A credible show of strength by Rahul

For forces taking on the might of the Delhi Durbar, the Ramlila Maidan in the nation’s capital is hallowed ground. This is where Jayaprakash Narayan at the head of a phalanx of anti-Congress leaders had rallied when the Emergency was lifted to challenge Indira Gandhi just before the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, where history was made. This is the ground Rahul Gandhi chose to present himself before the nation on Sunday, after becoming his party’s president late last year, to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and it was a credible arrival.

The Congress leader played it tactically. It was evident that he was targeting the heart of the current establishment. Right through his half-hour-long speech, the focus didn’t waver as he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “making promises with no truth in them”.

Mr Modi’s party and the RSS came in for passing mention, but it was the highly centralised and personalised establishment that the PM symbolises — even in the eyes of the BJP and RSS — that the Congress president aimed for. Rank and file voters who opted for Mr Modi in 2014, and some even in the saffron fold, would have identified with the speech.

When Mr Modi was the challenger back in 2014, and right through the last four years of his government, he has referred to the Congress only obliquely and kept his focus on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The calculation is that without them the Congress will be shorn of leadership. In a similar manoeuvre, Mr Gandhi directed his narration in the format of “people’s anger” or “Jan Aakrosh” (at the rally of the same name) with the Modi establishment. The meaning was clear — without Mr Modi, there is no credible leader in the BJP-RSS.

The Congress chief also strongly signalled that he would seek to unify his party when he referred unselfconsciously to the recent comments of senior party leader Salman Khurshid “who is sitting here”.  Mr Khurshid had criticised the party’s decision to work to impeach the Chief Justice of India and in subsequent comments had said that “the Congress too had the blood of Muslims on its hands”.

Mr Gandhi said he would “protect” Mr Khurshid as his party accepted multiple voices, unlike Mr Modi’s one-man show. “When the party is fighting the RSS, we have to fight unitedly”, he declared.

It was the Congress Party’s show of strength. There were no references to the side canvas of non-Congress “secular” parties. The Congress president in fact exuded confidence that his party would win the coming state elections, including in Karnataka. He would no doubt be aware that the many non-BJP parties would bother with the Congress only if it can defeat the BJP in one-on-one situations. Any credibility can only ensue from the results on the ground.