The reinventing of Rahul Gandhi has been the most significant event in national politics ever since the heir apparent of the Congress Party returned from his sojourn to wherever he went when he sought time off to go to an unspecified holiday destination. Not only has his voice risen a pitch or two on his return but it is also getting more strident, particularly on the issue of farmers and the new Land Bill the NDA government is trying to push through.
For someone who had been driven to distraction when national elections were held as also many crucial state Assembly polls in the last two years, the rejuvenation cannot be said to have come in time. Rahul Gandhi 2.0 is, however, aimed at the “market” of the future and the changed imagery seems to be getting under the skin of the rulers, both in New Delhi and the states he is touring.
Mr Gandhi may have come off second best on the Amethi food park issue but, as in some totalitarian regimes where the belief is ingrained that the leadership passes through genes, the grand old party seems to have sold the succession to its rank and file.
Extolling the virtues of a dynastic leadership beyond a point may be perilous. However, the Congress, down and out after rejection in the Lok Sabha elections, seems to have found a modicum of momentum in the vice-president’s rail trips and padyatra into the rural heartland. It remains to be seen if Mr Gandhi’s propensity to spew venom at national and regional rulers will bear some fruit or prove counterproductive.
