saying the right things but lacks in preparation to take on battle-hardened Narendra Modi in 2019

Shivam Vij • January 24, 2018, 18:55:21 IST
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Rahul has promised a new Congress party in the next six months, by which time general actions will be less than a year away and Prime Minister Modi would be in the middle of his election blitzkrieg.

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Rahul Gandhi 2.0 is saying the right things but lacks in preparation to take on battle-hardened Narendra Modi in 2019

Almost every year, once a year, Rahul Gandhi seems to up his game, only for the momentum to quickly fizzle out. From his US trip to the Gujarat elections, Rahul seemed to have turned a new leaf, but once again he’s making little impact. He says and does all the right things, but amidst the daily storm of news he’s again been unable to create positive headlines around himself and his party. This creates the impression that Rahul Gandhi has ‘disappeared’. While he’s very much around, the disappearance is from public consciousness. The trip to Bahrain was a flop show in that sense. His attempts to replicate the success of the US trip didn’t work. Do you remember what Rahul said in Bahrain? Me neither. [caption id=“attachment_4266353” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]File image of Congress president Rahul gandhi. PTI File image of Congress president Rahul gandhi. PTI[/caption] Word is that the Congress president plans to address NRI audiences every now and then, similar to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi did soon after he assumed office. But Modi wasn’t doing these foreign tours before he became prime minister. NRI votes, more often than not, are inconsequentially small in number in the larger scheme of things. Meanwhile, Rahul’s visit to his own constituency, Amethi, created more negative than positive headlines. Open battlefield on Twitter is good but the BJP has now shifted the game to WhatsApp. In the past few weeks, there were legal developments that favoured the Congress party, suggesting there was no illegality in the Augusta Westland defence deal, 2G spectrum allocation and the Adarsh Housing society in Maharashtra. As the BJP continues to paint the Congress as the party of corruption, these provided a golden opportunity for Rahul to play victim. He failed to do so. One legal issue he did jump into, he should not have. Rahul had no need to address the media politicising the press conference held by four judges against the Chief Justice of India. This only damaged the issue of independence of judiciary the four judges had raised. If you listen closely to what Rahul has been saying, he says all the right things. He talks about farmers and jawans, he asked Prime Minister Modi all the difficult questions about Doka La and unemployment. He offers his own vision for job creation through Small and Medium Enterprises and so on. But somehow he is unable to set the agenda. Perhaps it is the choice of words or venues; perhaps it is the lack of consistency as he’s seen jumping around from Bahrain to Amethi. The Congress would say it’s the media’s fault, the media is too pro-Modi and anti-Congress. But that is also how Modi felt before he became prime minister, and proceeded to do things that the media wouldn’t be able to ignore. For instance, if Rahul Gandhi and his party knew how to exploit the moment, they would have announced a nation-wide pakoday pe charcha on unemployment in light of Modi’s controversial remark about job creation. The prime minister, during an interview with Zee News, had said that the person selling snacks on the roadside too, should be considered employed. Rahul has promised a new Congress party in the next six months, by which time general actions will be less than a year away and Prime Minister Modi would be in the middle of his election blitzkrieg. Along with rejigging the Congress party and its organisation, Rahul will be leading from the front in the Karnataka elections. Meanwhile, he also has to create a national narrative against the incumbent. That’s three things too many for the Gandhi scion. He needs people who can take some of this work away from him and he should ideally be focusing on only one of these tasks. Even in the BJP system for instance, there are at least two people, Modi and party president Amit Shah, managing the show. Focusing on state elections is not the same as carefully constructing a national narrative for 2019. Playing Opposition at the Centre, exploiting the weaknesses of the ruling party in one’s own favour, is a full-time job that cannot be divided with fighting state elections and looking after the nitty-gritty of the party organisation. Even if the Congress wins a state election or two, it may not necessarily help the the Grand Old Party win 2019 because people vote differently in state and national elections. Local issues such as Patel anger in Gujarat may not work the same way in the Lok Sabha elections. Putting all attention in Karnataka comes with more risk than reward for the Congress. Should the Congress lose Karnataka it will not only be Siddaramaiah’s loss but also that of Rahul Gandhi. Then, thereafter will be Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and Chattisgarh polls. In this state by state fight the national story will be ignored. In 2018, Rahul Gandhi has no excuses left. He’s become the president of the Congress party unchallenged, no longer shackled by the old guard of the party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is clearly facing anti-incumbency, struggling with issues such as unemployment and rural distress. There are no regional interlopers such as Nitish Kumar or Arvind Kejriwal trying to hog the anti-Modi space. It has never been easier for Rahul to create a national narrative in favour of the Congress party against the Modi juggernaut. From the pace of things, it does not look like Rahul is getting ready for 2019. Perhaps he is looking at 2024.

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Elections UPA Congress BJP Narendra Modi Indian National Congress InMyOpinion Rahul Gandhi NDA Amit Shah 2019 Lok Sabha elections
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