The reinvention of Rahul Gandhi: Too little, too late?

After the Congress debacle in Delhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi has suddenly come to the forefront and become vocal about every issue at hand.

This is very unlike Gandhi. When the whole country was almost up in arms after the 16 December Delhi gangrape happened, he took more than a week to react. That too, after the media questioned his silence.

What seems to have changed is the urgency with which Gandhi and the grand old party are trying to change its image. Also, his quick reaction Supreme Court’s verdict on Section 377 seemed like a effort to make a difference with the young voters and, of course, the LGBT community.

But has this effort, that the country has been expecting from him for the longest time, come too late? And is it too little to revert Congress’s bad image?

“Rahul Gandhi is trying to reinvent himself. But if it is too late I am not sure. The problem with the reinvention is that it is as an anti-corruption crusader, but we all know that it is because of the AAP in Delhi,” Vinod Mehta, former editor of Outlook, said on a debate the CNN-IBN show India at 9.

“You have to reinvent yourself with credibility. The country must believe in your reinvention,” Mehta said.

Senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury was of the opinion that Gandhi being more engaging may make some difference.

“He has to deal with very a negative climate. But what has changed is that we see a less reluctant Rahul Gandhi ready to take a challenge from up front,” she said.

Chowdhury was also of the opinion that some credit should be given to him given he was even able to get former Congress arch rival Anna Hazare praise him for his initiative on the Lokpal Bill.

The key reasons of public opposition towards Congress has been what affected the common man. During its rule prices of daily goods have sky rocketed, inflation has not been brought under control, making the common man suffer. Will Gandhi’s different approach make a difference with the aam aadmi? Some believe that it could.

“Rahul Gandhi seems to have devised a strategy that says better late than never. It is a positive sign. He says wants to bring in more changes. If he is indeed able to pursue the government to act on key issues like inflation and infrastructure, then a perception change is possible,” columnist Dileep Padgaonkar said.

“For the first time, during his press conference along with P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal, Gandhi wanted to show that the party and the government are one. I think he will make the government take some economic measures. If he can push through some other bills, like the Women’s Reservation Bill, he might push through,” Padgaonkar said.

Panelists on the debate were of the opinion that since the Lok Sabha elections are only a few months away, it will be an uphill task to make a difference now and felt that the change should have been made much earlier.

“I like Rahul Gandhi and it is not nice to see the Congress being decimated. But, we have to be honest, we have to see how the public is reacting. Rahul has done this so many times, he has changed the narrative so many times. But the problem is that he cannot change the UPA goverment’s performance in the last ten years. The Congress is now doomed to defeat, there is nothing much he can do,” said Mehta.

Among other factors that are acting against Gandhi is the way he has handled things before. His intervention into the ordinance against the Supreme Court verdict on convicted law makers and his gaffes on Muslims in Muzaffarnagar have not yielded the desired results.

“Projecting himself as an insurgent in the establishment has not worked out. Sonia’s advisers have been questioning it. The old guard is back in command with a new face that is Rahul Gandhi,” columnist Ashok Malik said.

At this point if Gandhi is made the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Congress, he will be pitted against BJP’s Narendra Modi, who has a huge public appeal. Modi has his record of work in Gujarat backing him and development is an agenda for the younger voters. Can Gandhi really hope to appeal to the youth?

Chowdhury said that while in 2009 youngsters were expecting Gandhi to bring in major changes, he didn’t and may not be able to match up to the Modi wave in the upcoming elections.

“Cutting ice with the young voters will be the real challenge. He may not create a wave. Rahul Gandhi’s challenge will be to go for the arithmetic to counter Modi’s chemistry,” she said.

Padgaonkar was of the opinion that Gandhi connecting with Anna Hazare was a good thing to see.

“What he has done in the past few weeks has done something to change his image to an extent. I expect him to take many more such steps in the weeks to come, but is it too little to late, perhaps,” he said.

Mehta said that the core problem was more about public ‘disgust’ with the Congress.

“What we are expecting him to do is revert the public disgust towards the Congress and that is an impossible task. These are PR measures that wont work,” he said.

Malik said it was Gandhi’s privileged background that will be a deterrent for him in connecting with voters.

“He will be carrying the burden of 10 years of Congress misrule. He is against a public mood that is anti-privilege. Modi has a much more compelling life story to tell,” he said.

Chowdhury said it would be a brave decision if Rahul Gandhi was made the prime ministerial candidate by the Congress during its upcoming meet in January.

“He is a marathon runner and not a sprinter. If he takes over leadership as the PM candidate it will be a valiant decision as he has huge obstacles stacked against him. The maximum he could hope for is to stop Modi from becoming PM,” she said.