[Had he given an evasive reply, the next day, the banner headlines would have been: 'Rahul, Still A Reluctant Politician!' And, like Modi, he, of course, didn't shout and scream: Make me the Chowkidar! (Watch: 'PM Modi's Chowkidar video super hit again as Nirav Modi runs away with Rs 11,000 Cr | TheDispatch' at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA_hThR3Sl4>.)
《Asked by a member of the audience whether he was willing to be prime minister in 2019, Rahul first replied, "That depends on how well the Congress party does." When the questioner asked about the prospects in case of an alliance winning the next election, he said, "If the Congress party is the biggest party, yes." ... Aggressive young men tried to barge into Aligarh Muslim University to remove the portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah from the students union hall leading to clashes; another lot of men sought to prevent Muslims from offering namaz on open grounds in Gurgaon; a Dalit activist was shot dead in Saharanpur where upper caste men were celebrating Maharana Pratap's birth anniversary, while on the same day another right-wing group tried to rename Delhi's Akbar Road after Maharana Pratap. Every time the BJP wins an election, the zealots at large become even more aggressive on the ground and the RSS more determined to drag India into the quagmires of the past. By understanding the drive and the design of his principal adversary, the new Congress president has shown a measure of political astuteness and ideological acuity that is far more important than any prime ministerial ambition - and certainly more useful in the long battle that lies ahead regardless of what Karnataka throws up tomorrow...》] https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/ready-for-battle-230170#.Wvl0H-QnYlc.facebook Ready for battle Rahul Gandhi offers a clear-eyed perspective Manini Chatterjee May 14, 2018 00:00 IST Much like a book that cannot be judged by its cover, the significance of a speech can sometimes not be gauged by the screaming headline it generates. Towards the end of a long-drawn-out campaign for the Karnataka assembly elections, the Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, briefly displaced Prime Minister Narendra Modi on television screens. Rahul Gandhi made waves because he had, the news channels said, unambiguously declared his ambition to be prime minister. The May 8 "declaration" provided fodder for long hours of discussion in television studios and gave the prime minister yet another handle to mock the Congress chief. Addressing election rallies in different parts of Karnataka the next day, Modi said a person declaring himself eligible for the post of prime minister was the "height of arrogance" and that making such a declaration was "a blow to the democratic system of the country." He even likened Rahul to a village bully who jumps the queue before the arrival of a water tanker and "walks straight to the front of the line to claim his water..." Given his rhetorical flourishes that are often economical with facts (such as his claims about Jawaharlal Nehru mistreating Field Marshal Cariappa and General Thimayya where he got even the dates wrong), the prime minister's claim about Rahul's alleged claim was hardly a surprise. Besides, in this case, Modi was not delving into history but relying on the day's headlines. The fact, though, is that Rahul Gandhi made no grand, unilateral declaration about his prime ministerial ambitions. His remark on the subject came as a reply to a persistent questioner at the end of an hour-long interaction with a selected audience in Bangalore last Tuesday. The interaction between Rahul and a group of Bangalore citizens took place after he inaugurated the Samruddha Bharat Foundation, a platform that aims "to propagate liberal, secular and republican values." Asked by a member of the audience whether he was willing to be prime minister in 2019, Rahul first replied, "That depends on how well the Congress party does." When the questioner asked about the prospects in case of an alliance winning the next election, he said, "If the Congress party is the biggest party, yes." That was all - a simple answer to a straight question that, far from being arrogant, was hemmed in by ifs and buts. That one throwaway line garnered all the publicity and little was written or aired about the Bangalore meeting itself. It is only on viewing the entire interaction - which is freely available on the internet - that it becomes clear that Rahul Gandhi spoke of many things that day of far greater import than the prospect of becoming prime minister. More than the easy confidence he exuded or his articulation of the Congress's vision, it is Rahul Gandhi's jargon-free ideological clarity that makes the Bangalore talk a significant milestone in his long and meandering political journey. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
