Rahul Gandhi's lack of aura helps Modi, say new book

As the stage is being set for coronation of Rahul Gandhi as new Congress President, a new book says, the Amethi MP “has not (been) able to construct a wider appeal” like others in the Nehru-Gandhi family. “Rahul Gandhi appeals to no particular social group or class. Nor is he an overarching leader across classes and communities – which (made) Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi distinctive national leaders,” says the book ‘How The BJP Wins – Inside India’s Greatest Election Machine’.

“He (Rahul) has no core base to rely on, and he has not been able to construct a wider appeal like others in the family,” writes journalist Prashant Jha. The book talks about certain deficiencies in opposition camp and notes, “No party has gone beyond the old ‘secular-communal binary’ which in reality has only meant “excessive reliance on Muslim votes” and that has helped the BJP in the ultimate. Dwelling in details on how the BJP leadership comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah won a series of elections since 2014, the journalist-turned-author also throws light on how the opposition parties and especially the Congress party has not able to give a befitting fight to the saffron juggernaut. It is in this context, Mr Jha says, “The Modi Hawa (wave) is also in part because of a fractured, and discredited, opposition”. It also cites the example of Bihar and Delhi polls in 2015 and asserts that, when the opposition can get its act together, even the “formidable machinery of the BJP can crumble”.

The book further says: “India’s citizens do not accept Rahul Gandhi as a credible leader. In UP, the state where Rahul has spent maximum time in his political life so far, no social group other than Muslims saw the Congress Vice President as its leader – even as Modi built his multi-class appeal”. The book, which has taken into account BJP’s success tale in crucial states like Uttar Pradesh as much the defeat in Bihar, also draws out a rather brazen comparison between Rahul and Amit Shah. “Even as Amit Shah has transformed the BJP in the last three years, Mr Gandhi’s rise has been accompanied with the hollowing out of the Congress party over the past decade”.