Is Rahul hurting Congress and leaving party leaders in a quandary with his utterances?

New Delhi: Sample this conversation I had with a senior Congress leader on the next day of Rahul Gandhi’s address at Cambridge University:

Congress leader: Whether it is a company or a political party, there are a few people who are honest, hardworking and growth-oriented. They have their ambitions. So is the case with our party. What do you, as an outsider, make of last evening's address?

Sensing the timing of the question, I asked: Don’t you agree your leader has taken a “supari” to help BJP in their endeavour of ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’?

Congress leader: I don’t know about that but if you are hinting at the last night’s address, it is going to cost us heavily. What began with the ‘escape velocity’ theory many years ago is now getting serious.

I interrupted in between to ask if he agrees with his leader’s remark that “India is not a country”.

Congress leader: In my 52 years of life, I always knew India as a country. So is the belief of the 140 crore Indians. There is an attempt to change the belief of the whole nation by quoting a part of the Constitution that actually empowers states for a strong federal structure of the country saying India is a union of states.

The nearest example of an India-like structure your leadership finds in Europe, I quipped.

Congress leader: Forget about me. Can this be explained to a grass-root worker of the party and the whole population? All know Europe as a continent and like other continents, it is made of big-small countries having their own constitution and currency. Does Europe have a prime minister, a single currency, and a single constitution for all?

Me: But how is this narrative going to help your party?

Congress leader: Lakhs of party workers like me do not believe that this new theory is going to work. From the two-nation theory at the time of independence to the newfound love for India being a union of states is showing us in a bad light.

Me: Are you suggesting this is an attempt to divide?

Congress leader: People like us are left to defend the indefensible. And we are trying our best to mitigate the impact of such statements on the electorate.

The short conversation left me with a pertinent question – has Rahul Gandhi, perhaps, inadvertently begun to sound like a rebel in search of a cause?

The ruling BJP has already accused Gandhi of seeking the intervention of Europe and the US in India and said he had gone against the consensus in India against any interference in its internal affairs by foreign powers.

In the past, even PM Modi highlighted the frustration of Congress over repeated electoral defeat. 

On the other hand, after 70 years of Congress rule, Rahul Gandhi on Monday said BJP likes to believe it will be in power in India eternally but that is not the case, and to say the Congress is "gone" is a ridiculous idea.

The opposition to Modi has apparently reached a height where opposition leaders are not shying away from talking in the language of disintegration. 

Terming India a "union of states" is simply awkward as it has been traditionally used by separatists in the different parts of the country including Khalistanis.

A day before the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Delhi, the chief of Sikh for Justice (SFJ) in his video message threatening India and world leaders used the same “union of states” terminology for India.

Cult defines the culture of India well. There was a time when people would vote for Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi despite a number of allegations.

In today’s context, voters of any leader or party that has carved a cult do not go anywhere whatever it takes.

It is the voters sitting on the fence who are important for electoral wins as was the case in Himachal Pradesh.

With such rhetorics, voters on the fence may distance themselves from Rahul Gandhi-led Congress helping BJP’s cause.