The success of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s first forays into interventionist politics on his return from a two-month furlough — exemplified by his blistering speech at the fairly impressive farmers’ rally in the national capital last Sunday followed up with a seasoned display in the Lok Sabha the next day — has inevitably been projected by the media as a confrontational binary with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is a limited reading, given that the two men are playing for different objectives. After the botched attempt at securing passage of the land acquisition bill in the first half of the Budget Session of Parliament, the Prime Minister took the unprecedented step of re-issuing the ordinance pertaining to the legislation with minor changes. Were the government to stumble again in the latter part of the ongoing session of Parliament, it will be a setback of massive proportions for Mr Modi and his party. It is in the hope of forestalling such a prospect that the PM addressed a workshop of his party MPs last Sunday in which he urged them to go all out to project the government as being “pro-poor”.
In effect, this was a rallying call to the forces. It was also a signal to the BJP’s floor-managers that they would have a free hand in harnessing all resources to win over sections of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha to enable the passage of the controversial legislation in the second try. The interpretation that Mr Modi’s effort was to snatch or pre-empt Mr Gandhi’s élan doesn’t quite square up. For Mr Gandhi, on the other hand, attacking the Modi regime as being anti-farmer through a handy reference to the proposed land acquisition measure was a way to re-assert his position in the party, and to show that he has got what it takes.
He did impress, and succeeded in his objective. But this is just the beginning. The party’s vice-president would now be called upon to display consistency, in Parliament and outside, if he wishes to continue in the forefront not just in party but in national politics. If political signals are to be read right, for now Congress chief Sonia Gandhi remains boss. Her quietly assertive role at the kisan rally can leave no one in doubt about this. If Mr Gandhi breathed fire and brimstone, her summing up of the situation was masterly. The presence of former PM Manmohan Singh on the stage also hinted that the old order is not about to be displaced. This means the young scion is being asked to put himself to work and earn the mantle with public acclamation.
