January 22, 2025

What was billed as an “earthquake” turned out to be not even a whimper. The allegations Rahul Gandhi has chosen to throw at Narendra Modi were dismissed by the Supreme Court as “hawala papers” with “zero material” that only leveled “insinuations.” The gist of Rahul’s charge is that as Gujarat chief minister, Modi had received kickbacks from the Sahara group. The material he claims as proof is a cache of papers that the I-T department found when it raided the group. These papers are in public domain for two and half years and have been the subject of a failed PIL in the apex court that sought to have them investigated by a SIT. Why rake up these charges now? Really, Rahul Gandhi should grow up and change his advisors.

The Congress had drummed up a lot of drama over demonetization. It has used its all India infrastructure and has yet failed to instigate the people to revolt. Every day, Rahul Gandhi has been making childish and mischievous allegations, calling the noteban a huge scam one day and alleging that Modi informed his rich friends beforehand on another day. He led the opposition to waste an entire session of parliament and yet did not allow a debate on the subject by rallying most parties to reject all specifics on the shape the debate would take. Yet, he tried to hog the limelight by acting as the savior of the farmers in UP by meeting PM Modi only with his own party leaders. By ditching the opposition, he poked a pin in the opposition unity balloon. The Congress and Rahul himself are becoming the laughing stock of the nation.

The single point agenda that Rahul has is to take on Modi at everything the PM does. This has made him lose focus on rebuilding a party devastated by a shattering defeat. If Rahul thinks that he can turn the people against Modi by his antics, he is sadly mistaken. His image of a reluctant politician has not been reversed, even after the long sabbatical in Bangkok. Rahul version 2.0 is still viewed with suspicion. Apart from his zero knowledge on governance and administration, people are scared that he belongs to the same “suit-boot” set that he accuses PM Modi of hobnobbing with. They think that despite his periodic forays into the homes of the poor and the token lunch with them, he is not at all aware of their problems and is unsuited to address them. In short, people are afraid of the fate that will befall the country if he becomes PM. Rahul had once advised PM Modi to take lessons on the economy from Manmohan Singh. The Congress scion himself has to take a whole lot of lessons on everything from the economy to internal security and foreign relations to defence matters. Sadly, there are none in his party willing or courageous enough to update him.