Heart In Hand

Rahul Gandhi’s focused and relentless campaign helped the Congress bag three saffron states, even as Narendra Modi’s shrill campaign did him in. Going forward, there are lessons to be learnt for both

- R. Prasannan And Soni Mishra

In his finest hour as Congress president, Rahul Gandhi took care to appear humble, polite and refined. He was at pains not to wave at the cheering party workers on the lawns of the party’s 24 Akbar Road head office, not to smile too much, and rather looked sombre at times. There was no spring in his gait, no bombast in his words, no sarcasm in his tone, no spite towards his foes, and, of course, no flashy clothes (never his wont). “I have learnt my lesson from Narendra Modi.... I have learnt humility,” he said, almost sounding like a defeated general.

Rahul Gandhi, called Prince and Pappu by detractors, has learnt not to be another Modi. He understands that pride went before the BJP’s fall in central India, till now thought to be a saffron fortress. In the elections to the three assemblies in Madhya Bharat, the tone of his opponents’ campaign had been one of political arrogance and rhetorical sarcasm, directed not just at the Congress or Rahul, but even at revered national icons of India. A sarcasm that had hurt many a noble soul steeped in ancient Indian values of humility and self-denial. Pride and hate, they have said through their vote, are not values cherished by this ancient civilisation.

The way people voted has lessons for both winner and loser. It was majorly the votes from this very heartland that had catapulted Modi and company to national power four and a half years ago. The three states account for 65 seats in the Lok Sabha, of which Modi’s BJP had won 62.

The new electoral arithmetic thrown up by the results is discomfiting for Modi and his party chief Amit Shah, who has been called an electoral Chanakya. Of the 519 seats in the three assemblies, the BJP was defeated in 322.