On the eve of Rahul Gandhi’s birthday last week, I incurred the rage of his social media fan club. And for the oddest reason . It impressed me that the Leader of the Opposition made the effort to go to Kota and address a huge rally of students about the needless difficulties they have faced with paper leaks and an education system so lousy that coaching centres have replaced colleges .
A Comment That Sparked Fury
So, when a clip of him standing before a vast cheering crowd popped up, I paid attention and was surprised that his speech was in English . So on ‘X’, I said that it would have been better if he had spoken in Hindi. My post was viewed by nearly half a million people, but along with this came the fury of his fan club . I was accused of nurturing a special hatred for the Dynasty and of being a ‘bootlicking’ Modi bhakt .
Let me get denials and disclaimers out of the way. I have no ‘hatred’ for the Dynasty, but believe that by putting the interests of her children above the interests of Congress, Sonia Gandhi has ruined the only political party that can take on the BJP juggernaut . As for being a Modi ‘bhakt’, I have not been one for years .
Why the Congress Continues to Lose
It is my sincere hope that the Congress Party finds ways to strengthen its roots enough to put up a real fight in Uttar Pradesh next year and in the general election in 2029. For this to happen, Rahul Gandhi needs to stop imitating the worst traits of the BJP and copy the best ones . The worst traits include deploying venomous, vicious trolls on social media and creating a cult around the ‘dear Leader’ .
If the Congress Party has lost election after election after election in the past twelve years, it is because too much time has been spent burnishing the image of the ‘dear leader’ and not enough spent on building the party . There are millions of Indian voters who are tired of the Modi cult and would happily vote for the Congress Party if it revived . Revival must begin at the grassroots, and that is the hard work that has not been done . This is work that the BJP does on a constant basis, and this is why it is such a formidable electoral machine .
The Values That Matter
Of late, I am forever running into people who say to me sadly that they are sick and tired of religion being dragged into politics and that they would happily vote for the Congress Party if it got its act together . For this to happen, we need to hear less about the man who is the ‘heart of India’ and more about the values that Congress once stood for: liberal democracy, secularism and tolerance of dissent .
