- 3 hours ago
In this debate, anchor Rajdeep Sardesai and panelists examine the evolution of Rahul Gandhi's political strategy following the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Author Sugato Srinivasraju argues that Gandhi has pivoted towards agitational street politics, framing his opposition to the government in moral terms rather than conventional electoral strategy. Political analyst Ashutosh defends Gandhi, describing him as a political disruptor who has challenged the ruling party's narrative by constructing an ideological framework centred on secularism, social justice, constitutionalism, and youth engagement. Conversely, political analyst Rajat Sethi questions Gandhi's organizational capabilities and electoral track record, arguing that street protests, rhetorical posturing, and moral messaging cannot substitute for party machinery and grassroots victories. The panel discusses whether Gandhi's agitational positioning effectively reshapes the Congress party or risks alienating the political center.
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00:00I want to decode Rahul Gandhi's brand of politics though.
00:03Because remember, Rahul Gandhi has been often called a dinist, a namdar.
00:08Is he now an anti-establishment rebel?
00:11Do Rahul Gandhi's guerrilla-like street agitations actually work on the ground?
00:16Does the angry young man role that Rahul Gandhi wants to position himself as carry any real traction?
00:24These are some of the questions I want to pose today.
00:26The Rahul Factor.
00:28Joining me now is Ashutosh, formerly with the AAP, a political analyst, editor Satya Hindi.
00:35Shugato Srinivas Raju is a journalist and author who's written a book on Rahul's brand of politics.
00:40And Rajat Sethi, political analyst, is also with us.
00:45Let's first go to you, Shugato.
00:48Decode Rahul Gandhi's brand of politics for us because you've written a book on it.
00:53Am I right in saying that some of his critics say this is hit and run politics,
00:57shoot and scoot from Bhatta Parsal's land agitation to today he hits the streets but doesn't often sustain those agitations.
01:06How should we see Rahul Gandhi's evolution in terms of his role as this anti-establishment rebel?
01:12Is that how he's positioning himself according to you?
01:16Thank you very much, Rajat Sethi.
01:19There has certainly been a kind of shift in Rahul Gandhi's politics after the Bharat Jodho Yatra.
01:26There is a pre-Bharat Jodho Yatra phase where he was trying to use a very different kind of language
01:33of love and reconciliation and forgiveness.
01:37You know, I mean, that kind of trying to build a kind of saintly hello, you know, around himself.
01:42But then there is a clear shift after the Bharat Jodho Yatra and the 2024 elections.
01:49So after the Congress gained numbers, I think he sort of moved into the sphere of agitational politics.
01:58It's obviously he wants to bring a lot of pressure on this government, which he thinks is very weak.
02:03But more than anything else, his basic, you know, I mean, line is that he wants to create a perception
02:12about this government that it is morally bankrupt.
02:15I think the language that he, you know, uses against this government is a language which is more in the
02:24realm of, you know, moral philosophy, where he wants to prove that they are morally bankrupt.
02:30But we don't know if, you know, I mean, creating that kind of a language and that kind of a
02:36pressure on the government where he wants to be the most virtuous protagonist of Indian politics will have electoral benefits.
02:43Because ideologically, things are aligned completely differently.
02:47And if you have been looking at Rahul Gandhi's politics in the post-24, there is also a certain kind
02:54of fetishization of courage that he has sort of developed, which is a kind of, you know, I mean, a
03:03kind of antagonism that he has developed, where he sort of places fear and fearlessness in a certain binary, you
03:11know, as an operation.
03:12So he is basically trying to counter, you know, I mean, fear with fearlessness, love and hate, truth and lies,
03:19facts and fake and forgiveness and retribution.
03:22You know, all of that is getting mixed up in his kind of language.
03:26But, you know, I mean, the central thing is that he wants to portray the person in the government as
03:33somebody morally bankrupt.
03:35I think that is the central mission of Rahul Gandhi.
03:38It's not, see, otherwise he would be speaking a very different electoral language.
03:42And we don't see...
03:43I get your point.
03:45Yeah.
03:46One last point, Rajdeep.
03:48I take your point.
03:50Yes.
03:50Yeah.
03:51Yes.
03:51Welcome.
03:53Go ahead.
03:54Go ahead.
03:55Complete.
03:56No, no.
