THE RISE, FALL AND RISE OF RAGA

A photograph is worth a powerful phrase: rigorous reinvention.

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A photograph is worth a powerful phrase: rigorous reinvention. The snapshot in question is a mise-en-scene of political theatre: the new Leader of the Opposition (LOP) Rahul Gandhi shaking hands with Speaker Om Birla, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stand behind him. Modi and Rahul together had escorted Birla to the Speaker's chair—a convention followed since 1950, though there is nothing conventional about either leader.

So, do the tea leaves foretell the return of Gandhi? It took over two decades in politics for Rahul to make it to the front bench of the opposition. The Bharat Jodo Yatra tee and chinos were gone. Rahul wore a formal, white kurtapyjama on Day One of the new Lok Sabha. DNA matters-father Rajiv Gandhi and mother Sonia were also LoPs, the latter for almost five years during the Vajpayee government.