AA Edit | Rahul stature rises, BJP takes note

Once the giant slayer in downing her opponent in Amethi, the former Union minister Smriti Irani may have done her party BJP a favour by frankly decoding Rahul Gandhi’s politics and explaining his rise in stature since the Lok Sabha polls. The message is that the current Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is to be taken very seriously from here on.

Politics is a matter of perception but Rahul, as a member of the Gandhi family born with a political silver spoon as it were, may have been too playful to realise the implications of the slide in his party’s popularity since 2014. Having been in politics since 2004, the Gandhi-Nehru scion may have moved on from a long childish phase in which social media cleverness seemed to be his beau ideal.

The 2024 results may have invested the ruling BJP with more seats than the combined tally of 28 INDIA parties, but it changed perspectives in so many ways that the political scene now in a renewal of the coalition era is different. Along with the need to respect coalition dharma, the rightful place for the Opposition in Parliament has also been recognised.

To Rahul’s credit he has, in accepting a constitutional post for the first time, realised the seriousness of seeking power as an end and has begun to strategise as any serious leader would. In climbing on to the caste bandwagon he might be inviting more problems than the instant popularity the complex issue appears to bring, but those are the hazards he must face as his career gathers steam from the lows of 2019.

As Smriti put it, Rahul’s politics has veered to the strategic, whether perceived as good, bad or childish. A career politician cannot shy away from seeking power at any cost and with all kinds of social tactics and, in realising this, Rahul has transformed into a live threat for the BJP-NDA. He may on occasion give in to impish instincts again like making silly comments on caste equations in beauty contests, but Rahul Gandhi Mk II is the Real McCoy.