Have you noticed Rahul Gandhi of
late?
Unless you have been holidaying
in some cool climes away from India you could not have escaped the information
overload about the new look RaGa. The RaGa who is taking pot shots at the
government almost on a daily basis has had reams of print and lots of airtime
dedicated to him.
Rahul Gandhi seems to be adopting
a ‘shoot and scoot’ policy and this is being lapped up by both Congressmen and
the media. The latest one-liner was the one about Dr Man Mohan Singh being
invited to 7 RCR to lecture (paathshala was the word he used) Narendra Modi on
the Indian economy. One would have to admit that this was a funny comment. But it
was just that. A funny comment delivered to a group of students (the NSUI) with
a naughty school boy glint.
What was the response to it? Coverage
on all news channels with motor-mouth Arnab Goswami leading the tribe with (probably)
an entire hour dedicated to dissecting the comment.
Why is there this kind of
coverage to any and all utterances by RaGa? Is this a result of Rahul having
lowered expectations to such an extent that so long as he does not trip himself
up while walking on a flat, impediment free, ground he is going to be hailed as
a miracle worker?
I obviously have no idea if any
or all of his interventions are very well researched or well thought through or
are merely meant to be facetious. However, clearly, in spite of the
condescension that the BJP brigade seems to have for him, he seems to have
rattled the BJP with these comments.
I wonder why? What is it that
Rahul Gandhi is doing now that is so worrying for the BJP?
In my opinion it is not Rahul per
se that they are afraid of. They seem to be afraid of the power of the tabloid
press and the television media to take sound bites and create or destroy an
image of a person or a party based on that. In most debates on television,
there is no scope for a nuanced exchange of views. It is literally a shouting
match between the panelists with the anchor joining in for good measure on most
channels.
In such situations, it is these
smart ass comments that win through. These comments do not mean anything, they
do not add to the understanding of any issue and they definitely do not have
any erudition backing them up. But they grab headlines. They seem to have the
ability to rouse the faithful and demoralize opponents.
This is probably why the BJP is
responding to these barbs thrown at them by Rahul and why they seem a bit
flustered when doing so. After all the BJP knows the power of the smart
one-liners – 56 inch ki chaathi, Maa Bete ki Sarkaar, Yuvraj come immediately
to mind.
This is where it gets worrying
for the country. If public discourse is going to be reduced to slanging matches
on television and in Parliament and it is the politician with the one-liner who
gets the accolades then we are on a slippery slope. And irrespective of what Rahul
and Modi say about each other it clearly does not bode well for the country
because we need erudition in comments made by politicians. Not just silly one-liners
and nicknames. We can leave those to stand-up comedians.
