New Delhi (18.08.2025): What objective does Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi want to achieve when he dropped so-called ‘Atom Bomb’ with his over an hour-long press conference and now he is in Bihar for 16 days to cover more than 20 districts and over 1,300-kilometre-long ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’. The simple answer may be that he wants to unseat the NDA government in Bihar but simple answers are never the complete answers in politics.
The long-standing spate between Rahul Gandhi and Election Commission of India (ECI) are getting intense by the day and whatever the outcome of this face off may be but it is going to translate into a strong narrative either helping the Congress or not helping the party as the question of harming does not arise for the party being at margins in the state.
The aggressive avatar of ‘Jan Nayak’
The new aggressive avatar of Rahul Gandhi that the people of the country saw during run-up to 2024 Lok Sabha elections which got more and more pronounced with the passage of time. He succeeded in almost doubling the number of Congress seat in the Lok Sabha to 99 and snatching state like Telangana from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS). All this had happened due to his image makeover of a serious politician during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. Post 2024 LS polls, there were some setbacks like Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi but he helped his allies to tame the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand making him a ‘Jan Nayak’.
What next for RaGa!
The Congress alleged that the ECI press conference in Delhi was an attempt to whitewash media coverage of Rahul Gandhi’s Bihar yatra. Besides these challenges, the Nehru-Gandhi scion is also facing attack from the opposition and also from within the party. So motivating masses to support the Congress will help strengthen his acceptability within the party that is questioned on many occasions. This will also help translating dividends of Bharat Jodo Yatra in Bihar. His presence in the state will boost party workers and strengthen the organisational set up which is at present in tatters. All these will help the party collectively in forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
Where does Rahul Gandhi stand?
Is he looking for issues in Bihar elections or the cat is out of Rahul’s hat? Later seems to be the strong case as not only the government of the day but ECI too is getting some difficult volleys from him to deal with. So to say, Rahul Gandhi has set the narrative for Bihar elections and some other elections that would follow Bihar. Interestingly, he succeeded to rally behind the entire opposition including Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who were having some issues with I.N.D.I.A. The most important aspect that should not be ignored is that the Bihar Yatra is happening jointly with Rashtriya Janata Dal which is no less than an achievement in the kitty of RaGa. The way Rahul Gandhi is dealing with Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav, it shows his political suavity and accomplishment.
Braving allegation of being hand in glove with the forces that wants political instability in India, Rahul Gandhi is only talking about probity in the democratic process and says he is doing what he is chosen for. The burden of proof to come clean is on them who are accused of something not who are questioning institutions answerable to constitutional provisions. Political analysts say that with the ongoing yatra, Rahul Gandhi took his image a notch further from the image that he had after the completion of Bharat Jodo Yatra – a serious politician with a conviction albeit with unconventional ways and means.
Why all brickbats for Rahul only?
With shrinking voter base of the party reduced it to an organisation where it has a sway in just three-four states, the question is that who can turn the fate of the party if not Rahul Gandhi? The answer is no one! The organisational set up of the party is frail or dead in certain states. There is no one to tell the Congress’ story to the people in those states. In such a scenario, a personality-centric Congress bears the only hope and Rahul Gandhi is the only option that fits the bill. He accepted the Modi juggernaut which makes him strong and vulnerable at the same time. The vulnerability aspect brings him brickbats but he is unyielding. Rahul Gandhi knows it very well that he has nothing to lose in Bihar while his opponents will have a tough sail. Rahul is making it tougher for them which is his achievement. Caste equations are a big challenge in Bihar besides players like Jan Suraj Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen who are accused of helping the NDA by their moves. Despite all these arguments, the stir caused by Rahul Gandhi has baffled leaders like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar so much so that he is resorting to Hindutva politics when he joined Home Minister Amit Shah in the stone laying ceremony of Punaura Dham, a temple dedicated to Goddess Sita in Sitamarhi. So, Rahul Gandhi has cultivated himself to be a leader to be reckoned with in Bihar in particular and nation wide in general.
(By Rakesh Ranjan)
