6 august 2018 http://www.openthemagazine.com 25
against Gandhi for his alleged breach of parliamentary privilege.
What started with a bang against the Government is threatening
to end with a whimper for him.
Rahul Gandhi’s “jumla (falsehood) strike” charge of crony capi-
talism against the Prime Minister, too, sounded like an echo of
himself. Addressing party workers in Mumbai in November 2016
after demonetisation, he had alleged that the Modi Government
was run by and for 15 industrialists. “Narendra Modi is running
a government of 15 people. I cannot name them, but all of you
are well aware who I am referring to. The farmers and the poor
are suffering,” he had said. “Modiji brought demonetisation. Did
you see any rich person standing in queue? I will tell you what
is happening, the common man is standing in line and deposit-
ing money, and this Government will give this money to all rich
industrialists,” he added. Despite little to back this accusation, he
chose to reiterate this in Parliament. He seemed oblivious to the
fact that the ‘industrialists’ he was referring to had acquired their
wealth during Congress rule.
Rahul Gandhi ended his performance by crossing the aisle in
an orchestrated piece of drama to hug a seated Prime Minister.
Like Rahul’s wink soon after, it worked—but to Modi’s advantage.
Video clips of it went viral, drawing public attention to an event
that would otherwise have been of little consequence, since the
no-trust motion was roundly defeated on the floor of the House
as expected. Sections of social media were agog with the hug-and-
wink in Parliament; the Congress even put up posters of Rahul
Gandhi to highlight his intent to oppose what he’d called the
BJP’s ‘politics of hatred’. Little did they realise that it gave Modi the
ballast needed to tear into Rahul’s theatrics and expose the
hollowness of his ‘maturity’. The Congress chief had scored a
self-goal with his over-the-top actions, ruining a performance
that could otherwise have been remarkable for the confidence on
display while taking on a Prime Minister with such high approval
ratings even in his fourth year. At the end of the day’s parliamen-
tary proceedings, the Congress looked even more unprepared
for 2019 than before.
On July 22nd, the newly constituted Congress Working Com-
mittee (CWC) declared at its first meeting that Rahul Gandhi
would be their party’s prime ministerial candidate. But senior
leaders acknowledged in private that they were worried by his
choice of optics in the spotlight of Parliament. Social media does
not represent ground reality; while it could be a tool to engage
with the latter, it cannot supplant it.
In a 17-minute address at the CWC gathering, Rahul GandhiDefence Minister Nirmala SitharamaN refuteD rahul ganDhi’s
allegation of there being no secrecy pact between the
governMents of inDia anD france over the rafale aircraft Deal
GETTy IMAGES