The narrative of "relaunching Rahul Gandhi" has been deployed by political opponents especially the BJP across multiple phases — dating back to various electoral campaigns, organizational revamps, and large-scale public outreach initiatives like the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The SIR issue and calls for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation have galvanised support for 'beleaguered' opposition parties, who are seen to have flailed in the face of the BJP’s electoral power. Rahul Gandhi has spent months accusing the BJP of fraudulently influencing elections, but his claims have been largely ignored.
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| Hero of Zero Hour : 2011 ::: Launching at a wrong Time |
Critics certainly use the phrase to characterize every major political mobilization led by Rahul as a fresh attempt to fix or restart his political trajectory, but his sycophants and supporters claim these as Rahul's outreach to grassroots workers.
In 2011, the then Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj had criticised the manner Rahul Gandhi was allowed to make a 'public speech to the nation' (Rashtra-ke naam Sandesh) during zero hour on the Lokpal bill in Lok Sabha during the height of the agitation led by Anna Hazare.
"Was Rahul Gandhi's speech a Zero Hour intervention or an address to the nation," Swaraj had asked in the House on August 27, 2011 much to the embarrassment of the then Speaker Meira Kumar. Paradoxically, she was brought back on Oct 31 for yet another round of "re-packaging" of Rahul Gandhi.
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| Relaunching - with backing of Mamata : 'aapa' lost her ground in West Bengal |
"Zero hour is meant to raise an issue. Why were norms relaxed for Rahul? Zero hour allows three minutes to raise an issue, Rahul took 15 minutes," Sushma Swaraj had said evoking protest from the Congress members but the Speaker Meira Kumar chose not to react.
Nov 1 rally was another such occasion. The Sickular media dutifully covered the episode trying to hype the event as far as possible. Look at the BBC coverage :
"The crowds gathered at Ramlila Maidan, a sprawling ground in central Delhi known for hosting major political and cultural events. Some protesters sang and danced to patriotic Bollywood songs, while others waited beneath a large canopy in the colours of the Indian flag to hear opposition leaders speak. Gandhi and several senior opposition leaders arrived at the venue in an open jeep, travelling through crowds of cheering supporters."
BJP spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill criticized the Ramlila Maidan event as “Rahul relaunch attempt 101” and an expensive public relations exercise, questioning Congress's narrative on vote fraud.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other BJP leaders similarly mocked the continuous efforts by the Congress party to repeatedly rebrand Rahul Gandhi.
In 2023, 'The Economist' said:
"Walk through the Indian countryside alongside Rahul Gandhi for a while and it is possible to imagine you are witnessing the rebirth of a political movement.
"Traversing the northern state of Himachal Pradesh one wintry day last week the leader of Congress, India’s main opposition party, was heralded in every town and village.
Scores of people jostled for space behind windows and on rooftops, brandishing phones and occasionally tablets to record a glimpse of him. Sporting a white T-shirt and bushy beard,
Mr Gandhi trudged inside a rectangular security cordon formed by police wearing tracksuits and carrying a yellow rope.
Every few minutes the caravan stopped and security guards hustled bystanders inside the cordon for a photo-op and brief chat."
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| Bharat Jodo Yatra |
Reality about Rahul Gandhi as a 'fighter' is different:
In 2014 -- Rahul Gandhi, the heir to India's Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was mandated by the Congress led by Sonia Gandhi to lead the 'struggling Congress party's campaign' at the general elections. But he was not nominated for the post of prime minister. In 2009, Dr Manmohan Singh was the PM-candidate.
Congress announcement was seen as a small attempt of political manoeuvering aimed at protecting the 44-year-old (2014) from being a scapegoat for his party's problems. In 2026, he is 56. In between Rahul has resigned as Congress president and has a rubber stamp party chief in Malikarjun Kharge.
In 2014, Congress was trounced by Narendra Modi’s party and reduced to its worst ever showing of 44 seats. In 2019, it improved on that results but loss of Amethi by Rahul and the BJP’s penetration of the country’s east, north-east and south confirmed that the Congress "has been superseded" as India’s only national political force.
The losses - 2019 and 2014 - revived questions about whether Rahul Gandhi and his family should "relinquish" control of Congress to fresh faces. Exactly a century back in 1919, Rahul;s great-great-grandfather, Motilal Nehru, took the helm of the party that led India’s freedom movement.
The 34th annual session of the Congress took place in Amritsar from December 27, 1919, to January 1, 1920. The session's grand procession was jointly led by INC President Motilal Nehru and Muslim League President Hakim Ajmal Khan.
In 2024, the Congress tally improved to 99 even as BJP's number dropped from 303 to 240. But Modi was able to form government with the support of two key allies - the TDP and JD-U.
But the fact of the matter is Congress vote-share increased only by 1.7 percent.
After BJP won 2026 election in West Bengal; the opposition parties realised the Lotus party's electoral machine is 'more powerful' than it was imagined. But the journey taken to take on Modi is still "inadequate and ill-advised".
Lot of hard work is required along with sound strategies. Even on the issue of Vote Chori and SIR - the Congress is presenting confused and mixed face.
AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi says, "There is a minister (Congress), Satish Jarkiholi, calling SIR good. Meanwhile, Priyank Kharge (AICC president's son) says the opposite... Congress is calling out SIR across the nation. In my constituency—Hyderabad—Congress members went to the Election Commission and demanded that voters' names be removed... You have one tune in Hyderabad, another in Bengaluru, and yet another in Delhi...".
ends
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