The Dilemma Returns

I was glad that Rahul Gandhi’s conviction on defamation (commenting that every thief has the surname Modi) was overturned by the Supreme Court. Not because I like Rahul; but because it felt ridiculous to imprison someone for a comment like that. Almost everyone makes such statements about some group or the other. While not in good taste, a prison sentence of any duration is going way too far.

 

In politics though, everything can swing both ways. It could be due to cynical rivals, or campaign managers’ masterstrokes and blunders, or the unpredictable perception of the common man.

 

Asim Ali raised some interesting points about Rahul’s “return”:

“The martyrdom parade might have been stopped…”

While it is also true that:

“The judgment also lends credibility to Congress’ claim of unjust punishment.”

 

It also brings back a fundamental contradiction to the fore:

“(Congress’) 2024 strategy is composed of two mutually contradictory goals: the achievement of a broad opposition unity and the recovery of the former ‘Congress space’.”

As Ali says:

“Any strident attempts by Congress to project Gandhi as their PM candidate would scupper the goal of broad opposition unity.”

Nitish, Mamata and even Kejriwal would not accept that.

 

However much the INDIA alliance tries to avoid the “Who will be PM?” question, it will come up not just after the elections but during campaigning – the BJP will ensure that. After all, on the PM front, Modi is vastly more popular than every contender by a mile (at a national level). No amount of “This is not an American style Presidential election” reminders can neutralize that.

 

To summarize then, his acquittal has brought back the old Hamlet question:

“To project or not to project Rahul Gandhi.”

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