Fifth column by Tavleen Singh: Rahul Gandhi, a real leader now?

And I am accused of being a ‘durbari’ of the Dynasty. If it is the Dynasty I dare criticise, poisonous Congress trolls charge me of being biased because of my ‘hatred of the Gandhi family’. Nobody believes that there is such a thing as objective criticism. I ask this because last week he came under a barrage of attacks from the Prime Minister personally and from some of his most trusted lieutenants.

At a conference called a World Summit, Modi made a speech that was almost entirely about the Leader of the Opposition and his family. The Prime Minister said that this family had become a ‘burden’ on the Congress Party and that Rahul Gandhi was a ‘failed product’ who had been launched more often than Indian rockets from Sriharikota. At the same conference, the Minister of External Affairs, when asked about the Congress leader’s criticism of his being ‘summoned’ to Mumbai to meet Marco Rubio, said, ‘We are adults, let’s have an adult conversation’.

Days earlier, the Home Minister thundered at a public rally that because of the incompetence of the Congress Party’s leaders the BJP would remain in power for the next thirty years. If this was not enough of a fusillade, BJP spokesmen popped up on primetime TV debates to take abusive potshots at the heir of our most storied political dynasty. What makes this strategy change significant is that so far, the Leader of the Opposition has been dismissed by Modi’s ministers and spokespersons as inconsequential.

He has been mocked as a fool. In private conversations, more than one BJP leader has admitted that the reason they are certain Modi will become Prime Minister again in 2029 is: Rahul Gandhi. ‘He is Modi’s biggest asset’, they say derisively, ‘as long as he is the main challenger, Modi will win’. There is some truth in this as I have discovered from conversations with disenchanted Modi voters. They admit that they are disappointed with the Prime Minister but quickly add that if the choice is between Rahul and Modi, they see no choice.

Why then does the government suddenly seem so worried about a man who has gone off yet again on one of his mysterious foreign holidays? Could it be because whispers drifting to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh indicate a rise in the Congress Party’s approval ratings and that Rahul is being seen as the reason? There have been recent opinion polls that also say this, but is that enough for a real challenge to have grown to Modi’s unshakeable grip, in the imagination of India’s voters?

Maybe not. But there is change in the air. Sadly, this change is not yet reflected in the way the Congress Party has functioned since Modi became Prime Minister. The Gandhi family’s control of the party of our freedom movement remains absolute despite the number of elections the party has lost in the past decade, and despite the number of important leaders who have left the Congress Party to join the BJP.

It is hard to know why this is, but as the only national opposition party, it is time it did more than cling to the illusion that it’s the Gandhi name alone that can win them elections. If it had, we should have seen a new strategy by now. Instead of just waiting for Modi to fall because of his own mistakes, the Congress Party would be showing signs that it has something to offer that Modi has failed to deliver.

What would Rahul do differently if he became Prime Minister? What can he offer the thousands of disillusioned young Indians who have taken to the streets in recent months to demand better governance and accountability? How would his economic policies be different? How would foreign policy be different? As for our dear Prime Minister, may I humbly request that he desist from banging on about the ‘foreign hand’ and acknowledge that the young people who came to Jantar Mantar did so without foreign help.

This is the third year of Narendra Modi’s third term, and inevitably, a certain amount of disappointment has begun to spread. It is time for the BJP to acknowledge this. When you loyalists of Modi and the Dynasty shoot off your angry tweets, I urge you to remember that political columns are not written out of personal pique or partisan intentions. Tavleen Singh is an Indian columnist, political reporter and writer. Views expressed are the author's own and not necessarily those of FinancialExpress.com