Rahul Gandhi's 'paathshaala' quip is another win in a resurgent run

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was his nonchalant self when in a recent interview he was asked about the sustained attack by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi against his government and its policies.

“The Congress has suffered a crushing defeat and ended with less than 50 seats. Even after a year, they are not able to digest this. The people have punished them for their sins of omission and commission. We thought they would learn from this, but it looks as though they are proving right the earlier saying that if con is the opposite of pro, then Congress is the opposite of Progress,” he told PTI when asked about Gandhi’s sustained campaign.

While the Prime Minister has exhibited calm, his ministers have been launching an all about attack against Gandhi. Home Minister Rajanth Singh returned to the BJP’s familiar pre-poll refrain of ‘yuvraj’ to describe the Congress Vice President while trying to justify the multiple foreign visits of the Prime Minister during his first year in power.

“Earlier, there was nothing to show on TV when PM went outside India. Now TV channels all over the world broadcast the visit. Presidents and PMs of other countries break all the protocols to welcome our PM at the airports…Congress’ `yuvraj’ went on two months’ sabbatical abroad without informing anyone. As the Home Minister, I was also worried about his whereabouts. And he is now levelling mindless allegations against our PM,” he said.

External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj also while attending a meet to mark one year of the Modi government in Dehradun like many other BJP leaders before here was effusive in her praise of the Prime Minister

“It is no mean achievement that in just one year of his tenure our Prime Minister has emerged as one of the front ranking leaders of the world,” Swaraj said.

But coming on a day the Congress Vice President launched a fresh scathing attack on the Prime Minister over his meeting with his predecessor Manmohan Singh, the BJP only ends up sounding like it’s on the back foot. In a NSUI meet, Rahul Gandhi was in his element as he went not only after the BJP but even the RSS.

“Manmohan Singh said economy is going down. After that the Prime Minister took classes (paathshaala) from Manmohan Singh for one hour. He tried to understand how economy is run as he is not being able to understand it. Maybe Manmohan Singh made him understand it. I will ask him,” Gandhi said to cheers.

It was a masterful political comeback after tongues were set wagging over the meeting between Singh and Modi just hours after they were at each others throats. The Congress had quickly sought to explain away the meeting, given it came even as Singh is facing fresh allegations over inaction in connection with the 2G scam, but Gandhi’s explanation was perhaps the best one for the party politically.

Ever since his return from vacation, Gandhi’s had a fine run raking up issues and coming up with zingers against the Modi government. The BJP had a good run against him in Parliament with allies like Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur, Arun Jaitley and others routinely taking potshots at his over 50-day ‘sabbatical’. But that could fly only so long. The government and BJP had to at some point stop merely mocking his vacation and start responding to questions that seem to be making inconvenient headlines.

As Firstpost’s Sanjay Singh pointed out , the Modi government is going all out to play down its ‘acche din’ rhetoric given how it is being used against them and the full galaxy of the BJP’s leaders are out across the country defending the government’s actions over the last year and singing praises of the Prime Minister’s functioning. Gandhi, however, has shown little inclination towards reducing the intensity of what some would call his ‘shoot-and-scoot’ politics while it continues to reap dividends for him and the Congress as it attempts to take up the mantle of being the principal opposition party nationally.

But that doesn’t mean the rejuvenated Congress Vice President is unassailable either. His recent visit to Kerala was, as Firstpost’s G Pramod Kumar pointed out , for all practical purposes a political train wreck. Relying on a cliche that isn’t the catchiest irrespective of where he is, gaffes like telling fishermen that the fish they caught was better than those from trawlers and still lacking the oratorial chutzpah that his party needs from him, Gandhi is no ideal opposition leader yet. But he can take heart from the fact that if nothing else, he’s still got the ability to make headlines and can take credit for an offensive that has BJP leaders running in circles to defend themselves from.