03:56Basically, I was just trying to sort of, you know, even in agitational politics, Rajdeep, you know, I mean, agitational
04:04politics generally does not lead to a certain point where we start reaping electoral benefits.
04:11You know, we have seen in the case of his own junior contemporaries like Hardik Patel or Alpesh Shah, Alpesh,
04:18you know, I mean, the Gujarat politician, you know, I forget his second name.
04:23You know, Alpesh and then...
04:25Alpesh Thakur.
04:26Yeah, Alpesh Thakur, yes.
04:28Alpesh Thakur, Kanaya Kumar.
04:30All these people, you know, I mean, were very, very good on the ground, you know, I mean, agitationally, you
04:35know, speaking a very kind of fierce language.
04:37But then that did not lead to any kind of concrete electoral accrual for any of these people, you know,
04:45so it's a very tough kind of a thing.
04:47Rahul Gandhi has now started following that kind of an agitational model, which also, you know, a generation earlier, Rajdeep,
04:55which you would know better, is, you know, Lohia and JP and, you know, people like that who basically thrived
05:02in agitational politics,
05:03but did not look at power politics with the kind of nuance and subtlety and the kind of strategy that
05:09needs to get in.
05:10So, so that is where Rahul Gandhi is, you know, I mean, ended up at least after 24.
05:16Shugato, let me, I've, I've listened to you patiently.
05:19I've listened to you patiently.
05:20Let me take that to Ashutosh.
05:22Because Ashutosh, taking off from what I heard from Shugato is the basic point that Rahul Gandhi is more comfortable
05:30almost being a street politician of a left activist variety.
05:34This is, you know, the Kanaiya Kumars, the Hardik Patels one time, these were street agitational politics, youthful.
05:41Rahul Gandhi at 56 seems to want to position himself as some kind of a campus activist.
05:47Is this to be therefore taken as serious electoral politics?
05:51Because at the end of the day, he's the leader of the opposition.
05:54He's not the leader of JNU or a leader of a, of a campus protest.
05:58How do you see that?
05:59Is Rahul Gandhi positioning himself as some kind of a left campus activist?
06:05See, let me quote from Shugato's own book.
06:08In his book, Shugato writes, it's easy to be Narendra Modi and difficult to be Rahul Gandhi.
06:14So Rahul Gandhi's every action has been misread by most of the senior journalists and also by the intellectuals.
06:21And that is why they have been committing mistakes to understand what Rahul Gandhi is all about.
06:26Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a, as a disruptor in Indian politics.
06:30Rahul Gandhi has inverted BJP's logic of nationalism.
06:36BJP started calling everybody anti-national Pakistan Parast, Chin Parast.
06:41But now he has got back and said, you are indulging into treason.
06:45You are anti-national because you are trying to subvert the entire electoral process.
06:51But Rahul Gandhi is not only subverting this logic of nationalism and putting on the head to the BJP and
06:58showing him the, the mirror.
07:00He's also building an ideological edifice and which I've been saying for a very, very long time.
07:05He's building an edifice of secularism, social justice and Dalit assertion.
07:12He's trying to bring back the constitutionalism which the BJP has forgotten because of its deep hatred toward the Nehru,
07:20Gandhi, Babasab Ambedkar and democracy and constitutionalism.
07:24Now, in the process, is he losing the political center?
07:28In the process, is he moving so far to the left that he's losing the political center?
07:33The Congress is a party of power.
07:35The Congress is a party, has never been an ideologically driven party.
07:38It's a party driven by power.
07:41Rajdeep, let me again, again reiterate my point.
07:45Indian senior journalists and intellectual have most of the time misread Rahul Gandhi.
07:50And that is why they are not able to, to fathom it.
07:54One of the topmost intellectual has said after 2024, I did not read Rahul Gandhi.
07:59Well, now I'm correcting myself.
08:00I'm not taking the name.
08:02This is the same gentleman who misread Narendra Modi in 2014.
08:05So let's not get into that.
08:07This is, this is the new kind of, of, of Congress party.
08:11The Congress party has never fought for the social justice politics of the OBC kind
08:15because Congress was comfortable with secularism, with Dalit assertion and, and, and, and the
08:21upper caste politics.
08:22Now he is trying to integrate social justice, that means OBC.
08:27He's trying to constitutionalism and Ambedkar politics by talking about Dalit assertion.
