Congress' facelessness need not be reflected by others

Not only Modi; Mamata, Naveen, Kejriwal, Akhilesh, Stalin, KCR, Jagan too appeal for votes at all levels.

- SHUBHABRATA BHATTACHARYA

On an evening in January 1989, eleven months before the V.P. Singh hurricane swept Congress out of power and ushered in a period of instability, which ended with the Narendra Modi typhoon in 2014, there was a sudden commotion in the premises of the Prime Minister's House on Race Course Road (now renamed Lok Kalyan Marg). 18-year-old Rahul Gandhi had hurt himself. The preceding yearend had been spent by the NehruGandhis at Lakshadweep. Back in New Delhi, Rahul Gandhi, who had distinguished himself as an expert in rifle shooting, tried his hand at harpooning. He attempted to harpoon fish at a pond in the family's Mehrauli farmhouse. The pond, where the adventure was attempted, had a cemented bottom; the harpoon missed the fish and boomeranged, hitting him on his foreheadfortunately, his eye was not hurt. Since 2007, when Sonia Gandhi called Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, "maut ka saudagar", time and again the Congress has been harpooning and each time it has boomeranged, giving advantage to the BJP. Nascent octogenarian Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's barb that Modi is like a "hundred headed" Ravan, who campaigns in municipal, Vidhan Sabhaad Parliament polls, is the latest harpoon whose effect will be known on 8 December. Mani Shankar Aiyar's "chaiwala" and "neech" darts did not hurt Modi. Fellow Gujarati Madhusudan Mistry's fling that Modi will be shown his "auqat" (status) was used by Modi to assert that as he did not come from an affluent family, he had no pretentions of "auqat".