Chandigarh: It was an image makeover exercise alright. And for a change neither the Congress nor Rahul Gandhi made a mess of it. The fact that BJP chose to launch a personal attack on him after Rahul visited the grain markets in Punjab, dodging the questions he raised on the plight of farmers should be a matter of satisfaction for both.
So what was different this time? The party kept it simple, unostentatious. Congress refrained from allowing the personality of the Gandhi scion overwhelm the issue on hand. Farmers had their space with Rahul without local Congress leaders falling over each other to be seen close to him. If there was a bigger message to be conveyed to people, the party did it subtly.
Perhaps it was a deliberate move at providing a contrast – BJP’s mascot Narendra Modi’s flamboyant, overconfident approach to the easy-going, straight from the heart one from Rahul. He did not fly to Punjab. He didn’t even take the ‘elite’ Shatabdi Express. Instead, he travelled in the general bogey of the ‘ordinary’ Sachkhand Express to interact with the Punjabis. He was dressed simply. During the journey, he was photographed talking with fellow passengers. He even held a child in his lap. This seemed to go well with the co-passengers and the media. He got down from the train at Ambala station and continued the rest of the journey to Punjab by road.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. PTI
He appears to have got the timing right. Earlier, he would have been ridiculed for putting up a show of simplicity. This time it’s different; there’s context. When he visited Dalit houses earlier or spent nights in homes of the poor, it was more of a private matter. The farmers’ issue makes his trips across the country more politically meaningful. It also helps that he is in the opposition. It allows him more elbow room to operate.
Political analysts in Punjab say the Congress deliberately planned all this in a simple manner to project Rahul as a leader of the masses and make farmers the new constituency of the party. By strongly opposing the land acquisition ordinance, the party has made its intention clear—farmers’ issue will be the stepping stone to the revival of the party and its leader. The Congress vice president, who is going to Vidarbha in Maharashtra to meet the farmers, plans to set off on a country-wide padyatra to protest against Modi government's alleged ‘anti-farmer’ policies.
Will it help the party in the state? Yes, they say. The Congress had lost the farmer connect all these years and the state is facing a serious agrarian crisis. The Akali Dal-BJP government has seen a sharp slide in popularity over the last few years. This is the best time for the party to rebuild the old equation with farmers. However, everything depends on whether the party is sincere with its intent or is it just a one-off event like it had been in case of Rahul’s image-building exercises earlier.
Of course, it has to settle the bitter factional rivalry between Capt Amarinder Singh and Partap Singh Bajwa. The former, a mass leader, had made an adverse remark about Rahul’s leadership qualities, preferring Sonia Gandhi instead to lead the Congress. He was not even informed about the vice-president’s visit to Punjab. He could spoil the party’s revival plans.
Speaking to Firstpost, Pawan Jain, a senior party leader from Haryana said, “The Akali-BJP’s government is on its last leg. The AAP has been a failure in the state. The Congress is the only alternative left to the people of Punjab. I am happy Rahul Gandhi is taking a lead in all important matters of the party now and making good public contact. This will help the revival of the Congress.’’
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