Not just a wink in daylight, a declaration of triumph

Congress president Rahul Gandhi's wink following a fantastic speech during the no confidence motion on Friday was a sheer delight. It won over many critics who earlier thought he was a fuddy-duddy politician and felt that the wink would connect him with the youth who appreciate such gestures more than boring speeches.

But the wink, metaphorically, has a long association with the Congress. Writing in this newspaper at the time when Gandhi ascended the office of the party president, I had said he and the party must stop winking in the dark. That was a cautionary note sounded decades ago by veteran Congressman and freedom fighter Kakasaheb Gadgil, father and grandfather respectively of veteran party spokespersons VN Gadgil and Anant Gadgil.

Kakasaheb always insisted to his complacent party leaders that not taking credit for the good works done by the party was like winking at a girl in a dark room – neither the girl sees it nor does anyone else and the gesture misses its target.

For too long the Congress has/had allowed the BJP and Narendra Modi to take credit for its own programmes, without adequately challenging the theft of its policies. For nearly four years the party allowed the people to believe in the BJP propaganda that it had done nothing for the nation in 60 years, that UPA2 was the most corrupt government in the country, did not challenge Modi’s boasts of his chest size and red eyes while looking at China, did not speak up adequately for the minorities when lynchings in the name of the cow began in this country, did not quite seem to take up core issues of Dalits despite Gandhi lunching with them from time to time or even raise decibels on women’s issues.

But now with Gandhi’s broad daylight wink in Parliament something seems to have shifted in the Congress narrative. The party president has taken the fight into the enemy camp, seems no longer willing to cede any space to Modi and the BJP and, indeed, with that hug got a measure of Modi's 56-inch chest that the latter will find difficult to boast about in a long time to come.

For Modi clearly seemed ambushed by the unexpected gesture which was as saucy as it could get after a concerted, savage attack on him. Modi lost the advantage – and the television moment – by being unable to think on his feet and, indeed, unable to spring to his feet and return the gesture with a bigger hug that might have turned the tables on Gandhi and restored the advantage to himself.

The Congress president's message, on the other hand, was clear – you might spread hate, our party will combat it with love. But, more importantly, being political rivals does not mean abusing, pouring scorn over the other, as Modi could not resist even after that surprise hug, speaking both inside and outside parliament.

Gandhi attacked the government on its failures. Modi targeted the Gandhis for their family connections, even --unbecomingly – mimicking Sonia Gandhi's accent on the floor of the House. Modi steadfastly refused to address issues raised by Gandhi pertaining to the Rafael scam, the jobs market, demonetisation etc. His long-winded speech was unusually boring, touching none of the issues affecting the people of this country, peppered with fulsome praise of himself, stuck on the rhetoric he has repeated ad nauseum over the past four years or more, leaving little to write home about.

However, focussing his ire on Gandhi – or the family – Modi has destroyed any narrative the BJP may have built about the Congress president being a misfit in politics. Gandhi himself took the sting out of the tail by saying while they may label him a Pappu, he does not mind the mockery. But notably he left even his worst critics gushing about his performance and in no doubt that, whether or not the Congress wins enough seats at the 2019 elections or he becomes prime minister, Rahul Gandhi is now the main opposition leader in the country.

For no one else has been half as combative as he is today, mincing few words about what he thinks of Modi and the BJP. The no confidence motion was moved by the Telegu Desam Party but Rahul Gandhi clearly owned the debate at the end of the day. Since then the BJP, which is unable to decide whether the hug was parliamentary or not - Speaker Sumitra Mahajan first giggled delightedly, then frowned upon the action -- and attempting to continue perpetrating the impression that he should not be taken seriously, is actually proving that it is more rattled by Gandhi than it would want to let on.

Two days after the no confidence motion, the Congress had its narrative on opposition unity pitched correct, saying while the Congress should not ignore its interests, it will have to give due recognition to its regional allies. The BJP has even more to worry about by the fact that while opposition unity is slowly coming together, its own allies are falling off, as evidenced by the fulsome praise of Gandhi by the Shiv Sena and the fact that they walked out of the House before the vote despite Amit Shah’s personal appeal to Uddhav Thackeray.

Much will now depend on whether Gandhi is able to sustain the momentum and how far he is willing to accommodate party allies. In parliament he winked at fellow MP JyotiradityaScindia in a cheeky declaration of his triumph.

In the age of television sound-bytes, and optics, it is very important that he continues declaring every triumph of the Congress with more than just a wink and a hug.