One thing both Modi and Rahul Gandhi desperately need

In 2006, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the minorities had the first claim on the country's resources. This infuriated many in the majority Hindu community and gave credence to the BJP’s theory of minority appeasement.

The BJP persistently harped on the issue and tried to present the Congress as a pro-Muslim outfit that cared little for majority sentiments. The Congress had made no attempts to put things in perspective as the BJP kicked up a ruckus that appealed to a large section of Hindus.

Narendra Modi’s Hindutva appeal and his developmental agenda worked as a nemesis for the scam-tainted Congress and the latter was routed in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Congress veteran AK Antony, in a probe report on the reasons for the Congress’ defeat came to the conclusion that the perception of being pro-minority had hurt the party the most.

On September 9, 2016, when Rahul entered the Hanuman Garhi temple in Ayodhya, it was dubbed by many as an attempt at using soft Hindutva. No member of the Congress' first family has visited Ayodhya since the December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Rahul's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi too was on a visit to Varanasi, but it had to be cut short as she fell ill before she could visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple. After the Congress’ defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul’s visits to temples have increased manifold. After 2014, he has visited Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Kamakhya in Assam, Badrinath and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand, Kheer Bhawani in Kashmir, Guru Gaddi in Chhattisgarh and now Hanuman Garhi in Ayodhya.

There seems to be a planned consistency to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party's attempts to change the grand old party's perceived pro-minority image. But there is also a balancing act that the Congress VP is trying to achieve. In an attempt to bring the majority to its fold, the Congress cannot shun the minorities. So significantly, at his road shows and khaat sammelans, a fair sprinkling of Brahmins and Muslims is always visible.

In contrast to Rahul's sway towards the majority - the soft Hindutva push - Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be edging more towards the Centre from the Right. After Mother Teresa's canonisation by the Vatican, the PM said that sainthood for Mother Teresa is a “memorable and proud moment” for India.

Reports also suggested that the Sangh Parivar wasn't too keen on the Indian government being represented at the canonisation Mass at St Peter's square, but the PM snubbed the Sangh and decided that Cabinet minister Sushma Swaraj should lead a delegation to Rome.

Interestingly, even as recently as February 2015, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had cast insinuations that in the name of service, Mother Teresa converted people to Christianity.

During a recent town hall interaction, PM Modi asked state governments to prepare a dossier on “those who consider themselves great gau rakshaks” and then said that “70-80 per cent are involved in activities which have no place in society and they, therefore, don the mantle of gau rakshaks to hide their ills”.

This infuriated the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). The VHP’s Gujarat unit came out with a statement calling Modi’s “anti-socials by night and gau rakshaks by day” remark shocking and saying it was an insult to “cow protectors”. They even threatened him by saying that the BJP will have to pay the price in 2019.

Rahul Gandhi's image makeover bid is because he desperately needs the majority community to vote for his party at the upcoming Assembly elections as well as the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Modi’s visibly "anti– Hindutva" statements are out of the compulsions of being in power. Modi knows that he has to send out a firm message to every Indian, that he is the prime minister of the entire nation and not just of one community or religion.

Whatever their objectives, at this point in history, both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, in their own sweet ways, are desperately attempting an image makeover because that is the cruel reality of pragmatic politics - you have to be who you are not, all for the sake of earning the extra votes.