In a grand gesture, the Congress virtually handed over the political initiative and the credit of reviving the party’s footprint across the country to Rahul. “Behind the Congress victories in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh… is the visible and invisible hand of Rahul Gandhi. It is his message, image and work that are being rewarded,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi waxed eloquent. Interestingly, Congress president Sonia Gandhi was not mentioned. His political mentor Digvijay Singh too was forgotten.
For, according to the Congress, Rahul dared to “experiment’’ in a political environment where maintaining status quo was the norm. It seems, it is no less than Rahul’s path-breaking “long-term vision’’ of going alone in the Hindi heartland and reviving the Youth Congress/NSUI in other states that is delivering the results.
Singhvi claimed that every single seat — from the three in Kerala, two in Assam, the lone parliamentary and assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, the routing of the CPI-M in West Bengal — was a gift to the party from the general secretary. “Only he could see the benefits of long term planning. When you see the workers’ strengthen in Kerala and West Bengal, you know that the NSUI and the Youth Congress have been energised,’’ Singhvi said, claiming credit for Mamata Banerjee’s good show as well.
Now, does it matter that the Congress lost the Rohru seat in Himachal, a stronghold of its former chief minister Virbhadra Singh or shed one in Rajasthan where it is ruling or that Mamata’s Trinamool Congress is about to gobble its political space in West Bengal.
