Rahul Gandhi leads Congress to political wilderness

Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in Delhi on Thursday. Pic/AFP

New Delhi: He lost his bastion Amethi, failed as party president, handing the BJP an unprecedented victory, and left many with this question - is it time to write Rahul Gandhi's political epitaph? In a classic case of win some and lose plenty, Rahul entered the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala and defeated his nearest CPI candidate P P Suneer by a margin of over 4.31 lakh votes.

Dismissed as Pappu by some and crown prince by others, Rahul appeared to take the poll debacle on the chin, congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for their win and also expressing the hope that the BJP's Smriti Irani takes care of Amethi "with love".

Rahul singularly led the 2019 campaign, holding 150 rallies, 10 press conferences and many road shows during the poll campaign starting February. But it came to nought.As the grand old party prepared for five years in the pale shadows of its glorious past, it seemed the party may not get the Leader of Opposition status in the Lok Sabha for the second time in a row.

The party won 39 and was leading in 13 seats, giving it a possible 52 seats, three less than the 54 it needs for the leader of opposition's post. The shock verdict will be fully attributable to the 48-year-old and his sister and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The brother and sister were the star campaigners for the Congress in this election and together steered the party narrative and line.

This was the first Lok Sabha polls where their mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, didn't campaign and neither did former PM Manmohan Singh. Many in the party questioned the strategy of keeping Singh away from the campaign circuit. The party and its president, it seemed, were also unable to articulate their views effectively enough. What's worse was the "chowkidar chor hai" slogan Gandhi coined for Modi and used it relentlessly during the campaign. Modi turned it around with his counter "Main bhi chowkidar" to great effect. Results show PM Modi's counter was accepted by the people - something a section of Congress leaders had a hunch about.

Gandhi's flagship minimum income guarantee scheme "Nyay", which he personally steered, also came rather late in the day and eventually did not resonate on the ground. "It seems the 'Chowkidaar' proved heavy over the 'Nyay' scheme and the R72,000 per year dole to wipe out poverty from the country did not work," a party veteran said.

150
No. of rallies by Rahul in 2019

10
No. of conferences he held

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