By Parth Gupta
You may take an Indian out of India, but you can never take India out of an Indian. What was supposed to be Rahul Gandhis two-week study tour to the USA, turned out to be an event with rounds of political reactions, in the USA and in India, on the first day itself. The Congress Vice President(VP) commenced his tour with an address to students at the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday. He delivered a lecture as a part of the universitys India At 70 series and touched all major aspects of contemporary Indian politics, the agenda of development, demonetisation, the GST and its implementation and on Modis performance as the PM.
Drawing fire from the neighbouring quarters
The fact that his speech was healthier than ever is proven by the way BJP ministers had to come out and retaliate. The Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani came out to call Mr Gandhi a failed dynast, in response to his comments in regard to dynast politics. “A failed dynast today chose to speak about his failed political journey in the United States of America,” the minister said. “The fact that he chose to belittle the prime minister is expected. After failing to connect with the people of India, Mr Gandhi chooses a platform of convenience for berating his opponents,” she added.
The Congress VP bashed demonetisation and added that these decisions were taken unilaterally without any consultation whatsoever, and the results have been tragic. Decisions like demonetisation were taken in a unilateral manner, without asking the Chief Economic Adviser or the Parliament. This has caused huge damage to the Indian economy and GDP. Millions of jobs were wiped out because of the overnight cash ban. GST, another economic policy taken by the government has put tremendous pressure on the economy. However, Smriti Irani hit back with teachings of the working of the GST Council. Quoting the Finance Minister, she said that the decisions in by the GST council were being taken unanimously after discussion with all the state.
Strong condemnation or grudging respect?
Rahul Gandhi lashed at the trolls on social media as well, who spend their days attacking him. “There’s a BJP machine, 1000 guys with computers, to abuse me, tell you I’m reluctant, I’m stupid. Here I am. Listen to me. Judge for yourself.” “It’s a tremendous machine,” he added, referring the BJP’s online army, “all day they spread abuse about me, and the operation is run by the gentleman who is running our country.” After the brutal murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, some Twitter handles followed by PM Modi himself came under the scanner for abusing the journalist and celebrating her death.
Gandhi also attacked Modis incompetence to stop a series of killing of innocent citizens on the suspicion of being cow slaughterers or smugglers. He underscored the fact that the most obvious victims of such crimes are Dalits, Muslims and others belonging to minority communities.
There were multiple points for which the Congress VP called out the BJP, but there was one instance where he praised PM Modi. He accepted the notion the PM Modi has good communication skills. He knows how to spread his message to several groups in a crowd. Im an Opposition leader, but Mr Modi is also my Prime Minister. Hes a very good communicator, probably much better than me , Gandhi said.
What his tour means for Congress’s future
Though Gandhis US tour is being praised by Congress leaders, there are some critics as well. They seem to be unhappy with the timing of this trip, when the Congress should prioritise winning the confidence of the electorate back home, and should be preparing for Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi, whose party slid to its lowest tally ever in Parliament in the last election, acknowledged that a “certain arrogance” had crept into the Congress and took responsibility for what he called a couple of years of lost opportunities from 2012. After the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had taken full responsibility for the loss and had pledged to the party workers to revamp the working of the party.
Now that only two years are left for the next general elections, its time for the Congress party to step up and tackle the BJP head-on. However, who will lead the charge is still not ascertained. In his speech at the university, Rahul Gandhi did say that he was absolutely ready to take the charge of executive roles but cited the ongoing organisational election process. It obviously needs vision, focus and determination to deliver what the Congress party has to offer. The Party needs to develop a new technique of spreading the message, repeating what has already been said a billion times by the centrist or left-leaning public intellectuals for non-violence, democracy, secularism and equality is less likely to work if the Congress wishes to increase its share in the 2019 Lok Sabha.
Gandhi is set to meet with a host of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, civil society representatives, think tanks and experts in California, and then travel to Washington DC. The tour is scheduled to end with Gandhi meeting about 2,000 prominent members of the Indian community at New Yorks Marriott Hotel on September 20. Gandhi is accompanied by former ministers Shashi Tharoor and Milind Deora.
Featured Image Source: Visual Hunt