Rahul's emergence as a confident warrior, I am sure, must have surprised many Congress-baiters. Yesterday (17.01.2014) Rahul's 41-minute speech at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session was a surprising anti-thesis of his 'Pappu' image built by the Saffron social media army. In his vociferously delivered speech Rahul said all the right things about fighting corruption, about encouraging the demoralized Congress 'karyakarta', about equality of women in important affairs of the nation, and about helping poor people lead a better life. He also cracked good jokes like the opposition's good marketing skills in selling combs and giving hair-cuts (exaggerated promises) to the bald people.
Through his speech Rahul has successfully presented himself to the people not as Modi's 'shehzada' but as someone who is tuned in to the India reality. However, Congress supporters wanted Rahul to get into this 'avatar' long ago to blunt the Modi's tireless and many times unfounded attack on Nehru and the Congress rule. Most people believe that now it's too late for the Congress to come back into the reckoning at the hustings. But I believe Rahul can surely minimize Congress losses if he succeeds in convincing people, particularly the youth, that the Congress is not all about the Gandhi dynasty. In his speech, he also talked about transforming the Congress into a 21st century outfit. Already, at Rahul's initiative, internal polls have been held in NSUI and the Youth Congress to democratically elect their office-bearers.
For Rahul, it's really an uphill task to convince people about UPA's commitment to fight corruption when over the past three years, media and the opposition have successfully drilled into people's mind that the UPA government is highly corrupt. Let's see how his sister Priyanka, highly efficient technology man Sam Pitroda and other Congress stalwarts help Rahul in this task. One essential caution for all Congress media managers is to don't shoot from the hip at Modi and other Saffron leaders. They must not do a Mani Shanker Aiyar in mocking at Modi's 'chaiwala' background.
Through his speech Rahul has successfully presented himself to the people not as Modi's 'shehzada' but as someone who is tuned in to the India reality. However, Congress supporters wanted Rahul to get into this 'avatar' long ago to blunt the Modi's tireless and many times unfounded attack on Nehru and the Congress rule. Most people believe that now it's too late for the Congress to come back into the reckoning at the hustings. But I believe Rahul can surely minimize Congress losses if he succeeds in convincing people, particularly the youth, that the Congress is not all about the Gandhi dynasty. In his speech, he also talked about transforming the Congress into a 21st century outfit. Already, at Rahul's initiative, internal polls have been held in NSUI and the Youth Congress to democratically elect their office-bearers.
For Rahul, it's really an uphill task to convince people about UPA's commitment to fight corruption when over the past three years, media and the opposition have successfully drilled into people's mind that the UPA government is highly corrupt. Let's see how his sister Priyanka, highly efficient technology man Sam Pitroda and other Congress stalwarts help Rahul in this task. One essential caution for all Congress media managers is to don't shoot from the hip at Modi and other Saffron leaders. They must not do a Mani Shanker Aiyar in mocking at Modi's 'chaiwala' background.
No comments:
Post a Comment