Amid criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the decision to field Rahul Gandhi on Raebareli Lok Sabha seat instead of Amethi, the party has come to the defence of its scion. Party General Secretary Jairam Ramesh hailed him as an “an experienced player of politics and chess” and said it was part of the larger strategy of Congress.
For weeks, there had been speculation that Rahul would contest from either Amethi or Raebareli in addition to Kerala’s Wayanad where he is seeking a reelection this time. He had held the Amethi seat from 2004 to 2019. In 2019, BJP’s Smriti Irani defeated him in Amethi.
After Rahul’s candidature from Raebareli was announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had “run away” from his older seat.
In a bid to mount a counter-offensive, Ramesh took a jibe at Irani and said that her only identity is that she contests against Rahul. Now that she would not be facing Rahul in polls, she would be irrelevant, said Ramesh.
“Today, Smriti Irani’s only identity is that she contests elections from Amethi against Rahul Gandhi. Now, her political relevance is over. Instead of making meaningless statements, Smriti Irani will now have to answer about local development: closed hospitals, steel plants and IIITs,” said Ramesh in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Will Rahul’s gambit pay off?
In a video released by Congress, Rahul said that he is the best chess players among Indian politicians. The decision to skip his traditional seat of Amethi to contest from Raebareli —vacated for him by his mother Sonia Gandhi— is no less than a gambit.
While Modi has mocked Rahul as a princeling running away from a fight, Congress has framed the candidature from Raebareli as part of the party’s efforts to respect the legacy spanning generations.
Speaking at a rally in West Bengal, Modi on Friday also mocked Sonia, who decided to not contest Lok Sabha election this time and instead went to the Rajya Sabha. “I had said their biggest leader will not dare to contest. She will run away out of fear. She ran to Rajasthan and from there entered Rajya Sabha. That is exactly what happened. I had said that ‘shehzade’ (Rahul Gandhi) is afraid of losing in Wayanad and the moment voting ends, he will start looking for a third seat. Now even from Amethi, despite all his loyalists saying it, he panicked so much. he ran from there and is now looking towards Raebareli,” said Modi.
On his part, Ramesh said that Rahul is not inheriting Raebareli’s seat from his mother but is fulfilling a responsibility.
“Rae Bareli has been the seat not only of Sonia ji but also of Indira Gandhi herself. It is not an inheritance; it is a responsibility and a duty,” said Ramesh.
Ramesh further flagged that while Rahul has been an MP from both North India and South India, Modi has never contested from South India.
He said, “As far as the Gandhi family is concerned, it is not just Amethi-Rae Bareli, the entire country from north to south is the stronghold of the Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi has been MP thrice from Uttar Pradesh and once from Kerala. Why has the Prime Minister been unable to muster the courage to contest an election from a single seat below the Vindhyas?”
From Amethi to Raebareli via Wayanad, here’s Rahul’s political journey
Rahul joined electoral politics in 2004 from Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh. Incidentally, his mother Sonia had also first become a Lok Sabha MP from Amethi seat. In 2004, while Rahul contested from Amethi, Sonia moved to Raebareli.
Both Amethi and Raebareli seats had long been Congress bastions. Previously, Sonia’s mother-in-law and Rahul’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, was an MP from Rae Bareli whereas her husband Rajiv Gandhi, also a former PM, was an MP from Amethi.
While Rahul defeated Irani in 2014 from Amethi, she staged an upset in 2019 by beating him in his family bastion.
Prior to entering politics, however, Rahul and his sister Priyanka Gandhi spent time in the shadows of the giants like their father Rajiv Gandhi, grandmother Indira Gandhi, and mother Sonia. The two of them were home-schooled because of security considerations. Their father and grandmother were both assassinated.
After schooling, Rahul went to St. Stephen’s College of the University of Delhi for his undergraduate studies. From there, he moved to the United States to attend Harvard University. Following Rajiv’s assassination, he moved to Rollins College in Florida. He graduated from there in 1994. Then, he went on to an M Phil in Development Studies from University of Cambridge’s Trinity College in 1995. Then, he briefly ran a consultancy before returning to India. In 2004, he joined electoral politics.
Gandhi is a certified scuba diver and is known for his fitness. He also holds a black belt in Aikido, a Japanese martial art.
Over the years, Rahul has often been criticised as a “non-serious” politician. Two weeks back, he addressed this at a press conference and addressed the issue. He cited his involvement with the Land Acquisition Bill, the Bhatta-Parsaul movement, and the MGNREGA scheme, among others over the years.
In recent years, Rahul has carried out south-to-north and east-to-west marches with the idea to revive the party orgnaisation ahead of polls.
Unlike last time when Rahul led the charge against Modi on the issue of purported irregularities in the procurement of Rafale fighter planes, he has this time led his party on the platform of caste census. He has promised to remove the Supreme Court-instituted 50% cap on reservation.
Whether the caste census pitch along with the gambit of contesting from Raebarei remains to be seen.
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