10.30 pm: Rahul Gandhi's solution all problems: 'opening up the system'
So Rahul Gandhi was questioned on price rise, Narendra Modi, dynasty, RTI, his political ambitions, his degrees and Arvind Kejriwal. Each of his answers boiled to just one declaration - cleansing of the system. While Rahul is not exactly the quintessential outsider, a part of his image building exercise leaned heavily on this stance - that of an insider who is almost an outsider in the way he is critical of the established traditions of politics and governance. While we have always wondered how he can legitimately defend the stance, it is just today that he revealed how - by choosing to not to defend it, instead avoid talking about it.
Asked if he was going to apologise for the 1984 riots, Gandhi said, "I was not even a functional part of the Congress party then." After much grilling, he did manage to admit that 'some Congressmen' might have been involved in the 1984 riots'. However, he completely avoided clearing the air about the Congress' present stance about the 1984 Sikh riots by offering compliments for the Sikh community. "They are the most industrious community ever."
Though this was a question that did not merit to be asked in place, given Subhramanian Swamy is famous for his indiscretions, Goswami asked Gandhi to respond to Swamy's allegations about his education. After grilling Goswami about his education Rahul suggested Swamy should take a legal route to prove that his degrees are false.
Asked if the UPA has disappointed him as it failed to control price rise, Gandhi said, " I am working with the PM on the price rise issue. Women form the backbone of the country and they seem troubled by this price rise."
Asked if he wants to be the PM candidate, Rahul said he doesn't want to disrespect the decision of MPs so he will take whatever role the party gives him till the elections. Did he say he is ready to be Congress PM candidate? No prizes for guessing, he didn't.
Yes, there was probably one true moment of self reflection amid all this. "You might think I am an anomaly in this environment. I am anomaly in this environment". Just when you thought he would elaborate on this and at least sweep up a sympathy thumbs up, he moves on to something equally obscure to finally comment on the Chinese manufacturing industry. "People from abroad always keep coming to me all the time." Okay, Vipassana resort owners can take heart, Gandhi is not eating into their business. "People come from abroad asking for an alternative for Chinese manufacturing business."
Like Firstpost editor Lakshmi Chaudhry notes, though Rahul might have assured voters of his sincerity, he also laid bare that he neither has a concrete plan, nor a clear agenda about governance. In fact, from his repeated references to 'system' and how it needs to be cleansed, without specifying how, he seemed uncannily like Arvind Kejriwal - only less aggressive.
In fact, he concluded his interview saying, "Of course we will win". Only, one can bet, he himself didn't find his tone reassuring.
9.45 pm: Rahul Gandhi explains Rahul Gandhi to Arnab Goswami
"What does Rahul Gandhi want? Who is Rahul Gandhi?" were the deeply existential question that the Congress Vice President sought to answer in his first TV interview in many years. And in the course of it he has revealed to the world that 'system' and 'youngster' is to his political discourse, what chiffon sarees and the Swiss Alps is to a Yash Raj film. Be it questions about dynasty, be it questions about the RTI: all of Rahul's answers boiled down to just one idea - opening up the system to youngsters.
Asked if the Congress is going to reprimand Ashok Chavan and Virbhadra Singh, Gandhi said, "My goal is to open the system up for the youngsters." "I am going to take on the system, I have to open up the system," he said when he was asked about Subhramanian Swamy's accusations against him. Asked how he deals with accusations of nepotism, he again added, "I didn't choose to to be born into this family. I can run away from this, or I can make a difference. And I want to get youngsters involved in the system."
9.00 pm: 'You have to understand who Rahul Gandhi is to conclude what he is scared of'
"I have lost my loved ones, I am not scared of losing anything else," says Gandhi. Ten minutes into Rahul Gandhi's interview, these were the only lines that the Congress Vice-President said without looking like a high school kid faced with a particularly difficult trigonometry problem. Like we already pointed out, Gandhi is at his evasive best. Though Goswami has goaded him to answer his questions 'specifically' and 'categorically', Gandhi even refused to call Modi by his name - he only chose to refer to him as 'opposition'.
Rahul seems to have little concern for what either the nation, or what Goswami wants to know. He seems to have decided to treat the viewers and the host with rehashed versions of his older speeches, meeting all questions with a deeply worried look. Asked is Congress is right on pinning the blame for the 2002 rights on Narendra Modi, when the SC has exonerated him, Gandhi says, "There is a difference between 1984 riots and 2002 riots. In 2002, the Gujarat government was involved in the riots, they were not trying to stop it. In 1984, the government was trying to stop the riots," says Rahul Gandhi.
8.55 pm: Will Brand Rahul be resuscitated?
Apart from being the party's vice president, Rahul Gandhi also happens to be Congress' worst kept secret. From his alleged 'to be, or not to be PM candidate' dilemma to the several self goals he has scored on behalf of the party, Rahul has been a bigger enigma for Congress than the party's opponents or voters. While everyone from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Finance Minister P Chidambaram has gone on record to express their confidence in Rahul as a Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections, the Congress VC has remained tight-lipped about his role in the party.
The prolonged confusion and criticism about his role in the Congress partially stems from the fact that his public relations has been patchy at its best. Though the mainstream media is sort of familiar with his ever-smiling yet ever-evasive persona, in this Twitter-age, Rahul's public relations misses a necessary social media edge, unlike is adversary Narendra Modi. Apart from that, he rarely meets the media individually in the way of interviews.
Rahul Gandhi. Reuters.
The idea of Rahul Gandhi, therefore, is strictly built on his televised public addresses, many of which the general middle class voters have neither time or patience for. Even if carefully screened and orchestrated, Narendra Modi still has some direct public interactions to his credit, including a Google Hangout session. Modi is active on Twitter and has addressed everything from college functions to foundation stone-laying ceremonies where he finds a legitimate opportunity to pillory the Congress and promote his politics of development.
Though Sonia Gandhi has declared that Rahul will not be declared the party's PM candidate, there seems to be a visible movement in that direction. From the posters branding Rahul as the anti-corruption ninja to the TV commercials on Congress' success concluding with the face of Rahul playing the perfect political poster-boy right to the starched white kurta pajama and I'm-going-to-fix-the-world smile, it's impossible to deny that the Modi's Congress counterpart, at least for this election, is Rahul Gandhi.
Also, there has been a slow but steady progress on the public relations front. From print interview in several years given to Dainik Bhaskar to his widely televised 'interactions' with panchayat members and women activists in several districts, Rahul's public relations vehicle has slowly taken off. The latest in the itinerary, therefore, is a television interview. To be conducted on Times Now by Arnab Goswami, Gandhi has worked up quite a Twitter storm by turning up to be interviewed by Goswami.
If his print interview is anything to go by, Gandhi might possibly maintain a elusive aura, only half answering questions lobbed at him. However, if he has important announcements to make and ideas to promote, without a melee of reporters mobbing him, this is probably his best chance at it. Will Brand Rahul take a step forward with this Times Now interview? We'll know in a bit.
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