Rahul Gandhi, entered the arena of politics 10 years ago. Then he was hailed as the symbol of the aspirations of the Indian youth. People, particularly the youth, expected Rahul Gandhi to change the way politics is done in India. He had also created the right noises initially to gain an image of a new age politician who could bring back respect to Indian politics. But now, after a decade, after his poor performances as an important politician and a member of parliament cause a loss of that image. Main stream media and social media are full of negative articles about Rahul Gandhi. Infact, recently, Rahul Gandhi jokes have become more popular than CID jokes and Aloknath jokes. He has become a laughing stock for not only his opponents but also for them who are no more amused by his superficial speeches and his cute little dimples.
The rise of negative opinion about Rahul Gandhi is largely the consequence of the perception of lack of sincerity in his efforts which has now begun to solidify. The youth and the educated masses have often asked a question about Rahul Gandhi- what has he done? Apart from holding high positions in apolitical party which has always been ruled by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty (in post independence parlance), where he is the scion of the dynasty and being the member of parliament from Amethi, which is again the family stronghold, Rahul’s achievement and credentials are hard to find.Rahul has never took up any challenging post, neither in centre nor in any other congress-ruled state, this could have added to the credentials as a reformer.
Rahul Gandhi as a member of parliament from Amethi has also failed to camouflage his lack of accomplishments. According to official government records, since the formation of the 15th loksabha in 2009, Rahul Gandhi has utilized 39.18% of the funds available under the Member of Parliament local area development scheme. While the average of Uttar Pradesh is 56.27%. Amethi, ever since independence, has chosen members of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, who passionately talked about equality, upliftment of the poor and empowerment of the oppressed. Perplexingly, despite this level of commitment over the decades, the 4th generation Nehru-Gandhi scion is still able to find so many poor people to break bread with during his rural visits.
Another factor that worked against Rahul Gandhi is his silence. He choose to remain silent on issues of national importance- a series of corruption scandals, then the Anna movement and finally the Delhi rape case-all were linked to Rahul’s image. During the protest against the Delhi rape case, youth directly attacked Rahul through there slogans and banners. “Where is Rahul Gandhi. Youth leader. We are here.” Rahul’s contrived silence and lack of oratical skills has earned him an image of a soft and confused leader in the public perception.
To counter this perception and to look decisive and strong he took shield of some gimmicks like negating the ordinance that intended to protect convicted MP’s and MLA’s in front of media (sources says this was carefully choreographed). But these gimmicks didn’t the way Rahul thought. As a result, youth is ready to accept a 60+ Modi as its favourite hero and role model. With rally and speech Modi seemed to gain popularity. Infact, people are even giving a second thought about Kejriwal, even after his disastrous performance as the Chief Minister of Delhi for only 49 days than the “young Gandhi”.
Election 2014 is perhaps the crucial phase for Rahul Gandhi’s political career. Till date Rahul’s worst possible performance was as the chief-campaigner in the five state assembly elections 2013. Exit polls on May 12 of elections 2014 are showing the trend that he is going to repeat his own history.
On a concluding note, his skipping Prime Minister’s farewell dinner blatantly showed that his reluctance and aloofness towards politics and people related to politics. After all, in his only televised interview, he gave the impression that he is leading the party because his birth gave him no choice, rather than because of any ambition.
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