08:32He's also trying to tell that how Manusmriti and other things is, is bad for the Indian politics.
08:37He's reconnecting with the, with the Genji, that is the youth of the country.
08:41So you, you, you put it all together, there are the five, five elements, nationalism,
08:46social justice, Dalit assertion, and secularism.
08:49Now the issue is, is simple.
08:52Congress Rahul, but Rahul, and it also reflects in Rahul Gandhi's attire.
08:56Rahul Gandhi's attire and is in his thinking, he's, he's deeply, deeply suspicious of the
09:01traditional and orthodox Indian politics.
09:04That was, you kurta padama parke neta chalte hai, log usko achcha nahi samajte.
09:08And it's not, it's not just a, just a coincidence that Rahul Gandhi prefers to wear a t-shirt
09:13and a baggy pajama.
09:15It's not that he's trying to connect with the, with, with the Genji, but this reflects
09:18that how deeply he disregard, distrust the traditional Indian politicians and politics.
09:25Okay.
09:25So we have to re-understand Rahul Gandhi.
09:27And under Rahul Gandhi, the Congress is taking a rebirth.
09:31I, okay, you know, you're calling it a new Congress.
09:34The, the fact is the Congress has always been a kurta pajama party.
09:39Now you're saying it's becoming, I mean, purely in sartorial terms, you're saying he's
09:42trying to reflect the new Congress, even in the dress he wears.
09:45Rajat Sethi, you've been having a smile on your face right through when you were listening
09:49to Ashutosh.
09:50Have we all misread Rahul Gandhi and his style of politics, this anti-establishment rebel?
09:56Look at how things have changed.
09:57In 2014, Mr. Modi was the anti-establishment hero.
10:01Rahul Gandhi was the dinnest.
10:03Today, Rahul Gandhi is positioning himself as anti-establishment and suggesting Mr. Modi
10:07is the old, is the old regime.
10:11Rajdeep Ji, where is the establishment of Mr. Rahul Gandhi?
10:14You tell me that.
10:14What state is left to, to call it establishment?
10:17You've lost a hundred odd elections.
10:19Of course, you have to be anti-establishment because the establishment lock, stock and
10:22barrel is with the BJP.
10:24My bigger problem is that this avatar of, you know, Rahul Gandhi, which has been part of
10:30several memes, still carries on.
10:33You know, the painting that was just now put up on the canvas of Rahul Gandhi as the biggest
10:39harbinger of change.
10:40I mean, it seems like he is the leak one.
10:42You and, you know, Nelson Mandela all bundled together in this great avatar that
10:46currently Rahul Gandhi has.
10:48What elections has he won?
10:50Where is the organization?
10:51Where is the tough talk?
10:52It is one thing to mobilize and the other thing to organize.
10:56Where has he organized people behind a cause and ensured that there are electoral victories
11:02to back?
11:03Everything else, history won't remember till the time you do not give voice through the
11:09electoral settled processes through our Indian constitution, which is through winning
11:14elections.
11:15Forget about bigger states.
11:16You can't even win a DUSU election.
11:18You are non-existent in JNU.
11:20You just don't exist where it actually matters.
11:22Just wearing a cargo jeans.
11:24What kind of a message, political message are you saying when you say that, hey, he's wearing
11:29a cargo jeans, so let us make him the prime minister of this country?
11:31What substance does he have?
11:33You know, at the end of the day, all these protests, I don't, first of all, don't understand
11:37what is the end game of this.
11:39You will get a resignation, but what more beyond that?
11:42He's acting as a moral conscience.
11:43According to his supporters, he's acting as a moral conscience.
11:46You know, the kind of moral contradictions that exist within Rahul Gandhi, a book can be written
11:51on that.
11:52Moral contradictions within the party and within Mr. Rahul Gandhi himself.
11:56See, every politician, I'm not eulogizing any politician out here, but just trying to
12:01create a masiha out of Rahul Gandhi is just plain, you know, intellectual cushion and cover
12:06that my friend Ashutosh ji is trying to give to him.
12:10I want to, I don't care what he wears.
12:12At the end of the day, what policies does he have?
12:14What is he doing in the state of Telangana, which has actually helped the larger populations,
12:20the Dalit populations of the state of Telangana to meet the entrepreneurial challenges which
12:23are coming their way?
