The Pulwama terror attack and the national crisis that ensued has given an edge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he seeks a second term in office. It has come as godsend for both BJP as well as Congress. The grand old party could also cite the attack for losing the election, arguing that until it happened it was doing well.
“Truth be told, the Congress has lost the plot because Rahul Gandhi remains India’s most pointless politician,” news portal Print said on Saturday in an article.
Rahul had good chances of capitalising on the anti-Modi sentiment building across the country. From the time Modi lost the crucial states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh and up the Pulwama attack, the Congress president had an opportunity to strike. He should have waged a national campaign on unemployment, farm distress, forged pre-poll alliance against regional parties launched sister Priyanka to fill in for mother Sonia. “But he bungled on all the three fronts”.
He was busy selling oranges when people wanted apple. Unlike a true politician who keeps his ears on the ground, Rahul kept on raising the Rafale issue ignoring the people’s concerns about job losses, farm distress etc. “If one closes one’s eyes and tries to recall what Rahul Gandhi has been saying over the last few weeks, one can only think of Rafale and ‘Chowkidar chor hai’. Rahul has failed to give any such slogan on the issues foremost on people’s minds – unemployment and farm distress”, the article said.
While Rahul failed to build upon the 11 December momentum, Modi addressed these issues with a job quota for upper caste poor and a scheme to give small farmers Rs 6,000 a year.
“No guys, you were never going to win. The “improvement” in Rahul Gandhi as a leader was more imagined than real, more incidental than substantial,” the article concluded.
