Rahul Gandhi's Political Strategy

SLOWLY but surely, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family and virtual heir-apparent, Rahul Gandhi, is moving to political centrestage and carving out a constituency for himself among the downtrodden on the one hand and the urban youth on the other.
His recent statement on atrocities committed against some village folk by the U.P. police under Chief Minister Mayawati’s dispensation may have been criticised for being exaggerated and overdrawn, but it has struck an approving chord among farmers in general who form an important vote bank.
The manner in which he rode on a motorcyle to the Greater Noida village of Bhatta Parsaul where four people had died over land acquisition when villagers clashed with policemen earlier this month, and the strong statement he made, wrested the initiative away from the BJP which was preparing to make an issue of it. By following it up with leading a delegation of farmers to the Prime Minister and handing over pictures of burnt bodies, ashes with bones and ransacked houses to him and later to the media, Rahul gave out a clear message to those who may have had any doubts that he wielded clout in the highest circles.
In the last few years since Rahul came into active politics, he has also been striving to handpick young men and women as Congress candidates in elections. That only a few of these have found their way into state assemblies and Parliament is a fact but insofar as the strategy is to position him as a protagonist of the country’s youth, it is gradually seeping into young minds. In repeatedly championing the cause of the poor and of the urban youth, Rahul has consciously lived down his elitist upbringing as a part of a conscious strategy.
Yet, all said and done, Rahul Gandhi has some way to go before he is seen widely as a mass leader justifying his heir-apparent tag. In the incident at Bhatta Parsaul, his statement on “mass murder and rape” and the subsequent watering down of that version has brought his credibility a few notches lower. Now that every action and statement of his is under scrutiny, he needs to learn to be more credible, responsible and better-informed.