Rahul Gandhi is once again demonstrating the sort of initiative that his critics have often accused him of lacking. Over the last few weeks, he has been taking on a more active charge in the current monsoon session of Parliament. Last week, he chaired a breakfast meeting with leaders and MPs of 15 like-minded parties. It was a show of strength by the opposition at the Constitution Club, barely a kilometre away from Parliament, to ensure unison in both Houses of Parliament to corner the government over various issues and controversies, including the contentious new farm laws and the Pegasus spyware scandal.
In his first such interaction with the opposition after the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Rahul once again underlined a newfound readiness to take the lead in countering the government, as well as reaching out to the opposition parties. This is a seemingly new Rahul Gandhi, who is taking active charge of building opposition unity.
Breakfast with oppn MPs, cycle rally
The well-planned interaction over breakfast with around 100 Opposition MPs from 15 parties, including the Congress, was followed by a surprise cycle rally to parliament. It must have been a big relief for the Congress, given that leaders from 14 Opposition parties who were invited attended the meeting, including leaders from the TMC, which had skipped the ‘unity’ meeting called by Rahul Gandhi two weeks ago. Earlier, Rahul had attended two meetings of the opposition, where the parties had agreed to coordinate their protests in Parliament over Pegasus and the farm laws.
Also present at the breakfast meeting were leaders from the NCP and Shiv Sena, with whom the Congress is in power in Maharashtra. Only the BSP and Aam Aadmi Party were conspicuous by their absence. Mayawati has publicly said that she will not ally with any party for the Uttar Pradesh assembly election due in six months and she has been accused by some opposition leaders of playing for the BJP.
The Congress called the breakfast meeting a historic day, saying “this is the trailer for 2024”. The party’s spokesperson, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said that the event was a prelude to the picture that will emerge in 2024 and “a sign of the new resolve, the new direction, the new momentum and the new determination and grit”. At the meeting, Rahul Gandhi was reported to have said the Opposition represents 60 per cent of the voice of the country.
“And we are treated as if we represent nobody. When the government shuts us up in Parliament, humiliates us…not just humiliating us as members of Parliament…they are humiliating and shutting up the voice of the people of India and the majority of the voice of India,” he reportedly said, adding, “The more this voice unites, the more powerful this voice will become and more difficult it will become for the BJP to suppress it and the RSS to suppress it.”
Outreach initiatives
Significantly, Rahul Gandhi’s outreach to the opposition has come just a few days after Mamata Banerjee’s well-publicised visit to Delhi and her engagements with opposition leaders, including those from the Congress. It also coincides with the buzz in the opposition ranks that secular parties should come together against the BJP, and not wait for the Congress to set its house in order, resolve its leadership issues and assume leadership of the opposition.
According to political experts, the larger message from Rahul’s meeting was to his critics, including those from within the Congress who have often said that he is too reticent and unpredictable and does not engage with seasoned opposition leaders. There may be some substance in the accusation that Rahul, unlike his mother Sonia, does not enjoy a great rapport with other opposition leaders, but through his breakfast diplomacy and by attending opposition meetings for talks over unity in Parliament, Rahul has indicated that he is willing to engage with the opposition.
All together
It is said that the breakfast meeting was the brainchild of Rahul Gandhi, who has made a conscious effort to make the Pegasus 'Snoopgate' an issue of concern for the entire opposition. This is a marked departure from when he had made the Rafale deal a singular fight between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the cycle march from the Constitution Club to Parliament, according to reports, was added to the programme to make the event a grand spectacle, the Congress tried to send out a message that the event was a collective effort and couldn’t have succeeded without the coordination and cooperation of the opposition parties.
From giving equal opportunity to the invitees to make a short statement during the breakfast meet to photos tweeted by the party’s media cell, Congress leaders ensured credit to all. This is said to be part of a well-executed plan to keep the Congress party at the centre of opposition politics at a time when it is grappling with its own internal issues and shrinking base in states.
Pole position
However, the Congress managed to send out the subtle message to all that when it comes to taking on the Prime Minister and his party, the Congress occupies the pole position. As part of this strategy, reports suggest that the Congress think tank is taking baby steps to ensure the spotlight remains on Rahul Gandhi. The outreach by the party is being seen as an attempt to project Rahul as an accepted leader of like-minded parties. But there are question marks over who will lead the opposition charge against the highly popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While the Congress party is working in mission mode to bring Rahul to the spotlight as the race for the pole position among opposition leaders picks up pace, the question is whether he will be accepted as the leader of the united opposition in 2024. Given the Congress’s pan-India presence, even if quite weakened lately and Rahul Gandhi’s pan-India appeal, he seems to be the best choice the opposition has to lead the united opposition’s fight against Modi and his party.
While the Pegasus scandal and farm laws have given the opposition a rallying point and a weakness to exploit in the Modi government, Rahul Gandhi seems to have shed his earlier reluctance in building a rapport with senior opposition leaders. Political analysts are of the view that if Rahul is trying a new avatar – a leader who is not only respected by his own party members, but also by those of other opposition parties – there is also a change in the other opposition parties’ own response to his gestures amid the changing political landscape in the country, particularly after the BJP’s loss in Bengal and the Modi government’s mishandling of the second Covid wave. There seems to be a realisation among opposition parties that Modi may not be able to repeat 2014 or 2019 in 2024 and hence, banding with the Congress may help defeat Modi.
The author is an independent senior journalist
