Rahul's endearing style energising the Congress as it readies for 2019 battle

This was a Congress plenary like no other. New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium was chockablock with Congressmen who had travelled from all over the nation to greet their new leader and hear him speak about their political path ahead.

The air inside the stadium was electrifying and vibrant. It felt as if the Congressmen gathered were raring to go, to spread out and take their leader’s word to the people and garner support from people across the length and breadth of India.

The atmosphere was also festive. There was such fresh hope in the air. And why not? There was a new, young leader at the helm. His clear, honest eyes beamed from hundreds of posters at the venue.

At the same time, the mood of the plenary was clearly purposeful from the word go. It was to work hard to wrest the country back from the hands of those who have devious and divisive plans and would stop at nothing to carve a deep rift between the people of our great nation.

This year, the Grand Old Party’s 84th plenary was new in many ways. In a strong, symbolic statement, gone were the white mattresses and bolsters for seniors to sit on. They made way for modern chairs, definitely more comfortable seating for those who would sit there for two whole days, discussing the roadmap for the party.

The stage was left empty; the dominating visual in the backdrop was the party’s symbol. This was also where films were screened, and for the first time an interactive plenary was kicked off. Not only did we hear our leaders, we also got a chance to speak our minds.

The media’s role, the push towards agrarian issues, focus on issues faced by the lower and middle classes as well as the poorest of the poor were discussed openly and fearlessly. The road ahead was mapped.

The highlight was when the young Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, took the stage for his address. He held the huge stadium spellbound, and his speech was cathartic for many of those gathered there.

In a no-holds-barred address, he tore into the ruling BJP and its style of governance. He also didn’t fight shy of admitting where the Congress had fallen short of expectations. This is something unheard of in the BJP, where party leaders believe they are no less than God, and can’t make mistakes. It makes them autocratic and authoritarian, both a detriment to a vibrant democracy.

Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, works with an enviably clean and light heart, devoid of the burden and vitriol that hatred and arrogance begets. He has no qualms in escorting an older Sheila Dikshit during the course of the plenary, his hand gently laid on her back, just as he had no qualms about embracing his mother Sonia Gandhi as he did after his speech.

His humility in confessing that 15 years ago, when he joined politics, he was a greenhorn and has learnt so much along the way, is still learning and will continue to learn was not only endearing, it was also heart-warming.

His words came as a welcome relief amid an atmosphere in the country where using muscle power, belittling and displaying vendetta have become the buzzwords because of the nature of the current ruling setup.

It’s this very attitude of his that defeats all attempts by the huge BJP machinery to make fun and ridicule him.

He has risen like a phoenix and they don’t know what to do with a young man who doesn’t take their bait. The BJP is obsessed with Rahul Gandhi and can in a way even be thanked for keeping him in the news.

The intelligent common man now sees through the gameplan of the BJP, and is fed up of the diatribe its trolls churn up against Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. Someone aptly said that if a person asks “Do you want to hear what Rahul Gandhi did?”, you can’t help but smile, “but if someone asks if you want to hear what Narendra Modi did, the response is always one of fear”.

It’s well-known psychology that you immediately want to rally behind someone who’s not afraid of taking digs at himself and can even be self-effacing.

Rahul has heralded the birth of a new Congress, which would forge ahead on the strength of its youth. “If the youth will take the Congress forward, the party will not move forward without its experienced leaders. So my task is to unite the seniors and the youth, to give a new direction,” the Congress president said. He also said that his biggest task was to break the barriers and bridge the distance between grassroots workers and leaders of the party.

This is a conscious attempt to do away with the complaint that the party’s top leaders don’t find time to interact with workers. The empty stage, he said, was symbolic of this intent. It was to be filled with workers, who were the real heroes of the party.

His comfort was obvious in the way he broke into extempore speech, addressing the gathering in both Hindi and English, making a strong point of inclusivity and embracing the differences of our vast nation. In a well-researched attack against the politics of caste and religion, Rahul spoke of moments in the life of Dr B.R. Ambedkar - which forged the Constitution of India in steel and gave it its valued secular nature. This is the secular nature the Congress has pledged to uphold.

In an atmosphere where the ruling party and its band of trolls, both on the ground and on the Internet, spread hatred against non Hindus, playing the politics of religion, Rahul thought it was pertinent to talk about his religion, his relationship with temples and how much like today’s youth his mind is forever questioning. Like an accomplished orator, Rahul paused to joke that Dr Karan Singh, who has close links with the Vaishno Devi Trust and is a staunch Hindu, has often had to field his questions.

This of course was immediately picked up by people in the government who felt it was important enough to merit an immediate response by none other than the country’s defence minister. One only wonders if she is the defence minister of the BJP or of the nation.

Amid these serious discussions, the atmosphere was full of bonhomie and an eagerness to get to work. Navjyot Singh Sidhu had Mrs Sonia Gandhi laughing at his witticisms. She looked on, every bit a satisfied elder of the party. She chose to be in the background - Rahul was the man of the hour.

It was an honour to witness the emergence of this new vibrant Congress, where Rahul had his audience riveted, and not just because of his smile, so reminiscent of his late father’s.

The writer is the chairperson of the AICC grievance cell. The views expressed here are personal.