Despite being pushed into a toxic political atmosphere by opponents, Rahul Gandhi has not become bitter and vindictive
Rai Umraopati Ray
Not long ago, Congress Party had
invited around 100 female journalists in Delhi to come meet their party chief.
It was an off-the-record conversation but several women journos, irrespective
of their ideologies and political leanings, if any, agreed that Rahul Gandhi
has changed for better – brimming with self-confidence, more nuanced, well-read,
unflustered by criticism, and with the ability to laugh at himself, a rarity
found in Indian political leaders. However, the most unusual yet a simple
remark came from a senior journo, who attended the meet, quipped to me that,
“Rahul Gandhi came across as a thorough gentleman”.
This is a huge compliment to a man
who has been at the receiving end of one of the most malicious, hostile, nasty
and mischievous propaganda of modern political history. From BJP leaders’
direct personal attacks, labelling him as “immature”, “babua”, “shehzada” to
highlighting false rape case against him, to mainstream news channels (especially
‘North Koreans’ ones) running continuous biased stories and commentaries, to a dedicated
army of social media warriors leaving no stone unturned to paint the Gandhi
scion as a naïve, juvenile personality who is unfit to be a mass leader. There
are hundreds of edited videos, memes, forwards floating around, some in very
bad taste, to demonise a well-meaning personality into a joke.
If one digs deeper, it is not hard to
find that Rahul Gandhi’s continuous character assassination is a part of a
bigger smear campaign to achieve two clear objectives – one to paint him as an
inefficient, incapable and uncaring dynast and second to destroy the
credibility, connect and affection of the ‘Gandhi’ name, which still resonates
in the hinterland of our country.
Yet, Rahul Gandhi has taken all this
and more on the chin and has come back fighting in his own imitable style
without losing an iota of grace. Despite being pushed into a toxic political
atmosphere by opponents, he has not become bitter and vindictive. With a smile
on his face, he is braving it all, slowly and steadily putting his house in
order and building a formidable opposition who can become an alternative to the
present regime. His criticism of his opponents are measured and purely
political. He is lauded for his political niceties and decency. Even NDA
leaders tend to agree that Rahul Gandhi is courteous, polite and comes across
as a dignified person. Political leaders across the spectrum may or may not be
confident of Congress Chief’s appeal amongst the voters but no one seems to
hold against him of being ungentlemanly.
In today’s times and age, when politeness,
manners, courtesy and etiquette are difficult virtues to find in a society, Rahul
Gandhi is earning the distinction of being called as a ‘thorough gentleman’ of
Indian Politics, at a point when his political capital is at its lowest, it
speaks volumes of his fine character, grit and determination akin to his
grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru.
As the popular line goes, anyone can
be heroic from time to time, but a gentleman is something you have to be all
the time. Rahul Gandhi is surely making a point.
The writer
is a senior journalist with keen interest in areas of education, healthcare and
CSR.
