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Rahul Gandhi is a natural anarchist

Right from day one of Narendra Modi coming to power, Rahul Gandhi has been under scrutiny for his effectiveness as the de-facto leader of the opposition. Apart from the die-hard Congress retainers, who too are known to make fun of him in private, very few would give the young scion pass marks. General consensus is he has not only been a poor student but also a truant one. People have criticised his frequent and long secretive vacations. After all, a leader who wishes to be taken seriously cannot be missing in action at critical junctures. He has drawn flak for his “shoot and scoot” style, often referred to as ‘item number’ and “photo-op” politics. Many of his fiery interventions, though lauded by loyal cheerleaders, have invited general derision. The repeated postponement of his elevation to the top job has been the subject of many social media jokes. Apart from Bihar, where the Congress was the collateral beneficiary of the Nitish-Lalu Gathbandhan, and Punjab, which they owe solely to Cap Amarinder Singh, Rahul Gandhi’s strategic acumen has been severely challenged. Everyone seem to have written-off the prospect of a Congress revival under Rahul Gandhi’s stewardship. But, are we being entirely fair to Rahul Gandhi? Probably not. After the ignominious drubbing of May 2014, when visibly flummoxed Rahul reluctantly conceded: “the other party won” (refusing to refer to Narendra Modi by name), it would have been both unrealistic and a tad idealistic to expect Congress to play the role of a constructive opposition. As per grapevine, a mandate went out from the Congress High Command that, Modi should not be allowed to succeed at and must be stopped on the track at any cost. Not very different from pushback Donald Trump is facing in the US. To accomplish this mission of “derail Modi”, as some reports indicated, not only co-opting other political parties like the Trinamool, but also mobilising friendly journalists, bureaucrats with old Congress links, NGOs, intellectuals and think tanks. It is the submission of this writer, otherwise a vocal detractor of Rahul Gandhi, that he has succeeded a good deal in his disruptive and subversive strategy though not quite managed to stall Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi’s first salvo was his “Suit-Boot Sarkar” jibe, which not only resonated with a larger non-BJP constituency but also hit home inside the BJP. This was, possibly, the trigger to the start of an “image correction” drive by Modi to be seen as “pro-poor”. But, Rahul really struck blood when he and the opposition forced Modi’s hand to backtrack on the Land Reforms Bill. This started a back slide, first by pouring in unprecedented sums of money into MNREGA, which Modi had earlier taunted, making the Government look more Left than the UPA. Some even went on to suggest that this is the most Left of Centre Government till date we have had in Delhi. It may be argued that, Demonetisation itself was an offshoot of this leftward shift to steal the thunder from the opposition on the much flogged issue of corruption and accusations of this being a government is for a motley crowd of rich industrialists. The continuous Modi-baiting on his promise to act against black money forced Modi to pick up a Bhramastra, as it were, to take steam out of the opposition’s rhetoric. Similarly, the repeated digs at the ballooning NPAs of banks raising the refrain of “Modi-ji sirf industrialist ka karz maanf karte hain” forced Modi’s hand to declare “loan waiver” during his Uttar Pradesh campaign. Its fall-out has now reached Mandsaur via Maharashtra. Though there is every reason to believe the opposition engineered these agitations, there is no denying that BJP had to yield under pressure. It is rumoured, the bookies are out in Ahmedabad with bets on whether Gujarat will be the next on the list of farm-loan waiver. To Modi’s credit it must be said that, unlike Trump he did not get rattled, and has stayed the course. He may have made some compromises with bad economics for the sake of expedient politics, but has systematically put many building blocks and processes in place, like the Jan Dhan Yojana, Direct Benefit Transfer, Crop Insurance or systematically extending the Aadhar coverage despite opposition. These should stand the Government in good stead for future reforms. But, they have all come with cost attached. Now, whether these short-term concessions will secure long-term reforms is where Modi’s leadership will be put tested. Similarly, Modi has not allowed distractions of Award-Wapasi, Church Attack canard and Cow controversy distract him from his larger national and international agenda. After the setback of Land Reform Bill to get past the GST despite Congress and AITMC’s persistent attempts to waylay him has been a major achievement. Simultaneously, with Amit Shah, he has been pushing the BJP juggernaut ahead winning elections to get more states under his belt. However, some marks must be given to Rahul Gandhi. Arvind Kejriwal had promised to be the original anarchist. Rahul Gandhi has turned out to be a bigger obstructionist than him. If only he had some consistency and staying power something positive and substantive may have come out of it. Perhaps, the Upanishads will help. But, till then he and the Congress have managed to hold the country back by a few years more even after Congress rule has virtually ended for good. (Author is a writer and popular blogger on current affairs. His Twitter handle is @SandipGhose) Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.
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