Before the Gujarat assembly elections, a new Rahul Gandhi dawned upon us and got the media talking. The Congress president appeared to turn a new leaf, a more confident leader with a change in his attitude and persona.
The first sign of change came when he started taking on PM Modi on Twitter, targeting him with jokes and memes. During his Gujarat campaign, we witnessed a certain change in him as he addressed large audiences in PM Modi's home-state.
From taking subtle digs at BJP to mixing 'Khakra’ jokes in his speeches, he sure looked like a rejuvenated man. Rahul Gandhi's speech in Ranesar, Gujarat on December 8 somehow reminded one of former US President Obama's speech in India during his recent visit.
Obama at HT summit in New Delhi recently cracked up the audience when he mentioned the Indian 'Dal' and how he likes it and how he is the only US President in history to know a dal recipe.
While Rahul has a long way to go before he can capture the audience the way the former US President does, the new Congress honcho certainly seems to have learned to use the emotional quotient.
Starting the speech with 'Kemcho' (a greeting in Gujarati), Rahul Gandhi managed to make the people in the audience smile by mentioning his love for 'Khakra' while addressing them in Ranesar.
He joked about how the much-loved Gujarat snack was wreaking his diet plans, "Aap logo ne mujhe bigad diya hain hain and aadate bhi bigad diya hain, mera wajan bhi badh gaya hain (You all have spoiled me, and my habit and I think I have put on weight and it's because of khakhra).”
In another one of his rallies in Kalol, Rahul managed to add a humane angle in his speeches saying, ‘Till the time I am alive, I am with you people, I won't forget the love you have given me in the past 3 months. If you ever need me, just call me, order me and I will get it done. You have made a relation with me, a lifelong relation, which will never break.”
Rahul Gandhi was earlier criticised for dedicating too much time slamming PM Modi but this time he has somehow done it gently and smartly without deviating from his agenda.
In one of his recent speeches, Rahul Gandhi said: "Modi ji, Gujarat mein hum aapko pyaar se, bina gusse ke haraane jaa rahe hain (PM Modi, this time in Gujarat we will defeat you with love, with no anger, we will defeat you).”
Adding more fuel to the drama he said, "Modi ji keeps using bad words against me in his speeches, even today he did so. Rahul Gandhi respects the post of PM. No matter what PM says about me, but I won't utter even a single bad word about the PM.”
Of course, given he had torn up a draft ordinance of his own PM back in the day, that remark might be a tad economic with the truth, but it certainly hit the mark.
Showing his firm side, Rahul Gandhi also announced the suspension of Mani Shankar Aiyar who had called PM Modi ‘neech’, sending out a strong message that such unparliamentary language won’t be tolerated from party members.
This time Rahul Gandhi also tried to do away with the image that he was born with the silver spoon, when he said, “Mere pass zada kuch nahi hai, Modi ji ke pass sarkar hai, magar humaare pass sachchai hai, Hindustan sachchai ka desh hai (I don’t have too much, Modi has the government, but I have the truth and India is a country which believes in the truth)”
And that's not all, but, he has even admitted the error he made in one of his tweets. He had made a calculation error in price rise and inflation chart, which soon became a joke on Twitter.
He wasted no time in accepting his mistake publicly, and tweeted saying, "For all my BJP friends: unlike Narendrabhai, I am human. We do make the odd mistake and that’s what makes life interesting. Thanks for pointing it out and please do keep it coming, it really helps me improve. Love you all."
However, for now all we have are speeches and tweets and jibes, and only time will tell whether the new Rahul Gandhi can challenge PM Modi on his own turf. For that we will have to wait for the results of Gujarat election, to know whether Rahul Gandhi has actually come of age or is simply old wine in a new bottle.
