Once upon a time, Zail Singh declared that he was ready to pick up a broom and sweep the floor if Indira Gandhi so commanded him. He was made President of India.
How… O how the mighty have fallen.
This is how Rahul Gandhi and the Congress treat Hardik Patel.
This is how Hardik Patel treats the Congress party.
They laid out an invitation for him at a press conference held in their party HQ. He called them common thieves.
Again, Hardik Patel is an absolute nobody. He will disappear from the news the day after the Gujarat elections. That Rahul Gandhi and the Congress would let themselves be treated thus by Hardik Patel says a lot about the condition of the Congress Party.
They say Hardik Patel might have actually met Rahul Gandhi. We see some sort of an evidence of that via a hotel CCTV footage. From what I hear, Hardik denies this and he actually might sue the hotel for releasing CCTV footage that damaged his reputation.
There you go: A tiny leader like Hardik Patel feels that his reputation (what reputation?) would be damaged by meeting Rahul. That is the amount of stigma attached to the Congress today. No matter how much they try to polish it, the taint of lakh crore corruption scams won’t wash off easily.
Meanwhile, the media is generally busy fooling itself with stories of the three musketeers (Hardik, Alpesh, Jignesh) joining hands to propel Rahul into beating the BJP in Gujarat.
Only a few sensible ones, have seen the writing on the wall and have devoted themselves to the imminent need to console Rahul baba after defeat in Gujarat. See this:
Excellent work, Javed Ansari. You have blazed a trail for other flatterers to follow. Instead of bothering with the election, focus on consoling Rahul baba that he’s done well.
On counting day, don’t focus so much on the data coming from the election results. Focus instead on creating a “mahaul” in TV studios that Rahul baba has won.
These type of journalists may soon even come out with stories like: Even if Hardik Patel calls him a thief, Rahul Gandhi has still earned Hardik’s respect.