India’s democracy needed Modi-Rahul epic face-off
2 years, 1 month ago

India’s democracy needed Modi-Rahul epic face-off

Deccan Chronicle  

If there was one thing the Indian democracy needed, but was missing for over eight-and-a-half years, it was a battle of equals in Parliament, where Prime Minister and leader of the nation, Narendra Modi, had someone equaling the status of a political, even if not an electoral, rival. That wish of the Indian democracy was fulfilled when Rahul Gandhi, who is neither the president of the Indian National Congress nor the leader of the Opposition, first earned the right to challenge Prime Minister Modi, and have a direct face-off, and be treated as a rival of stature by walking from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi, with new found confidence and stature — with the proof of hardships borne showing in the form of an unkempt beard in place — began by attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Adani issue; accusing him of using his influence to help Gautam Adani grow his wealth exponentially through deals favouring him not only in India, but in other countries also, particularly Australia and Israel. It was a telling tale on the rise of Mr Gandhi’s stature as an Opposition leader that unlike in the past, Prime Minister Modi took his speech seriously enough to launch a broad-scale counterattack, even if those had to be expunged for lack of backing up with evidence. Unlike on the previous occasions, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi merely needed to accept the allegations, claiming, ‘Main hoon Chowkidar’, even as Mr Gandhi’s allegations proved to have no heft, and the irony of it not only was the increased majority of the ruling BJP in the 2019 elections, but the subsequent bankruptcy of the businessman on whom the allegations of corruption were made showed the relative lack of gravitas of the case made by the Congress.

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