Gujarat established Rahul as Modi’s alternative

The battle of Gujarat was the first one that Rahul Gandhi fought against Narendra Modi all alone. Mother Sonia was nowhere around. Sister Priyanka was not assisting him from behind the scenes as she did during UP polls. Rahul may not have won the election. But he won nearly 82 seats with allies in the final round up giving seasoned Narendra Modi run for his money. Frankly, Gujarat has transformed Rahul as a formidable Modi opponent at the national level.

After all, the newly elected Congress President literally gave run for his money to Modi. The Prime Minister was so scared of Rahul’s successful roadshows and rallies that he virtually packed up the entire federal government for days together and shifted lock stock and barrel to Gujarat for campaigning. Almost the entire Modi cabinet was camping in Ahmedabad and hoping from there to every nook and corner of the state--- all busy in taking on one man called Rahul Gandhi.

The most significant take away for Rahul from Gujarat has been his emergence as the national figure capable enough to take on Modi in the middle of his promotion to the Congress presidency. Rahul had two major perception problems, courtesy the BJP-RSS propaganda machine. First, he was projected as an immature politician who was out of depth from Indian social reality, a sort of outsider who was trying to jump in riding the Gandhi family tag. Second, the BJP had quite successfully managed to project Rahul as a brash politician like his uncle Sanjay Gandhi.

Gujarat was the place where Rahul Gandhi managed to shed both the notions about himself. He first realized that his own party Congress is in no position to take on Modi on his home turf. The Gujarat Congress was not just debilitated but was almost irrelevant after being out of power for 22 long years. He realized that his own party cannot match the BJP-RSS organisational machine in the state.

Rahul did have the Gandhi family charisma to hawk. It did pull crowds in earlier elections but failed to translate in victories for the Congress in places like UP. He, therefore, planned to woo emerging young Gujarati leaders like Hardik, Alpesh and Jignesh who had their own social networks that could take on the BJP-RSS organisational machine.

The strategy worked. The BJP faced peoples’ wrath in many places finding it difficult at times to hold its rallies. Besides, Rahul’s social alliance strategy transformed the dead Gujarat Congress into the formidable opposition inside and outside Gujarat assembly. Gujarat is no longer Modi’s fiefdom. Modi is besieged in his home state with an energised opposition backed by three major social leaders led by the Congress.

Rahul Gandhi’s second major gain was his own image transformation. He is no longer a political kid. Rahul is a leader in his own right who is now seriously taken as a politician capable enough to give Narendra Modi run for his money. Gujarat transformed him from a brash politician publicly tearing his own party prime minister’s ordinance to a soft-spoken and well-mannered politician who cares for the people and was willing to embrace the weeping lady teacher who was harassed by the Gujarat administration for years.

It is a great gain that no PR agency could have managed. It was Rahul’s own style of functioning and dealing with the people in Gujarat that did the image-building magic for him. Leadership is an art that cannot be gained through an MBA degree. It is either in your DNA or you imbibe it through public interaction. Rahul had the mix of both which needed a battle field like Gujarat where a new Rahul emerged.

Well, Rahul Gandhi has arrived at the right time and the right place. He is the Congress president who is now a serious challenger to Narendra Modi’s supremacy in Indian politics. Liberals and all anti-Modi forces are willing to rally round Rahul Gandhi who is capable enough to take on Modi in 2019, thanks to Gujarat elections.