Recently during Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the United States, Sam Pitroda reminded the audience that Rahul Gandhi was no longer being referred to as a Pappu by the Opposition. “Rahul Gandhi’s agenda is to address some of the larger issues, he has a vision contrary to what BJP promotes by spending crores and crores of rupees. I must tell you he is not ‘Pappu’, he is highly educated, he is a strategist with deep thinking on any subject,” said Pitroda in Texas. This sparked off some debates back home in India about Rahul’s growth trajectory, with the BJP reminding the Congress in turn that it was not their party that came up with this moniker but instead it came from within the Congress. The BJP is right in that, for it was a (then – and perhaps now as well) disgruntled leader from Punjab who had first referred to Rahul as a sort of Pappu. Well, now the BJP has a new name coined for the newly minted Leader of the Opposition, for it was on the floor of the House that the Prime Minister referred to Rahul as balak buddhi. This created its own confusion with Congress leaders wondering why Pitroda would want to rake up that derogatory reference once again.
It is true that Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a leader in his own right post the 2024 results, or to be more accurate post the Bharat Jodo Yatra that positioned him as a man of the masses, someone who was reaching out to those on the ground. The fact that he did not take off for one of his sabbaticals but in fact went off on another yatra helped a great deal in warding off the Pappu tag. And then of course the results where the Congress may not have crossed the three digit mark, but it improved its tally and stopped the decline of the last two elections prior to 2024. Added to that the fact that the BJP lost seats, and suddenly Rahul’s politics gained momentum. He accepted the post of the Leader of Opposition and did not appoint a nominee as was the speculation. It is ironic that the first cabinet rank post Rahul has held has been when the party is in the opposition, but that is just the way he plays his politics.
All in all, Pitroda is right – no one, not his own party leaders or the opposition can now tag Rahul as a Pappu any more. But his leadership skills are yet to be tested. There is a view that in 2024 the Congress (and other opposition parties) too did well because there was a third term anti-incumbency against the BJP government. So it was a negative vote rather than a positive one. Also it should be noted that despite this, the BJP alone got more seats than the entire INDIA group managed together. So the road ahead is not going to be easy.
Rahul will have to keep at his game and up it with some election wins. So far the next round of assembly polls in Haryana, J&K , Jharkhand and Maharashtra could go against the BJP which will no doubt step up the opposition’s game and incentivise them to keep up the attack on the Treasury Benches during the winter session of Parliament. And as the Leader of Opposition, it will be Rahul Gandhi who will be leading this attack.
All in all, more than shedding the Pappu tag what Rahul Gandhi has done is to make politics more interesting with the Opposition playing a much more active role than it did during the last two terms of the BJP government.