Punjab train trip: Rahul's bid to shed scion's image - Chandigarh Tribune

Days after he trekked 20 km to the Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today undertook a second class train journey to Punjab as part of his political revival strategy to look more like an aam aadmi and less like a Congress dynast.

A casually-dressed Rahul surprised his party strategists by suddenly deciding this morning to travel to Punjab to meet distressed farmers in line with the Congress offensive against the BJP government’s anti-agriculture policies.

A party leader told The Tribune, “His visit was undecided yesterday. But this morning, Rahul decided to go. There was no challenge for planning his trip because he decided to travel without reservation in the second class.”

Besides SPG guards, Rahul was accompanied by Lok Sabha member from Guna Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Moments after the Gandhi scion boarded the Sachkhand Express from New Delhi at 12.30 pm, images of him engaging with co-travellers, holding a boy in his lap, and conversing with youngsters went viral on the social media. What followed was a barrage of positive responses from Netizens, something the Congress has missed for some time since its Lok Sabha election loss.

“But things are beginning to look positive now. Rahul is clearly a changed man. He is more of himself and less inhibited. It’s good that he is going to the people because one accusation against us during the Lok Sabha polls was that we have become distant from the masses,” said a Congress leader watching Rahul’s transformation since his eight-week sabbatical ended on April 16.

Rahul, the Congress had said, was on introspection travel. Party men feel the introspection is showing.

“The rolling of sleeves has gone. Rahul has acquired an ease of manner. He is not conscious. He is being himself,” said a top party leader who has in the past criticised Rahul’s “now-on-now-off” brand of politics.

But the Gandhi scion is finally giving an impression that he’s fully into the Congress’ revival. Soon upon his return from the sabbatical, he has assumed from Sonia the charge of party’s anti-land ordinance and pro-farmer movement. His Punjab visit is an extension of that strategy and also a precursor to Rahul’s “kisan padyatra” to engage with farmers across India.

Rahul is working to shed the image of a political heir and positioning himself closer to the common man. His train journey comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Metro ride to Dwarka tells its own story about how important it has become for politicians to look like the “aam aadmi”. Mridula Mukherjee, a historian, said, “Rahul has always said that he is a political dynast, but he wants to end dynastic politics. He is making the right moves but must be consistent.”

Congress insiders, however, maintain that Rahul in the past also travelled like a commoner but is being noticed more because he is in the Opposition now.