No, it is not Amitabh Bachchan, not Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan not Ratan Tata or Mukesh Ambani or Gautam Adani, not Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli or M S Dhoni, not Sadhguru or Sri Sri Ravishankar or Baba Ramdev, not Sunder Pichai or Satya Nadela or Narayan Murthy, not Amit Shah or Shashi Tharoor or Arvind Kejriwal or Asaduddin Owaisi, not Raghuram Rajan or Ajit Doval, not Arnab Goswami or Ravish Kumar, not Sanjeev Kapoor, not A R Rahman or Sonu Nigam who have been in news continuously years after year, for decades.
This is the one man who has stolen headlines day in and day out. One Indian who is most talked about for various reasons. One man most ridiculed and made fun of in Indian politics. One of the most eligible bachelors in the country. He is projected as the next prime minister of India. He is seen as the youth icon though he is in his early 50s and half of his beard turning grey. One man who pulls a huge crowd, yet, has not been able to steer clear majority for his political party. One man who is most sought after for one byte or a full-length interview. He is the one whom every Indian of every age group knows yet wants to know more, one man who is loved and hated equally. One man who has been tirelessly working for his party without bothering the election outcome. One man who has unfailingly kept his opponents on their toes.
He is the one man to reckon with in Indian politics. He is Rahul Gandhi, often known as RaGa. He is the one who is vocal, outspoken and vociferous. He speaks on and on and on. He can be best described as the chatterbox!
Rahul’s critics call him Pappu; a name commonly used to address small boys. Pappu has slowly emerged as a derogatory term synonymous with failure or dumbness. But this Pappu, the prince of Indian politics, is undeterred by the salvo fired by his opponents. Thousands of people see a ray of hope in him while a thousand others see failure in him. Whatever is said, whether ridiculed or praised, Rahul Gandhi has been in the news every day, manages to steal some space on the front page of every newspaper; everywhere or somewhere. No bulletin, in some or the other news channel, goes without running a clip of Rahul Gandhi. He has been ubiquitous for decades, non-stop. This is not a joke, for sure.
SUCCESS AND SETBACK
What is the biggest success of Rahul Gandhi? His popularity. Whether right or wrong, whether good or bad Rahul compels his rivals to talk about him, His style makes him the cynosure of all eyes, his fearlessness that takes him anywhere and everywhere and his adrenaline that makes him unstoppable. No doubt, Rahul is the most recognisable face of Indian politics.
What is the biggest setback, then? Well, this is his speech. Whatever Rahul speaks, wherever he speaks, whenever he speaks comes into the limelight in no time. His utterances draw headlines for all wrong reasons. He is often ridiculed by the opposition or the people. Nobody knows whether he does it intentionally or is his slip of the tongue; whatever it is, Rahul has etched an impression that is a mix of anger, fun and criticism. Rahul is in the middle of a controversy. He is disparaged by his opponents time and again. One cannot deny that the Congress Party, which he is spearheading, has suffered a setback due to “Rahul Speak”. No doubt, Rahul Gandhi is a chatterbox!
MAKING WAVES IN 2023
Now that the parliamentary elections are due in 2024 almost all political parties have rolled up their sleeves for the upcoming battle. Undoubtedly, this is the biggest political mela to take place after five years and no politician can take it lightly. Rahul, too, is in full form.
The former Congress president shot into the news in August 2023 during a no-confidence motion debate against the ruling BJP government. Initiating the debate Rahul referred to the violence that took place in Manipur. He sounded furious in the Lok Sabha and blamed the prime minister that he is not treating Manipur as part of India. He said, “till you do not stop violence in Manipur, you are murdering my mother.” What Rahul meant was that Bharat Mata was being murdered. The Speaker of the House asked Mr Gandhi to exercise restraint in his speech, but he was unstoppable. Ignoring the Speaker, Rahul went ahead and said, “One mother is sitting here”. He pointed to his mother, an MP and former president of the Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, who was seated on the front row. Added Rahul, “The other one, Manipur, has been ‘finished’ by the BJP. “Till you do not stop violence in Manipur, you are murdering my mother”, he said.
In the course of his speech on no-confidence motion, Rahul compared Modi to Ravana. He said, “Just like Ravan used to listen only to Meghnaad and Kumbahkaran, Mr. Modi listens to Amit Shah and Gautam Adani.”
Bharat Jodo Yatra: To give a boost to the party campaign and to feel the pulse of the people Rahul Gandhi embarked on a Bharat Jodo Yatra on September 7, 2022, and continued till January 30, 2023. During the course of his Yatra, he covered approximately 4,000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. The second phase of the Yatra will take place from Gujarat to Meghalaya for which the dates are yet to be announced.
No doubt the Yatra added to the popularity of Rahul Gandhi as he managed to pull huge crowds everywhere he went. The unsaid purpose, to restore the fading image of the Congress party, too seemed to be fulfilled to a great extent. Whether it will get converted to votes is a million-dollar question. Answers will be out in March 2024 or around this time.
