Rahul Gandhi positions himself as pro-poor reformer & political leader

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi launched a charged offensive against the Narendra Modi government on Sunday as he tried to reclaim the propoor, pro-farmer plank at a massive farmers’ rally at Ramlila Maidan to protest against the proposed land reforms.

In his 20-minute speech, Gandhi positioned himself as a reformer and political leader who has always stood by the poor.

Speaking in his nowfamiliar style of anecdotes, he reminded farmers of his visits to drought-hit Vidarbha and Bundelkhand. “I saw insecticide bottle which the farmer had used to commit suicide. His wife and children were there,” he said, reminding farmers that he had “stood with them in Bundelkhand” and the then PM Manmohan Singh had given a package.

Gandhi spoke about his trip to Australia and a tour of the world’s largest diamond mine to drive home the point that the farmers’ land was worth the rate of gold and they were being conned by the government, just like it had happened across the world in Australia. The pitch worked. The crowd went delirious as he said Congress was there to fight their battle.

In his CII address to the captains of the industry in 2013, Gandhi had used examples of a carpenter and a Muslim boy on Lokmanya Tilak Express to talk about the struggles of the poor.

At Ramlila, he tried to reclaim the pro-poor space, which has long been associated with his grandmother Indira Gandhi who gave Congress its most famous “Garibi Hatao” slogan.

On Sunday, Gandhi was the man who had travelled to the most interior parts of India and stood with farmers. Many expected him to mention his 56-day sabbatical in his speech. But he stuck to the bigger task at hand — connecting with farmers and positioning Congress as the go-to party for farmers, labourers and tribals.

It has worked for now. But the bigger question is how would Congress take forward its pro-poor, pro-farmer agenda ahead? This is the tough task for Gandhi, the reformer.