During a recent “Ask me anything” session with Gen Z on a social media platform, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was asked to name his favourite BJP leader, to which he answered, “definitely Capt Amarinder Singh”. The reply and response were instant. However, whether the question was scripted or spontaneous can be anybody’s guess.
It came as a surprise to many people across the political spectrum that exactly five years ago, Rahul was the person who, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi, scripted the unceremonious exit of Amarinder Singh as the chief minister of Punjab, a decision that later proved to be disastrous and devastating for the party in the border state.
The consequences of Amarinder’s exit are still being felt by the Congress in Punjab. The party is in a state of civil war there. The party programmes are repeatedly and continuously being disrupted by the supporters of the rebel group. The party leadership has not been able to do anything. The rebels are being led by former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, whose main strength being that he belongs to the Dalit community. He seems to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that the party cannot touch him, lest it alienates and antagonises the powerful and influential Dalit community which constitutes 34 per cent population of the state.
It is against this background that Rahul used the question posed to him to convey a message apparently to the leadership of the party in Punjab that Capt Amarinder still remains his favourite. He said, “Hello! Uncle Amarinder…”, as if he was actually addressing him, after answering the question on who his favourite BJP leader was. “Capt Amarinder Singh definitely. I get along with him. He is cool and he is an expert in military history,” Rahul said.
Also read: Is Congress preparing for plan-B in Punjab?
Rahul intelligently avoided any reference to Amarinder’s current political leanings and confined his answer to his personality and his deep interest in military history.
But the answer sent a message across the strife ridden party in Punjab that its leader was fondly remembering someone who had left the party five years ago. In Punjab also Rahul’s remarks about Amarinder drew curious reactions, questions and assumptions, that maybe he was planning to return to the Congress. It is widely being agreed that the Congress badly misses Amarinder today as no single leader is in a position to control the party. This never happened during the days of Amarinder.
But Capt Amarinder instantly and sharply made his position clear that while his relationship with the Gandhi family will remain like that, politically he remained committed to the BJP. He said his political commitment to the BJP is non-negotiable, thus putting to rest all speculations that Rahul’s response to Gen Z question had triggered.
It is a great turnaround on the part of Rahul to praise Amarinder publicly on a social media platform in front of Gen Z. The question appeared to have been scripted quite intelligently. During such interactions, the questions are mostly scripted, screened and scanned, before they are allowed to be posed to the leader. The question was packaged as such to elicit the particular answer that Rahul gave.
Rahul’s intentional or unintentional answer has made Punjab Congress leaders to ponder for a while. Amarinder’s categorical statement that he remained committed to the BJP notwithstanding, apprehensions have started gaining ground among the warring leaders in Punjab that maybe Congress will bring him back to steer its floundering ship ahead of the upcoming elections. And everything is possible in politics, denials to the contrary notwithstanding.
A sense of realisation appears to be there in the Congress’ first family that in showing an ungraceful exit to Amarinder, the party had committed a Himalayan blunder whose consequences are still being felt. Interestingly, it was Rahul and Priyanka who were instrumental in prevailing over their mother Sonia Gandhi to get Capt Amarinder removed as the Punjab chief minister. This was despite such a close bond between the two families. And that had hurt Amarinder the most, especially how he was shown the door during a midnight coup.
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