Emotions have been running high for the liberal media since Congress scion Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the Modi surname defamation case was overturned. While the Congress is portraying this as the “return of the prince,” Congress-friendly “journalists” are unable to deter themselves from launching Rahul Gandhi, again.
In an opinion piece for Gulf News titled “Gandhi 3.0: Rahul Gandhi’s complete reinvention for 2024 India elections”, Twitter troll and alleged ‘journalist’ Swati Chaturvedi launched Rahul Gandhi as a ‘resilient’ leader a purpose ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Chaturvedi delved into the ‘complete reinvention’ of the Gandhi scion.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi underwent ‘reinvention’. In 2018 Swati Chaturvedi tweeted that “Rahul Gandhi carried a successful reinvention” after Gujarat assembly elections, even when the Congress party could only achieve ‘moral victory’.
In April 2020, Swati Chaturvedi wrote an opinion piece for NDTV, that time it was Rahul 2.0. Chaturvedi heaped praises on Rahul Gandhi back then over how he did not launch political attacks on PM Modi over handling of the Covid pandemic and gave constructive suggestions. Swati wrote a long article back then eulogising Rahul Gandhi and it was yet another ‘reinvention’ of the Gandhi scion during lockdown 2.0. Contrary to Chaturvedi’s assertions of constructive criticism, Gandhi and his party ran vile campaign to malign PM Modi’s image and undermine India’s fight against covid. The Congress party even ran social media campaigns like #Modistrain in a bid to do so.
In the Gulf News article published on Tuesday, August 8, Chaturvedi opened with showering praises on Rahul Gandhi calling the former Congress President a resilient leader. Amusingly, Rahul Gandhi has over the years shown his ‘resilience’ by going on a holiday every time his party is in trouble, be it leaving for a foreign trip when Congress was faced with a crisis in Goa last year, or going on a trip to Italy in December 2021 ahead of the campaigns and rallies for then-upcoming Assembly elections in five states scheduled for 2022.
The Gulf News article further laments over how Rahul Gandhi has faced ‘political punishment’ as an “industrial scale calumny” was directed at the Congress scion in a social media smear campaign. In line with the Congress narrative that Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in the Modi surname case, as well as his automatic disqualification as a Member of the Lok Sabha, was the result of the BJP and the Modi government’s vendetta against Rahul Gandhi, Chaturvedi insinuated that his disqualification as Lok Sabha MP was caused by the BJP, not the law. Chaturvedi also bemoaned how the BJP government forced the ‘prince’ to leave his castle, which he had been staying in for 19 years, with “unusual alacrity.”
The article continues by recalling how Rahul Gandhi, when first introduced as “the ultimate silver spoon heir,” despised politics and was unwilling to put in the hard work required, often sought refuge in numerous international excursions. Interestingly, even after his initial launch and numerous re-launches as a ‘leader’ and Prime Ministerial contender, Rahul Gandhi’s love for trips abroad has not changed.
Moving ahead, ‘journalist’ Swati Chaturvedi called Rahul Gandhi’s controversial foot march ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ a game changer for the Gandhi scion. While Rahul Gandhi claims to run a ‘Mohabbat ki dukaan’ his Bharat Jodo Yatra, started in September last year and ended in January, witnessed numerous occasions which raised questions if Rahul Gandhi and his party were walking to unite or divide the nation. From widening the linguistic divide, meeting anti-Hindu pastor George Poonaiah, walking along Congress leader who openly slaughtered cow, feeling hatred between Maharashtra and Gujarat, meeting controversial ‘activists’ like Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar, anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler to raking up ‘outsider’ rhetoric in Jammu and Kashmir when migrant workers and non-locals were being killed by the terrorists.
Rahul Gandhi is the only Indian politician with the most ‘launches‘. The Congress party has frequently ‘launched’ Rahul Gandhi as a credible contender for the PM seat, but with little to demonstrate for it in terms of performance.
Under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, the Congress party has faced humiliating defeats in back-to-back Lok Sabha elections, has been wiped out in numerous states, and has become a negligible player in a number of others. From leading his party to defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 2019 Lok Sabha elections to losing his ancestral Amethi constituency to BJP’s Smriti Irani, Rahul Gandhi has proven to be a disappointing leader for the party even though the ‘darbaris’ will not admit it openly and continue to take the blame for the defeats and crown him for the victories.
Despite the disappointing electoral results overall, the party has decided to attempt another ‘relaunch’ as the party is set to take out another Bharat Jodo Yatra in the coming times. While the Congress and its media alliance are desperately pushing ‘Rahul 3.0’—yet another launch of the Gandhi prince, it would be interesting to see how the umpteenth ‘launch’ is packaged and sold ahead of the 2024 elections.
