New Delhi: In retaking the three states of the Hindi heartland from the BJP, exactly a year after he took over the reins of the party - officially - from his mother Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the principal challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
He has even rivalled Mr Modi's status as the campaigner in chief, with Mr. Gandhi addressing over 82 rallies, crisscrossing five states, in the current round of five state assembly elections.
The journey for the Gandhi scion has not been easy. Under constant attack and ridicule from the BJP, Mr. Gandhi not only withstood the onslaught but also paid back the BJP in its own coin.
Often described in derisive terms as ‘Pappu’ or ‘Clown Prince,’ the Congress chief took the attack to the BJP with his witty repartee on social media during the Gujarat assembly election in December 2017.
Though his party lost, it was the best performance that the Congress put up in Gujarat since 1992. Personal allegations were also made against him and his family from the top leadership of the BJP. But Mr. Gandhi did not go down the personal insult route. Instead, he stuck to issues like jobs, farmer crisis, condition of small business.
He even expelled senior leader Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar from the Congress, for his use of intemperate language against the Prime Minister, and chided senior leader CP Joshi in Rajasthan for using caste-based language in the recent polls.
Mr. Gandhi’s big challenge came when the Congress fell short of a majority in Karnataka but swiftly, aligned with the JD(S) giving the smaller party, the post of the Chief Minister, and retained the key southern state.
Congress Party workers display Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s cutout as they celebrate after initial trends showed the party leading in the state Assembly election results, at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)
Asked about the level of discourse, at a press meet after the assemblt polls, Mr. Gandhi said, “ well I don’t use bad language or personal remarks,” adding that the BJP talks of a Congress Mukt Bharat, but "while we have our ideological differences with the BJP, that does not mean we want a BJP Mukt Bharat.” Attacking the Prime Minister he said "I have learnt a lot from Mr. Modi especially things that should not be done."
Giving a signal to his workers Mr. Gandhi said that the assembly poll outcome is a "clear message" to the Modi government that people are not happy with it and time has come for a change while asserting that his party will also win in 2019.
Attacking PM Narender Modi, Mr. Gandhi said that Mr. Modi got a massive mandate but refused to listen to "heartbeat of the country". He added that there are serious questions being asked about the future of country's youngsters as there was a sense of discontentment and inability to see the future. He said, “There is a clear message to Prime Minister Modi that people are not happy with his decisions, including demonetisation and those pertaining to farmers and youth. The BJP has failed to provide a vision for the country going forward.” Mr. Gandhi also praised Congress workers and likened them to 'babbar sher' (lions).
Now with the performance of the party in these assembly elections Mr. Gandhi has come into his own, ready to steer the Grand Alliance. The BJP can no longer get away with ascribing names to the Congress chief, they will have address issues being raised by him to counter his rising assertion in electoral politics.
‘Jeet gaya bhai jeet gaya, Rahul jeet gaya’
After many assembly elections, there was perceptible joy and happiness at 24 Akbar Road the headquarters of Congress. The workers gathered even before the sun rose at the party office. The road leading to the gates of the office were jammed with party workers coming in expecting a win in all three states. A havan ‘religious ritual’ also started even before the counting of votes had started to please the Gods and ensure that the party is in a comfortable position once the results are announced.
The workers distributed sweets and put up big banners of Mr. Gandhi on the walls of the Congress office. The Congress workers chanted 'Rahul Gandhi Zindabad'. Interestingly, a Congress worker also put up a banner that said, "Next prime minister of India" for Gandhi. Senior Congress leaders, including Navjot Singh Sidhu and Priyanka Chaturvedi, joined the party workers at the party office and expressed joy as the trends of poll results showed Congress taking the lead in the three states.
