Support The

Make a one-time or recurring

contribution
of any size you choose

Caravan CONT RIBUT E

The more you can help, the more we can

do

We cannot do this without you. We investigate

Buy a subscription for full
powerful people,
uncover scams, hold governments to
access to
account and report hard facts on
conflicts and crises, The Caravan’s award-winning
all because we are independent of any outside long-form
interests. And since we answer to nobody but you, our stories and investigations

readers, we
need your support to keep our journalism
SUBSCRIBE
alive.

Advertisement
COMMENT ARY
/ POLIT ICS

Victor Rahul is a reflection of Modi, not a leader in

his own right
SAGAR

14 December 2018
 CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP / GET T Y IMAGES

During the Kisan Samriddhi Sankalp rally on 6 June this year, the
Congress president Rahul Gandhi charged Narendra Modi, the prime
minister of India, with many sins. At the rally, which took place in
Mandsaur, in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi said Modi had written off bad
loans worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore given to private companies, while ignoring
the demands of farmers to waive off their debt. Gandhi promised that if
his government came to power, he would waive off all farmers’ loans
within ten days. “You start the count when we come to power,” he
thundered over the loudspeaker. “It won’t take till the eleventh day to
waive off the loans.” The crowd cheered him on. To bolster his promise,
he boasted about how the United Progressive Alliance had waived off
farmers’ loans worth Rs 70,000 crore in 2009.

Over the course of the next five months, Gandhi gave many such
speeches while canvassing for votes in the states of Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. He made the same promise to farmers in
these states, in a similar, animated fashion. Loan waivers along with
creation of jobs made it to Congress’s election manifestos for the
assembly elections as well. However, the party’s stand on the Vyapam
scam, and illegal mining—a perennial issue in Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh—was missing from its manifestos.

On 11 December, Gandhi’s dynamic promises bore fruit—the Congress

won the state assembly elections of Chhattisgarh with a full majority. In
spite of emerging as the single-largest party in Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh, it was two seats short of winning the elections in both states.
The next day, Congress formed post-poll alliances and staked its claim to
form the government in these states as well.

Gandhi first interacted with the press on the day of the results itself.
The tone of his statements was starkly different from his pre-election
rallies—he did not reiterate or sound committed to his loan-waiver
statement. He was, at best, ambiguous and diplomatic. Throughout the
press conference, Gandhi seemed to demur from the promises he made
before the assembly elections.

When asked by the press if he will live up to his promise of waiving farm
loans, Gandhi replied, “As soon as we form our government, the process
of loan waiver will begin.” He refrained from giving a timeline. As he had
earlier bragged about the UPA’s 2009 loan waiver, Gandhi was then
asked whether he would announce a similar package for farmers if his
party came to power at the centre in 2019. He said, “Karja maafi ek
supportive step hai, karja maafi solution nahi hai.”—Loan waiver is a
supportive step, it is not a solution. “The solution is more complex. The
solution would be about supporting the farmers, building
infrastructure, and we will do that,” he added.

Apart from farmers’ loans, in his pre-election rallies, Gandhi repeatedly

reprimanded the Modi-led government for lack of jobs in the country.
He claimed that his government will create millions of jobs—that it
would set up agro-food processing factories across farmers’ fields in the
states. He said, “Only farmers’ sons and daughters would get jobs in
those factories. And these factories would buy farmers’ yield.”
Post-election though, he seemed to have forgotten this solution. His
answer during the press interaction was again cryptic. Gandhi said, “The
central issue is that of unemployment and farmers’ stress. We have to
find a strategic solution to it. We have to give a thoughtful vision to
these problems.”

As it has been barely two days since the assembly elections' results were
announced, it is not yet possible to dismiss Gandhi’s farm-loan promise
or declare his job-creation vision a lie. But going by his post-election
statements, it appears that Gandhi’s campaign strategy was more about
creating a counter to Modi’s narrative rather than responding to the
issues on the ground. In a way, Congress was attempting to dilute the
perception among the masses about the Modi government—of being
hard on corruption, creating jobs and setting pro-farmer policies—and
crafted its agenda around it.

Gandhi said, “The prime minister was elected on three platforms:

unemployment, corruption and farmers.” He gave credit for his party’s
victory to a new perception of Modi that prevailed among the public,
one that is based on Modi’s failure on these platforms. “It was set in the
people’s mind that the prime minister was really fighting against
corruption. That feeling has gone. Now, what has crept into the people’s
mind is that the prime minister himself is corrupt.”

That Gandhi likely centred his campaign only around Modi’s public
perception is made clearer by his omissions—he ignored pertinent issues
related to secularism and socialism that have crept up under Modi’s rule.
Notably, on the campaign trail he has been silent over the unabated
lynching of Muslims as well as several cases of atrocities against Dalits.
These cases also include the murder of seven members of the Dalit
community in Madhya Pradesh, on 2 April. His overtures to Modi’s
Hindutvavadi base are also blatantly visible—since the Gujarat assembly
elections in 2017, Gandhi has been seen visiting temples before
addressing election rallies. A few weeks before the recent round of polls,
his gotra occupied significant space in media coverage, ensuring that his
Brahmin background was indisputable.
Even Gandhi’s comments and rhetoric appear similar to those that Modi
employed in his campaigning before the 2014 elections. He held the
crowd’s undivided attention during his election rallies. Often, he would
just make a mocking expression during the pauses in his speeches. He
shared anecdotes that showed the Modi government in a bad light.
Once, he told people how he met Modi and had asked him to waive
farmers’ loans. He then enacted how the prime minister gave him a
stern look in response. He made snide remarks at Modi by narrating
controversial stories—quoting a statement by the absconding business
tycoon Vijay Mallya, Gandhi talked about how Mallya met
(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mallya-says-met-jaitley-
before-leaving-india-then-backtracks/articleshow/65790371.cms) the
union finance minister Arun Jaitley in the corridors of the parliament.
Recounting this at an election rally, Gandhi claimed that Jaitley had
asked Mallya to flee.

While campaigning for the 2014 general elections, Modi said in a speech
that he did not want to be the prime minister of the country, but its
chowkidar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2azUk65IERw). Gandhi
frequently used this in his pre-election rallies this year. He told the
crowd, “There is a new slogan now.” He would come close to the mic and
say, “Chowkidar?” And the crowd would respond with, “Chor hai.”—is a
thief. It would not have been a surprise if such a slogan came out of
Modi’s mouth.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the

Congress had proved its majority in three states two days before the date of
publishing. This has been corrected to reflect that the assembly-election
results were announced two days earlier. The Caravan regrets the error.

KEYWORDS: Rahul Gandhi(/tag/rahul-gandhi)

madhya pradesh assembly elections 2018(/tag/madhya-pradesh-assembly-elections-2018)

BJP(/tag/bjp) Madhya Pradesh(/tag/madhya-pradesh)

Rajasthan election 2018(/tag/rajasthan-election-2018) Rajasthan(/tag/rajasthan)

Narendra Modi(/tag/narendra-modi) election results(/tag/election-results)

Loan Waiver(/tag/loan-waiver) Congress(/tag/congress)