The Admiral who showed courage and determination only to abruptly abandon the ship

There has always been a criticism about Rahul Gandhi that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and power has been bestowed upon him from above. It is true to a certain extent that he did not come up from grass root level politics.

However, ever since he was elevated as the President of Congress Party he had been
showing a good amount of leadership qualities and charisma, which we never got to see in him before.

Like never before, he was articulating what he wanted to convey, he was sharp and focused on his attack on demonetisation and GST implementation as Gabbar Singh Tax. Some of his speeches and interactions at International Forums such as; International Institute of Strategic Studies on India's Economic Growth and Foreign Policy in August 2018, Indian Overseas Congress in Berlin, Germany and in the University of Berkeley, London stood testimony to this change.

Coming to his speeches in India, the speech during the no-confidence motion in Parliament was where he sharpened his attack on the Narendra Modi-led NDA government on a number of issues including jobs, women’s safety, GST, demonetisation, Rafael deal and farmers’ issues. Rahul Gandhi addressing the students at the Stella Maris College of Arts and Science in Chennai was another noteworthy instance.

He improved his metal, vision and charisma as a leader with better Weltanschauung (wide worldview) as Congress President. Eventually his leadership became a threat to the BJP that they began to send counter attacks.

In the run up for 2019 general election Modi addressed 142 rallies and Gandhi 145. The fiercely contested elections saw both leaders travelling the length and breadth of the country in a bid to woo maximum number of voters.

But congress faced a massive defeat, winning just 52 seats out of the 543 though it bettered the position from the last general election's tally that is 44. Taking full responsibility for the party's poor show in the General Election, Rahul Gandhi offered to step down as the president of the party chief at the CWC meeting.

It seems that his team gave him a false picture about the political scenario and assured him of a great amount of anti-incumbency. The party apparently failed to campaign as machinery, and to have political tie-ups with the regional parties. It was also difficult for this youngster to handle all the oldies in the party who were more interested in heading private campaigns to secure seats for their sons and daughters.

Despite all this, Rahul Gandhi should not have run away from the responsibility, leaving Congress to fend for itself in the dark. As a true leader he should lead the party and its men during the failure by injecting new passion and zeal into their veins. He should revamp the party by initiating a major clean up and put a tough fight for the coming assembly and general elections.

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