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Why Rahul Gandhi needs to give the Angry Young Man act a rest

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Kaveree Bamzai
Kaveree BamzaiNov 29, 2014 | 13:48

Why Rahul Gandhi needs to give the Angry Young Man act a rest

Reports tell us that Rahul Gandhi went to Rangpuri Pahadi near Vasant Kunj on Tuesday evening, and said, amidst much cheering, that “whatever has happened here is shameful. It is wrong and unethical. If a single more house is demolished now, the bulldozer will have to go over me”.

Fighting words, accompanied by the stubble, but no rolled up sleeves.

But we've been there, done that.

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We've been with Rahul Gandhi as he walked with the impoverished in Niyamgiri in 2010, promising to be their soldier in Delhi.

We've been with him when he rushed to Bhatta Parsaul and said he would fight for the landless in 2012.

We've watched him when he tore up the Samajwadi Party manifesto in 2012 during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election campaign.

And we were right there with him again when he threatened to tear up the ordinance on allowing criminals in Parliament.

Choreographed anger has its uses, but it is also subject to the law of diminishing returns, even if it is off and on.

When the anger is not followed by action, it is time for a new narrative.

Rahul Gandhi has not been heard of much in the six months since Narendra Modi took office. He has campaigned sporadically and has made routine noises about a government for and by corporates, sounding suspiciously like Aruna Roy, but he has not made a mark, most probably because he spent so long being the Voice of the Opposition in the previous government.

It's time he stopped being The Dissident and became The Decider. For that he has to stop using Digvijaya Singh to send a message to his party, whether it is on his becoming president of the party, or whether it is to scotch even the faintest attempt at a challenge to him in the party elections.

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He has to be seen and heard more. After all, even the famously reclusive Master of the Shadows Ahmed Patel is now on twitter and has even started a website.

But more than that, he has to look for a new act. The Angry Young Man is passe. Just as Modi is working on his transition, from Candidate Modi to Global Statesman Modi, Rahul has to craft a new identity for himself. Instead of chasing ambulances, he has to find a cause for himself. Since he has been rebuilding the Congress for the past decade, it has to be more than that. It could be to attach himself to the generation he tried to champion in the last elections, the youth. They need education, they need skills, they need jobs. Would he not be far more useful to both his party and nation if he did something about that? He can use his own and his party's considerable resources to work in that area, become Champion of the Youth, rather than Spokesman of the Dispossessed, not that the two are mutally exclusive. We are told he is working on some ideas for education. We hope that is his Big Idea for the future.

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Anger is overrated. Action is not.

And if you need a reminder why he needs a new script, here's why these comments in the past six months sound like fits of pique:

1.  November 27, Israil Camp in Rangpuri Pahadi near Vasant Kunj, Delhi

“These people are innocent and they should not be rendered homeless. If they want to run a bulldozer here, they should first run it on me. The Congress has always fought for the poor and shall continue to fight for them,”

2.  November 22, two rallies in Jharkhand’s Manika and Panki districts

“Modi claimed that the poor will be credited 5,000 instantly after they opened an account with banks but…the rich people are credited thousands of crores within minutes in this regime."

3. October 8, poll campaign in Maharashtra

“During the Lok Sabha campaign, Modi said, make me PM and I’ll teach a lesson to China and Pakistan. But after he was elected as PM, he was busy chit chatting and swinging with the Chinese premier while we were being attacked in Ladakh. Even now, Pakistan is killing our soldiers but he has maintained silence."

4. September 4, Amethi

"The Prime Minister is playing drums in Japan while there is no electricity here and prices are rising. They [BJP] had made big promises but where is the result? They might have forgotten, so let me remind them. They said they will change the country, bring down prices, reduce corruption. 100 days are over. At least begin work now. People say they have not even started working.”

5.  August 6, outside Parliament

“There is a mood in Parliament that only one man’s voice counts for anything in this country. We are raising a point, we are asking for discussion.”

Last updated: November 29, 2014 | 13:48
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