Does Rahul Gandhi actually have something on Narendra Modi?

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has the advantage of the underdog against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the David versus Goliath showdown over corruption.

In any mismatched fight, David the underdog can hope to sail on the swell of people’s sympathy against the giant Goliath. The first round is won on people’s perception, not prowess.

Fighting the BJP with his back to the wall, the Nehru-Gandhi scion has managed to create the perception that there is something against Modi. But to carry on his perception war, Rahul, the underdog, has to take the fight to the BJP’s camp. He can’t afford to put up a pretence of battle and give it up midway.

For that, even in the first round, Rahul has to have a case. He has to deploy his ammunition, if he has to gain the first-round sympathy and support of the people. Rahul must realise he will be damned if he struts around Parliament levelling serious allegations of “personal corruption” against the PM through sound bites, press conferences, and then retreats into his shell. 

He will be damned too if he fails to substantiate his allegations. But the question of providing evidence comes at a later stage.

Initially, Rahul has to bring out the charge of “personal corruption” which, according to him, Narendra Modi is guilty of, in the open. It may be "huge" and "earth-shattering" to even bring down Parliament, as the Congress V-P threatened. The charge could be minor or major, but he has to say what exactly are the charges against Modi.  

Rahul has to create smoke. He can light the fire later. Does he have a case to create smoke? It’s fair to ask how could he have charged Modi with “personal corruption” without having a prima facie case?

Anyone with any common sense would have known that Rahul would have found a way to expose Modi’s corruption if he indeed was in possession of “detailed information” on graft. He would have at least attempted to raise the issue on the floor of Parliament. He would have had a stronger case if the ruling party had prevented him from raising the matter. 

Surely, Rahul and his colleagues from 14 other opposition parties would have found a way to accept the BJP’s condition for having a Lok Sabha debate on demonetisation under rule 193. 

Rahul would have used the Parliament session to maximum advantage by pinning the government down on Modi’s corruption case. There is no better platform than Parliament to expose the government. Rahul would have indeed deflated Modi’s balloon.

Assuming he has no case and the threat to expose Modi is merely a bluff, how is Rahul going to ride out the political storm he has created after alleging personal corruption against Modi?

The more intriguing question, however, is why have almost all the opposition parties jumped on Rahul’s bandwagon if the Congress leader has no evidence, at least circumstantial, to offer?

The answer lies not as much in the political ingenuity of the Congress and opposition parties, as in their desperation. In desperation to wrest initiative from Modi over demonetisation, Rahul and the Opposition leaders have decided to pay Modi back in his own coin.

If disruption is the new normal and mantra of Modi’s government, why can’t Rahul too adapt to disruptive innovation?

Rahul’s strategy seems to be working in the initial stages. The government already went on the defensive the day after he dropped the bombshell.

In a brilliant tactical move, the Congress said the Opposition is ready to debate demonetisation unconditionally. But now the BJP has begun to disrupt Parliament proceedings.

Pre-empting the Congress from raising the issue of corruption, BJP brought up corruption in the AugustaWestland helicopter deal to disrupt Parliament.

There is merit in what Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, that the Treasury benches were disrupting the House instead of making efforts to let it function.

Evidently, the BJP appears to have developed cold feet over debating demonetisation after Rahul’s threat to expose Modi’s corruption. Had the BJP been confident, the party would have challenged the Congress to say whatever its leader wanted to say.

Therefore, Rahul’s charge that he was not being allowed to speak because Modi was terrified of him now appears to have gained currency.

This narrative will find resonance in the public too if the Parliament session ends in a washout without having debated demonetisation. 

The Parliament washout will, in fact, provide an opportunity to Rahul to carry on with his shoot-and-scoot tactics. He will be under no pressure to make the charges on the floor of Parliament and substantiate or authenticate them with evidence, as rule demands.

Outside the House, he will be making allegations, even unsubstantiated ones, with some credible backing that he was prevented from exposing Modi on the floor of Parliament.

Rahul and the Opposition’s strategy has a diversionary value. It provides some breathing space to the Opposition that had been choking on Modi’s clever strategy to paint himself as the sole messiah of the poor and tarring the anti-NDA parties as backers of black money hoarders.

Of course, Rahul’s bombshell against Modi will get dissipated after some time if he fails to substantiate, even partially, his charge. It may even recoil on him in the Goebbels-inspired propaganda war.

But, in the short term, till the demonetisation woes last, Rahul's corruption bogey against Modi will work.

Advantage Rahul Gandhi, the David, against Modi, the Goliath.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi's 'quake' to attack Modi on corruption could be a political hurricane

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