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Old message in old bottle: Why Rahul Gandhi's comeback speech was an exercise in futility

At a time when dreams sell big, Rahul's speech was all about saying how the parivaar has been a saviour of the family.

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So Batman (Rahul baba) has landed finally to save his beloved Gotham (Congress party). But it seems like a long hiatus of 57 days hasn't really added any teeth to Rahul Gandhi's political acumen. It was apparent that Rahul has yet to come up with any potent formula to counter the Modi juggernaut. 

The occasion being a farmers' rally, Rahul predominantly focussed on the plight of the peasants in his 22 minute long speech. But the tone and tenor of his speech was almost similar to his speeches before the drubbing in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

At a time when dreams sell big, Rahul's speech was all about saying how the parivaar has been a saviour of the country. He spoke about the Rs. 70,000 crores bailout by UPA during its first term and the various schemes launched for the poor farmer. But it was all about the doles the past government has offered. It reeked of a certain sense of entitlement which has been a hallmark of Congress' first family for a long time.

Beyond the politics of doles and subsidies and anti-corporate rhetoric, Rahul failed to give any broad over-arching guidelines about his vision for upliftment of the poor, especially the farmers. In a sense, it looked like he was stuck in a time warp. The India of 2015 is impatient. Every time Rahul speaks about poor infrastructure or facility in any particular sector, the obvious question which is raised is what was UPA doing in the last 10 years that it was in power. While Arvind Kejriwal enjoys the advantage of a start-up party, Rahul Gandhi doesn't have that luxury. Hence, he needs to go beyond the obvious rhetoric to become relevant among the masses again. 

Rahul in the past has been known to take up issues sporadically without any systematic follow-up. He grabbed eyeballs for his agitation in Bhatta-Parsaul. But he never went back there after initially making a splash. His stand-offish attitude has not really helped the party or organisation in the past. Hence, it will be interesting to see if Rahul can follow up on this rally by hitting the roads to seek compensation for farmers hard-done by the unseasonal rain. But by the way he gave the theory of corporates orchestrating win for BJP in Lok Sabha election, it was clear that Rahul is still smarting from the May drubbing. His comeback rally hence was more of a rant of a leader who has fallen below the curve. Can Rahul inspire a generational change in Congress and make it competitive again? Sunday's kisan rally didn't inspire much hope in that direction. 

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