Rahul Gandhi: 'I Will Not Allow Modi To Escape'

Five years after a chastening defeat in the 2014 election, Rahul Gandhi is a transformed man. He exudes the confidence of a leader who believes he has a winning battle plan

- Raj Chengappa And Kaushik Deka

Many political leaders have to overcome the hesitations of history to succeed. Rahul Gandhi not only had to do that but also overcome hesitations about his ancestry. Particularly being born into a great political family and the expectations arising from it. In the early stages of his political career, there were attempts to thrust greatness on him. When those floundered, it made him even more hesitant and cautious. His ancestry would become his albatross. The true evolution of Rahul Gandhi began when he realised that power doesn’t easily beget power. Dynasts may inherit capital from their lineage—whether in name, reputation, aura or a sycophantic party machine. But if Rahul had to achieve the greatness that some of his forebears did, it was clear to him that he would have to earn his place in history the hard way. The Naamdaar (Dynast) had to become a Kaamdaar (a working man).

That realisation has transformed Rahul’s personality from an impetuous, impatient and imprudent scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family into an intense, incisive and intrepid leader of the Grand Old Party. In an exhaustive interview to India Today on April 29, aboard his chartered Falcon jet, Rahul angrily brushed aside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Naamdaar’ taunts stating, “That’s simplistic. Members of my family have been in politics, but their experience is not my experience. My experience has been of tremendous battles and violence. I’ve seen my father and grandmother get killed, I have seen elections being won and lost. How can you encapsulate my entire experience in one word? Understand me and judge me for what I am and what I do.”