Rahul Gandhi entered politics in 2004.Fortune smiled on him and Congress formed the government. Instead f being a mere MP, Rahul Gandhi became the un- crowned King . As I keenly observed him, his behavior between 2004 -2014 was perfect.
But Rahul Gandhi faced a stunning defeat in 2014. Defeat really shows what your character is and Rahul Gandhi was un- prepared for the humiliations that defeats bring. In the old days, when a King loses a war, it is either death or jail. Defeat for Rahul Gandhi only meant less respect for him and also the sad sight of so many loyal sycophants, who fled and betrayed him and abused him.
Rahul lost the 2019 election too and became a non- serious actor in politics. Even the Opposition became tired of him. There was also the problem that Rahul felt uncomfortable being “un- important “. To solve all these problems, Rahul Gandhi was told that many politicians did Padayatras & became popular after that.
So Rahul Gandhi started the Padayatra, saying it was to remove hate in India and not for politics.
Gains for Rahul:
1. For 135 days, Rahul Gandhi got positive media coverage for free. Naturally, this creates a new image for him.
2. By doing the Padayatra, Rahul Gandhi also suppressed critics in the Congress Party.
3. During the Padayatra, very carefully daily, some actors or celebrities were allowed to walk next to him. This helped Rahul, since it conveyed a message that he was very accessible
3. The Padayatra was perfectly organized like an expensive movie shooting, with everything in place No incident was allowed to happen. Temple visits were done, to create a link between Rahul Gandhi and Hindus, who are suspicious of him.
Negatives of Padayatra:
A. The Padayatra was to change the image of Rahul Gandhi. But it did not succeed fully, since all the time ,while talking of peace , Rahul was bitterly abusing the BJP. Abuse and piety don’t go together.
B. At the start of the Padayatra, Rahul Gandhi met extremist anti- Hindu religious figures In Tamandu and Kerala, Rahul met largely Minority religious figures. He did not meet Hindu religious figures.
C. During 135 day Yatra, no ordinary Congress worker or minor leader ever met Rahul Gandhi. They were brutally kept at a distance. Tell me, how many workers met Rahul in Telangana or Andhra?
D. Most important, Rahul ignored the Congress leaders who dis-agreed with him. Rahul never invited them for the Padayatra and totally ignored them. Where is the love Rahul speaks about? He never made peace with his enemies in the Congress.
E. The leaders who surrounded Rahul Gandhi were Jairam Ramesh, K. Venuguopal and Digvijay Singh. Their main task seemed to be to ensure that no one they did not like came near Rahul Gandhi and they succeeded.
It was a political Yatra:
Though Rahul Gandhi kept saying that the Yatra was not political, it was totally political. The objective was to make Rahul Gandhi look like a super-human figure and force entire opposition to come to him. Some allies in the Opposition like Sharad Pawar, Tamil Chief Minister Stalin, Shiv Sena Thackeray met Rahul. But they were already allies. The other Opposition leaders refused to fall for the trap.
The trap was that Opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Bihar leaders, KCR, Kejriwal and others would come and meet Rahul. In this way, the country will see what a great leader Rahul Gandhi had become. The problem is that Rahul Gandhi is not a Mahatma Gandhi.
The idea was to show India that Rahul Gandhi has changed in 135 days and now the entire Opposition is behind him and he will be the Prime Minister candidate. There is nothing wrong with such ambition. But the Opposition leaders did not want to become “ film extras” in such photos!
Rahul Missed a chance:
Rahul Gandhi should have invited all the Congress leaders back and invited the G- 23 leaders personally. Rahul should have shown that his heart has changed. Growing a beard to show a person has changed is one thing. But has the heart changed? That looks doubtful. Rahul Gandhi should have said he is not a candidate for Prime Minister.
Moreover, the boasting was too much. Rahul Gandhi talked as if he was the only patriot and loves the country and everyone else was useless. At every media meet, Rahul talked of how much he has changed the country with his words. It was as if the country was very nice before Modi and became bad after Modi! And Rahul changed India.
Surely, Mahatma Gandhi or the greatest Indian Gautam Buddha never abused others or boasted how good they were! .
Rahul ready to marry:
But there is some good news. During the Padayatra, Rahul who is 53 years said that he will marry if he meets “ a nice intelligent woman”. Now, Rahul is free to marry anyone between 18 and 80 years. Surely in India, there must at least one nice and intelligent girl! Many women asked me whether Rahul will marry a Telugu girl. I said why not !
Time will tell one thing. It was a great walk across the country. But let us wait to see if Rahul Gandhi has changed.
Nothing has changed in the country. India is still a great country as it always was. The best in the world! It is not good to find evil in others and good in yourself