Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has turned 50 today. Although he has publicly announced that he will not be celebrating the day, owing to the coronavirus pandemic and the clashes with China, people from the Congress party have extended their wishes.
Gandhi’s political career has been an interesting one to follow. He has been portrayed as a buffoon, a failure, someone who is incompetent to play the political game, and as a person who runs away to a foreign destination when the going gets tough. This propaganda that has successfully been pushed by the BJP even before they assumed power in 2014, has given Rahul the unenviable nickname ‘Pappu’. While ‘Pappu’ is usually used on children to showcase their innocence, it is a term to scorn the former Congress President. Interestingly, Pappu, it's believed, was invented by Congressmen angry with Rahul and was only later co-opted by the BJP, much like it does Congress icons like Sardar Patel
And let’s face it: the BJP’s propaganda machine is strong. People are easily convinced and the general perception is of the belief that Rahul Gandhi should not be in active politics leave alone lead a nation. Unfortunately for Rahul, however, the opposition propaganda hasn’t been this strong until the CAA and NRC protests began across the country. And even then, besides terming the government as ‘fascist’, nobody questioned the intelligence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Yet, despite the gaffes (and several politicians are guilty of it), Rahul has made sense on many occasions. Whether it is predicting the coronavirus pandemic or warning the government about the foreign takeovers during the lockdown, here are some instances where Rahul Gandhi has made sense
Predicting the coronavirus pandemic: Rahul Gandhi witnessed a rise in the coronavirus a month before the World Health Organisation declared it a global pandemic. On February 12, he tweeted, “The coronavirus is an extremely serious threat to our people and our economy. My sense is that the government isn’t taking this threat seriously. Timely action is critical.” During this time, the Government of India was busying itself for the visit of US President Donald Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump to Ahmedabad for the inauguration of the newly renovated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in the city. Two COVID-19 positive patients had even returned from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus, but they had recovered. India announced its first lockdown at the end of March.
Warning the government about takeovers: In April, he had urged the government to not let 'foreign interests' take control of Indian corporates during this time of 'national crisis'. "The massive economic slowdown has weakened many Indian corporates making them attractive targets for takeovers," Gandhi had warned. Soon after, the Centre made it mandatory to get its prior approval for foreign investments from countries that share land border with India to curb "opportunistic takeovers" of domestic firms. Following the news, Gandhi took to Twitter to "thank the Govt. for taking note of my warning and amending the FDI norms".
When he called Mahatma Gandhi an NRI: In 2017, Rahul Gandhi faced severe backlash when he called Mahatma Gandhi an NRI. At a gathering at Times Square, Rahul Gandhi said, “The original Congress movement was an NRI movement. Mahatma Gandhi was an NRI, Jawaharlal Nehru came back from England. (BR) Ambedkar, (Abul Kalam) Azad, (Sardar) Patel they were all NRIs. Every single one of them went to the outside world, saw the outside world, returned to India and used some of the ideas that they had got and transformed India.” But was he really wrong? MK Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and BR Ambedkar spent significant time abroad, with Gandhi spending nearly 25 years of his life in England and South Africa. So, technically, Rahul Gandhi wasn’t wrong to call him an NRI.
His interviews on Zoom: During the coronavirus lockdown, Rahul Gandhi has been praised for the way he has asked questions to economists such as Raghuram Rajan and Abhijit Banerjee. People have praised him, saying that he has asked the right question, has listened to the feedback and is open to criticism. However, the critique most people on social media have added is that Zoom calls won’t help him win an election. He will have to go to ground zero and meet people.
His press conferences: For all his faults, Rahul Gandhi has never shied away from a press conference. He has answered some of the toughest questions that have been put out by both the media and people in the audience, the latter of course was the debate he had with a Singapore-based economist. And while he has faltered while answering some of his questions, people have hailed the former Congress President of not backing down when it comes to answering difficult questions.
