With Congress leader Rahul Gandhi taking the position of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and adopting an aggressive approach, the party is jubilant over the Gandhi scion’s new avatar as he takes up the people’s issues.
Rahul Gandhi, who took up the position of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha last month, has been seen in an aggressive mode. He addressed over four press conferences in the national capital after the party’s victory in the Lok Sabha election results and raised the issue of NEET exam paper leaks, among others.
Rahul Gandhi, who is an MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli, has been taking on the government over several issues and targeted the BJP on the issues of Hinduism, Manipur, the NEET exam, the Agniveer scheme, misuse of central agencies, and the arrest of two prominent leaders—JMM’s Hemant Soren and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, among others.
He has also surprised the ruling party with his regular appearances among the public.
Rahul Gandhi continued his momentum by visiting the public from different walks of life, starting with a visit to the GTB Nagar area in the national capital and interacting with daily wage laborers. He also visited the New Delhi Railway station and met the loco pilots to understand their issues.
He also visited Hathras to meet the victims of the stampede there and urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to help the victims with an open heart and to increase the ex-gratia amount.
Rahul Gandhi then surprised the people by visiting Gujarat, days after he dared the BJP that the grand old party-led INDIA bloc would defeat them in the western state in the next assembly polls.
The visit to Gujarat comes in the backdrop of the Congress office being attacked and several party leaders and workers injured, with some arrested over his remarks on Hindus during his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in Parliament.
He then visited Manipur and Assam on July 8 and met the victim families of the violence-hit state for the third time in the last year and first as LoP Lok Sabha. He also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the state and spare a day or two for the people of the violence-hit northeastern state, as it would restore their faith and confidence.
He visited his parliamentary constituency of Rae Bareli on July 9 for the first time after taking the job of LoP.
Looking at the aggressive stand of the party leader, even many Congress leaders are taking strong note. Leaders like Alok Sharma, Supriya Shrinate, and Pawan Khera are also emphasizing the importance of Rahul Gandhi’s role as LoP in debates on several news channels.
Khera, on Monday, tweeted several times to remind news agencies and channels to address their party leader as LoP.
Even Sharma objected to a headline targeting Rahul Gandhi and got it changed during a live show.
Speaking on the changed avatar of Rahul Gandhi and his visits to Gujarat and Manipur, as well as his public appearances, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s media advisor Pranav Jha told The Daily Guardian, “Rahul Gandhi visited Gujarat, Hathras, and Manipur, and also met with loco pilots and daily wage laborers. This is not new, as he has been meeting people wherever there is a need to take up the people’s issues.”
Jha said that Rahul Gandhi always tries to be the voice of the people and raise their issues.
He added that with the responsibility of the LoP position, Rahul Gandhi is taking up public issues. He mentioned that BJP workers damaged the Congress office in Gujarat over his remarks that the saffron party’s Hindutva is not real Hinduism, as the religion believes in compassion and peace and doesn’t preach hatred.
Jha also pointed out how Congress workers and MLAs were manhandled and attacked in Gujarat.
He asserted that Rahul Gandhi met the families of the Congress workers and went to Manipur to share their pain.
He further asserted that his visit to Manipur was to give people hope that someone is standing with them and is there to raise their voice, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not visited the violence-hit state in the last 14 months.
Jha alleged that the two communities which were living peacefully in Manipur for decades were up against each other due to the ideology of the BJP, as it spread hatred and created division for its own profit.
Taking a jibe at Modi, he said that the Prime Minister left Manipur and its people, and the entire world was surprised by the Prime Minister’s behavior.
According to party leaders, the Congress is planning to organize several interactions between Rahul Gandhi and the general public.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress leader interacted with Agniveer aspirants in the national capital and discussed their issues and the problems they faced due to the policy change by the Centre.
Last year, he met vegetable vendors, UPSC aspirants, the general public in Delhi’s Jama Masjid and Bengali Market area, students at Delhi University, truck drivers, carpenters, bike mechanics, coolies at Anand Vihar railway station, and delivery partners in Karnataka’s Bengaluru, among others.
Party leaders now feel that the performance of the grand old party-led INDIA bloc in the Lok Sabha elections has given them an edge over the BJP to target the government over several critical issues.
The Congress, which was decimated in the 2014 and 2018 Lok Sabha elections, bounced back in the 2024 general elections by winning 99 seats while the BJP was reduced to 240, falling short of the majority required in the Lok Sabha. The BJP formed the government with the help of NDA alliance partners at the Centre with 293 seats, while the INDIA bloc got 234 seats.
