By Sushil Kutty
Former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son K Taraka Rao does not like Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, especially Rahul’s “double standards” on “defections”. KTR and KCR’s party Bharat Rashtra Samithi is reeling under a slew of defections and KTR is unhappy for KCR, whose Bharat Rashtra Samithi was defeated comprehensively by the Congress in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
What does K Taraka Rao want Rahul Gandhi to be, a goody-goody politician with no fire in the belly? KTR is angry at Rahul Gandhi making a mockery of his claim to “protect the Constitution of the country”. As long as Rahul Gandhi sat in the Lok Sabha and dozed off, rival parties and politicians were happy calling Rahul Gandhi “Pappu”. But Rahul breathing fire is nobody’s cup of tea.
It is a cinch that Rahul Gandhi has made enemies in the weeks since the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were declared on June 4 with the Congress nearly doubling its Lok Sabha seats and Rahul Gandhi was appointed Leader of the Opposition, a cabinet rank. Also Rahul Gandhi made a speech which brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his feet to make an intervention, which left many among the 240 BJP Members of Parliament speechless.
Now, there are lots of “human beings” who are willing to “go out on a limb” to alleviate the sufferings of the common men and women and Rahul Gandhi, it seems, is one, say people who are thrilled that the Gandhi scion has finally come of age at age 54. Rahul Gandhi is not a legend featured in “children’s books”. Rahul Gandhi is a tale being written and what he says and utters often riles his adversaries. KTR is one of them who gets pissed off by the new Rahul Gandhi, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi tops the list.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Russia all the while LoP Rahul Gandhi was in Manipur, a clear example of where a man, dedicated to the people he serves, should be, say Congress supporters. Rahul Gandhi in Manipur acted just like Rahul Gandhi was expected to act. Rahul Gandhi questioned Narendra Modi’s commitment to the “orphaned Manipur” and he addressed a presser in Manipur which he abandoned within minutes of the first question hurled at him. Politicians are not supposed to be good guys with a golden heart when handling the media. “I will raise the issue in Parliament,” Rahul told the bunch of mediapersons looking askance at him.
Fact of the matter is, nobody can question Rahul Gandhi’s behaviour at the presser. But it is not anybody’s fault that Rahul Gandhi’s arrogance gets the better of him and he sounds and looks like he owns the room, and the building, too. So, he walked out of the press conference, making no bones about what he thought of the scribes. The Gandhis have always been like this and they have a following because they have arrogance painted all over them, take it or leave it!
Among the Gandhi followers, one noted an “otherwise intelligent anchor” asking a Congress spokesperson, “Is Rahul Gandhi going to Manipur just to do politics or to find a solution?” And the Congress supporter wondered whether “Bapu Gandhi” had been asked “why he went to Noakhali – to do politics or to find a solution?” Rahul’s politics of ‘Mohabbat’ mirrors the politics of “Bapu Gandhi” while Narendra Modi’s cutting edge diatribes paint the BJP into corners where “Hinsa, hinsa, hinsa; asatya, asatya, asatya and nafrat, nafrat, nafrat” prevail.
The “otherwise intelligent anchor” probably mistook Rahul Gandhi for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For, if anybody should be seeking and working to find a solution to the Manipur crisis, it should be Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not the “Shadow Prime Minister” Rahul Gandhi. The LoP is yet to throw a shadow on the politics practiced in India for the last 10 years, but Rahul Gandhi is not Prime Minister, yet, say his acolytes. Wait till he uproots the ‘Sengol’ and enshrines a huge-sized copy of the Constitution in the Lok Sabha.
So, LoP Rahul Gandhi has KTR calling him a hypocrite. The Prime Minister christened him ‘Balak Buddhi’ and an “otherwise intelligent anchor” asking the Congress spokesperson whether Rahul Gandhi was in Manipur to do politics or find a solution to “Manipur”? And it is just a little over a week since Rahul Gandhi took the Lok Sabha by storm in his role as the LoP. What are the chances that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would give a wide berth to Parliament in the coming days?
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget on July 23 and the ruling coalition does not seem to have, like the saying goes, Rahul’s number. This isn’t ‘Pappu’ and definitely not ‘Balak Buddhi’ by any chance. To the surprise of everybody in the BJP, LoP Rahul Gandhi is more than willing to “wade into troubled waters” and act tougher than the toughest parliamentarian in the years since Independence. “Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his match in LoP Rahul Gandhi?” One thing is for sure, Rahul Gandhi has made “lust for power” a legitimate pursuit for all parliamentarians.
It would be stupid to think that Rahul Gandhi is in politics for the love of it. And that his ‘Mohabbat Ka Dukaan’ is for real. ‘Mohabbat Ka Dukaan’ is a metaphor that Congress supporters have accepted and many on the fence are getting excited about. Everybody on the sidelines wants a share in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mohabbat Ka Dukaan’. Lust for power and success at all costs are what will catapult Rahul Gandhi to power. And it is not just the “otherwise intelligent anchor” who is wondering what awaits India which even the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi included, is refusing to comprehend when the writing is so plainly on the wall. Rahul Gandhi playing tough is the first sign of change round the corner. It is not for nothing that KTR is running a fever. (IPA Service)