12:24What is happening in Karnataka?
12:26What happened to the caste survey that happened in Karnataka?
12:30Are you ready to open the file?
12:31Is your new chief minister in Karnataka ready to open the can of worms here?
12:34Walk the talk.
12:36Don't brandish your t-shirt, your polo shirts and your cargo.
12:39That is not the qualification of the leader of this country.
12:42It is not enshrined anywhere in the constitution.
12:44The moment you start sounding cool, you suddenly have the claim to the throne.
12:48It doesn't work like that.
12:49It works through hard work of organization building, brandishing constitution on one hand,
12:54but also strangulating constitution on the other hand.
12:57People see through it.
12:58But I am clearly critical, Rajdeepji, you know, I am critical of how BJP has been organizing
13:04itself.
13:04The centralization of power has impacted the organization.
13:07Currently, you have killed out all the safety walls.
13:10Youth are relating with them because they are not able to relate with you.
13:14You do not have communication channels beyond typical ABVP and Bharati Janta, Yuva Morcha.
13:19You need to go out and reach out.
13:20Remember, how did Prime Minister Modi start his campaign in 2014?
13:24It was, you know, Stephens, St. Stephens, IITs, IIMs.
13:27He created a team of 6,000 youngsters, quote-unquote elite youngsters.
13:31That's how he built a team.
13:33Built a, yeah, Shriram College.
13:35And that's how he built up a momentum.
13:37You have to go to the book which worked for you, the kind of playbook which was working
13:42well for you.
13:42Today, you have no channel with them.
13:44They are facing the heat because of these technological onslaughts that there are lesser
13:48upward mobile opportunities out there.
13:50But making a case that Rahul Gandhi is a leak on you and he'll create suddenly opportunities,
13:56I am of the view that he has no ideas.
13:58And that is a far more tougher job than actually wearing a cargo band.
14:04Very quickly, Ashutosh, 30 seconds only.
14:07I don't have to say anything.
14:08The people who tried to make Narendra Modi as FDR with a new deal which will change the
14:14Indian course of history, now all of them are regretting, including Pratab Banu Mehta.
14:18I still remember when he said, what is this F word?
14:22And look, see, that's what I'm saying.
14:24I'm being very blunt.
14:26I'm not being arrogant.
14:27I'm being very blunt.
14:28Indian intellectuals and Indian journalists, they hide.
14:32They don't want to see the reality.
14:33I was there in 2024 and I sat on TV channels.
14:36No, no, answer Rajat's direct question.
14:39Answer Rajat's direct question that all of this is very fine until you provide a model.
14:45You have to provide a model of social justice.
14:47Where is the model of social justice?
14:49Telangana, Karnataka.
14:50Please provide it.
14:51Rajdeep, at least those who subscribe to the RSS, it took 90 years to reach where they are.
14:5890 years.
14:59How many elections Atal B.R.E. Vajpayee have lost?
15:01In 1952 to 1989.
15:0440 years.
15:06In Rajasthan, they formed the government just one.
15:08I'm not saying the Communist Party is doing that.
15:11But the fact of the matter is, we have become the prisoner of the BJP's propaganda and RSS's propaganda that
15:16we do not want to see the honest analysis of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party.
15:20The fact of the matter is, Narendra Modi was no FDR and Rahul Gandhi is no Lee Swakon.
15:25The fact of the matter is, Rahul Gandhi, when he was the president, he won three assembly elections.
15:30Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chaktya's God.
15:32He did not let BJP win Karnataka.
15:34He almost won Gujarat as a president.
15:37If Pulwama had not happened in 2019, where the BJP is today, might have been in 2019.
15:42We don't want to see the reality.
15:44That's the reality.
15:45The fact of the matter, we are dishonest in our observation, in our analysis, in our perception.
15:51If wishes were false, I'm going to leave it there.
15:53I've heard all of you patiently.
15:55I've heard it patiently.
15:56We need probably a wider debate on this.
15:58Rahul Gandhi continues to be an endless source of fascination in terms of his politics.
16:03Is he, I keep saying, does Rahul Gandhi really need to create a new Congress in his image?
16:08Maybe even break the Congress like his grandmother once did, if that's the direction he wants to take his party.
16:13Ashutosh, Shugata and Rajat Sidi, thank you very much for joining me.