Everything Rahul Gandhi says or does seems to trigger the BJP. From the trolls to the country’s home minister Amit Shah, reactions have been coming in to virtually every remark Gandhi has made in the United States this week. The BJP also said he was ‘endorsing Khalistan and Kashmiri separatism’ because he met with US lawmakers, one of whom was Ilhan Omar, a Congresswoman from Minnesota who has in the past criticised Indian policies on human rights in Kashmir.
For the BJP grandees, of course, anything that does not agree with their stated opinions is nothing short of ‘anti-national’, because diversity of ideas is a concept they simply cannot understand. But it must also be pointed out here that the BJP conveniently forgot that the Modi government had invited Turkiye’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a state visit to India in April-May 2017. This despite the fact that Erdogan’s views on Kashmir were known to be against the official Indian position. In the years after Modi hosted him, he has raised the Kashmir issue in United Nations (in 2023) and had, in 2019, assured Pakistan’s then prime minister Imran Khan of full support on Kashmir.
As far as ‘anti-India’ statements are concerned, Modi is no slouch at ridiculing India and Indians. He has done so repeatedly, as Prime Minister, that too while abroad.
But the bigger question here is, why do Gandhi’s statements irritate the BJP so much?
This is not new. Way back in 2015, when the Gandhi family scion was called ‘Pappu’ by the BJP, his jibe calling the Modi government ‘suit boot ki sarkar’ rattled the prime minister so much that he changed his economic policies in the next budget. Just before Gandhi’s attack in parliament, Modi had worn an expensive, bespoke suit with his name sewn in gold thread all over it. Stung by the criticism, he got the suit auctioned off to raise money for the Ganga.
Since then, Gandhi has been relentless and even while he was being ridiculed by the trolls. Indeed, his image as a ‘Pappu’ was consolidated when the Congress got a mere 52 seats in the 2019 elections, just a handful more than the 44 it got in 2014. Then why should the BJP care?
Because, it knows that the Congress is a national party and is the only real threat to the BJP. The Congress, under the Gandhi family, still holds sway among voters and this has been proven in state level elections and in the 2024 general elections when the BJP got 240 seats and the Congress 99, which meant that Gandhi became the Leader of the Opposition.
Also read: How Rahul Gandhi Upheld Indian Constitutionalism in the US
Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra from south to north India and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the east to the west made a profound impact not just on electoral results but also on his image among rural and urban Indians. The Pappu image, by which he was being portrayed as a dim newbie in politics, is now gone; he is seen as a political player and his party – a key component of the INDIA grouping consisting of 40 or so parties, which went into the 2024 elections as a cohesive unit – ensured that the BJP did not go beyond 240 seats, much lower than the 400 seats it had aimed for.
Now Gandhi has become a real threat, and someone whose opinions are being taken seriously. Short videos of his supposed flubs in the US may provide fodder for mirth and ridicule, but they don’t take away from some of his more serious interactions with lawmakers, or journalists or most of all, with US-based Indians, who Modi and the BJP think are their captive audience.
US-based desis do not vote in India but are a cohort that always give a big, ego-boosting reception to Modi when he visits. He will be in the US on September 22, where he has a community event planned. The theme: ‘Modi & US Progress Together’. Not India, mind you, but Modi. Undoubtedly Modi will get a rah-rah reception and Gandhi will come in for a lot of drubbing.
By going to the US before Modi, Gandhi has stolen some of his thunder, but it is in India where the real action will be played out. Modi, when he comes back, will have to fight to win every seat. The BJP’s biggest fear is that after its miserable performance in the 2024 elections, and its U-turns on several decisions lately, even some of its supporters are beginning to wonder if Modi has lost his touch and the party is losing steam. The way things are going, his party may do badly in the forthcoming state level elections, especially in Haryana and Maharashtra, two key states. And the Congress will do relatively well. Which is why the BJP is keeping a wary eye on Gandhi.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
