So far, Rahul Gandhi had made
only two speeches in the Parliament worth remembering. And going on his
political career so far, he had failed to live up to.
He failed to speak in the
Parliament, and among the public. He failed to own up when Anna Hazare's anti-corruption
agitation was at its peak. He failed to speak on time when the agitation
against Delhi gang-rape of December 16, 2012 was on peak. He failed to own up
Congress' low while Congress' decline touched a historic low.
Yesterday, he spoke, after a
series of debacles and humiliating losses, but he could not offer anything new,
even if he had taken some two months to think over the rout (as claimed). The
projected mega rally of farmers at the Ramlila Ground turned out to be a
routine affair.
And today, he spoke in the Lok
Sabha. In all probability, it was his third speech in the lower House.
Budget Session of the Lok Sabha
reconvened today again after a hiatus of 30 days and it was headed for a stormy
session given the controversial statements of leaders and ministers (like we
saw in case of Giriraj Singh today) and issues like 'land acquisition
ordinance' and communal harmony among others.
Rahul Gandhi was better today. He
looked confident and sounded more confident when he spoke. Though the Robert
Vadra tag will not leave him anywhere, until he finds a honest remedy to it.
The farmer that is getting
angrier or is in two minds and the common man - on Narendra Modi's land
acquisition ordinance and the anti-poor policies - will certainly react
negatively when it will come to the issue of Robert Vadra's status.
Yes, Robert Vadra as such is no
issue. But his VVIP status, his riches and allegations of corruption are
something that would make the common man an angry soul. This is something Rahul
Gandhi needs to work on. And if his task is made difficult by the humiliating
electoral losses of Congress, he has also a window of opportunity in portraying
the government pro-rich, anti-farmer and anti-common man. But for that, he needs
to do the cleansing of his house first.
Also, there were words about
Sonia Gandhi fixing the time for Rahul's speech. Reportedly, she had spoken
with some opposition parties for Rahul's speech and had issued a whip for
Congress MPs. But only 28 of the 44 Congress MPs were present in the House when
Rahul was speaking (from the opposition benches, for the first time).
For the moment, we are going to
take everyone's observation with a fistful of salt. It is difficult to believe
on the verity of different data-sets.
Rahul came with his own.
Government came with its own. States have differing versions. In centre were
two issues - farmers' suicide pushed by unseasonal rains and land acquisition.
The fact midst all this is -
farmers are dying, pushed to the extremities by the rain gods and the policymakers
at the centre and in the states.
And land is a sensitive issue for
this country of some 1.25 billion, the world's largest democracy. Most of its
farmers are small land occupants and marginal labourers and the condition has
worsened over the years.
The verity about data-sets will
come only with time and proper implementation, something that we have missed so
far, irrespective of the 'policy in question'.
And the whole political lot is to
share the blame for it.