Rahul Gandhi is the tallest opposition leader, thanks to PM Modi

New Delhi: The 2024 election season has established beyond doubt that Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the  tallest  Opposition leader and will have  rightful credentials to stake  claim for the PM’s post in case it comes close to striking distance after the polls.

The credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra   Modi  who has immensely contributed to Rahul’s  rise. Consider the attacks Rahul Gandhi receives from the Prime Minister in every meeting Modi addresses in this election season. Naturally, all other BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah  and others of the party follow suit.  Opposition aspirants like Mamata Banerjee, for example, are nowhere near Rahul.

Within hours of Rahul Gandhi, 53,  filing his nomination from Raebareli   Lok  seat two days ago, the Prime Minister reacted derisively while  addressing an election rally in Burdhaman-Durgapur constituency in Bengal:”daro mat, bhago mat”. He was obviously referring to Rahul not contesting from Amethi, his original constituency. In Chikkodi (Karnataka), Home Minister Amit Shah took a snipe on Rahul and was quoted as saying: “Sonia Gandhi has tried to launch Rahul Baba twenty times but the launch failed each time. Today for the 21^st time, he (Rahul) ran away from Amethi and filed his nomination from Raebareli.  Rahul Baba, I can tell you the result of the Raebareli election. You are going to lose badly…”  It did not stop there. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur repeated the same phrases as the top two, not to talk of Smriti Irani who seems to feel that Amethi has gone to her for eternity.

The consistency with which Rahul bore the brunt of BJP attacks began  in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll when he headed Congress party as its President. Earlier, he got the sobriquet of “pappu” by the same flock. Indeed, 2019 was the turning point for Rahul. He  may have lost as the leader of the party then, but his graph began to rise. He made frontal attacks on the Prime Minister on various issues then,  most particularly on the Rafael deal . He suffered subsequently for his outspokenness , but he refused to yield.

Rahul’s two cross-country “padyatra”—Bharat Jodo  and Nyay Yara—in the recent past  only added to his political stature. Today , he stands tall as an Opposition leader in his own right and even the Prime Minister indirectly acknowledges him as his competitor. No wonder Rahul remains the target of attack from the BJP and its other leaders. All of this  has benefited Rahul. It may pay him bigger dividends  in future.

Several senior leaders have left the Congress party in the recent past seeking to blame Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. But they are nowhere now. Look what has happened to Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was the maximum gainer of the party’s largesse. Kapil Sibbal  now cuts little ice after he left the Congress party. More recently, Lovely of the Delhi Congress  is in wilderness  after quitting as president.

If Rahul brings better days for the party, many of these leaders will surely make a   beeline for comeback sooner. Judging by Rahul’s  conduct, however, these leaders have burnt their bridges . It is said Rahul Gandhi never made any attempt to stop even his own  team mates like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada when they crossed over to BJP.

Much as some may deride him as lacking in “leadership qualities”, Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a leader in his own right. Nothing  proves it more than the barrage of attacks he faces everyday from no less than the Prime Minister himself.