Making a reference to the yatra experience Rahul, in his speech during the no-confidence motion, said he had a lot of learning during this period. He said that he had the opportunity to realise the difficulties faced by a common person and get a peek into their lifestyle. Let us not forget that Rahul Gandhi has been in active politics for over 20 years. His father, Rajiv Gandhi, was the prime minister of India, his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, was the prime minister of India and his maternal great-grandfather, Jawahar Lal Nehru, was the first prime minister of the country. It is ironic that a leader with politics running in his blood for several generations needs to understand the people of his country, needs to understand the geography of the length and breadth of his country, needs to understand the diversity of his country, needs to understand the mood of the masses, needs to find the needs of the commonest of the common person, needs to unlearn what he has learned through articles or cooked-up fiction and much more.
Utterances lead to Suspension: In March this year, Rahul was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment by a court in Surat, Gujarat for a 2019 speech made against PM Modi on a defamation allegation related to his surname. This resulted in his disqualification from Parliament. Rahul had said, “Why do all these thieves have the name Modi?” during a campaign speech comparing Narendra Modi with economic offenders such as Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
In August this year, the SC stayed conviction, thus, allowing him to contest the next elections and reinstate him as MP for Wayanad, Kerala. It is not to be forgotten that Rahul had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from two constituencies, Amethi and Wayanad. He lost his traditional Amethi seat to Smriti Irani who is now a minister in the Modi cabinet. The saving grace was his victory over Wayanad which he won with over 60 percent votes. Amethi is the family constituency of the Gandhi family. Rahul contested from here in 2004 and retained it for the longest period till 2019. His father Rajiv Gandhi, mother Sonia Gandhi and uncle Sanjay Gandhi had contested and won from Amethi.
Says senior SC advocate and former Solicitor General of India that Rahul Gandhi’s comments were not expected of a public figure in position. “The highly disrespectful manner of talking… You are making false accusations and then you say I am in public life… Everyone knows, however much denies it, he dreams of becoming prime minister. Is this his stature to use this sort of language?”, questions Salve.
TUMULTUOUS PAST
Many utterances made by Rahul Gandhi have angered different political parties as well as the public. One such incident is that of WikiLeaks which happened in August 2009. During a lunch with the US Ambassador to India, Timothy J. Roemer, Rahul said that he believes Hindu extremists pose a greater threat to the country than Muslim militants. His words were revealed in one of 4,000 leaked US diplomatic cables. What the Congress leader meant was that saffron terror was a bigger threat than the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The emerging Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted sharply and demanded an apology from Rahul for ‘defaming Hindus globally’. The WikiLeaks reports surfaced in December 2010.
Things do not stop here. After the WikiLeaks episode the BJP gains power at the Centre and Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister of the country. After his election, Modi called himself the chowkidar (watchman on duty) of the nation. In reference to the same Rahul used the slogan Chowkidar chor hai (the watchman is a thief) in 2019. A bold statement indeed. He was targeting Modi about the alleged irregularities and favouritism in awarding the contract for the Rafale fighter jet deal with France. Once again, the Congress party leader earned the wrath of the ruling BJP government and a defamation case was filed against him. Rahul later told the Supreme Court that this was just a political slogan.
In 2017 during a visit to Tamil Nadu, he described Amma Canteen as Indira Canteen. Amma Canteen in Tamil Nadu provided cheap food to the people. The Indira Canteen was started in Karnataka. The former Congress party president and the prime ministerial candidate forgot it. Perhaps he hadn’t done his preparations well. The same year Rahul also came into the limelight for churning out gold out of potatoes. Addressing a rally, he said such machines will be installed which will roll out gold from one end when potatoes are inserted from another. His statement earned him the reputation of being a non-serious politician who has little understanding of the practical world.
As if it was not enough, during a Halla Bol rally in 2022, Rahul quoted the price of wheat flour in litres. Once again, the Congress top shot was ridiculed. How can somebody make such a silly mistake? But Rahul did.
Despite all this Rahul, the chatterbox, is seen as the de facto leader of the I.N.D.I.A. coalition. Perceived as an ineffectual and inexperienced politician Rahul remains undaunted in his political mission.
OTHER SIDE OF PERSONALITY
Let us be reminded that Rahul Gandhi was born on June 19, 1970. His father was Rajiv Gandhi, former minister of India and his mother is Sonia Gandhi, former president of Congress Party (INC). Sonia is of Italian origin. Rahul’s schooling took place in India. For higher education, he went to Rollins College in Florida (USA) to obtain his B.A. and did M.Phil. from Trinity College, Cambridge.
Likes & dislikes: Rahul doesn’t like jackfruit and peas. Has an interest in scuba diving, cycling, backpacking and martial arts. “I used to go with my friends for long-distance cycling. Back in Europe, I cycled across Italy”, says Rahul. He has a Black Belt in Japanese martial arts ‘Aikido’. He used to box in college as well. He earned his first paycheck of about £ 3,000 for working at a strategy consulting company in London when he was 24 or 25 years old.
The SECOND OPINION feels you don’t have to always become a politician, you can also become a changemaker. You can also become the change. So, if you really want to become a nayak (leader) in real life start with your constituency. Winning back your traditional bastion, Amethi, would not only restore Rahul Gandhi’s image but also give him the advantage of being a brute force who is capable of bringing a change for the better. Rahul still needs to evolve.
According to American best-selling author John C. Maxwell, “a leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way”. But then this is Rahul Gandhi. The man on a roll.
