If sources are believed, after almost 7 months of sabbatical, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is all set to once again assume the mantle of Presidentship of the oldest political party of India. Plans are reportedly underway to reinstate him back to the position of Congress president as the Gandhi scion launched a blistering attack against the BJP in Jaipur today.
However, Rahul’s trenchant criticism of the saffron party was filled with the same old trite assertions and worn-out accusations that were manifestly rejected by the people in the 2019 General elections. But Rahul ploughed on stating that an 8-year-old could also tell that the demonetisation was harmful.
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Read- The fall and fall of Rahul Gandhi
In fact, Rahul kept repeating his past mistakes as he proceeded to politicise rape incidents in India and tarnish the country’s image by calling it “rape capital of world”. “The reputation & image that India had in the world was that it is a country of brotherhood, love & unity, while Pakistan was known for hatred and divisiveness. This image of India has been damaged by Narendra Modi. Today, India is considered as rape capital of the world,” Gandhi said.
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Perhaps, Rahul’s latest assertions betray that even 7 months of furlough is not enough for him to reflect upon his past follies and refrain himself from committing them again. In fact, if anything today’s speech by Rahul Gandhi reinforces is that far from course-correcting as per the requirements, the sabbaticals have only emboldened his convictions, only to be subdued later with a string of electoral failures. Rahul’s obduracy to learn from the failures and alter his narrative accordingly has added to the woes of the Congress party.
One of the crisises that Congress is facing with regards to acceptance of a 5th generation dynast like Gandhi as the party’s chief is his own credibility that has taken a severe thrashing ever since he appeared in the Indian political landscape. While Congress’ historical ubiquity and its hidebound tradition of servitude towards Gandhis has ensured that Rahul Gandhi remains relevant in the Indian politics, but the very same attributes have also played a pivotal role in Rahul’s stunted political growth, notwithstanding his own diminished ability to draw lessons from the setbacks and correspondingly make amends to it.
Congress has also heavily relied on the opposition to orchestrate Rahul’s comeback. It has been woefully reactive in setting the agenda and has always played the catching-up game with the agile BJP, in which it failed inevitably. Even today, the growing clamour of Rahul Gandhi’s return as the party president is on the back of anti-CAA protests in country. The Congress party is simply hoping to ride on the resentment wave generated in certain sections of the society following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act and somehow salvage Rahul’s battered credentials. However, until Rahul radically upends his approach, it is anybody’s guess what this return will culminate into.