The Congress president is not even trying to win the next Lok Sabha elections.

In a one-to-one war, neither side has to be the world’s best army. Both could be uninspiring. The better one will win.

When you think of the world’s best cricket teams, you will not think of Bangladesh. Yet, in a match with Zimbabwe, Bangladesh will win easily. You don’t have to be the best team, you only need to be better than your rival.

Going into the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not the best team. But it appears to be better than the Congress.

‘Koi bhi chalega’

For many of the nearly 21 per cent religious minorities, and a handful of left-liberals, “anybody” may be better than Modi/BJP and, therefore, Rahul Gandhi is acceptable. “Koi bhi chalega,” is what you’ll hear from them. Anybody will do.

We’ve seen this movie before: they wanted ‘anybody but Modi’ in 2014, just as liberals in the US wanted ‘anybody but Trump’.

The problem with ‘anybody but Trump’ was that it didn’t mean “Hillary would be a great president”. Similarly, even those who say ‘anybody but Modi’ are not heard saying ‘Rahul Gandhi would make a great prime minister’.

In four years since his party dropped to a historic low, Rahul Gandhi has not been able to convince voters that he has a vision for the people of the country. Gandhi and his party have failed to persuade voters that they can deliver good governance. In the last four years, the Congress has not been able to defeat the BJP in any major election, whereas the regional parties have shown some ability to do that.

‘Aur hai kaun?’

Three words are often heard these days in defence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Aur hai kaun?” or “Who’s the alternative?”

Mind you, this line comes from Modi’s supporters, not his critics.

If taken at face value, the question reflects a desire for a better alternative that is missing. Rahul Gandhi has clearly failed to be that alternative.

If taken as rhetoric, the question “Aur hain kaun?” is at least an acknowledgement that Narendra Modi has not delivered the Achhe Din, the good days he promised in 2014.

Modi today is not half as strong as 2014, when he could say anything and get away with it. His outlandish claims, the impossible dreams he showed, made him sound like just the man people needed. Such was the faith he inspired that calling him feku didn’t work.

Modi could occupy such a position not only because he was campaigning against the worst government in recent memory, UPA-2, but also because he had sold the story of his achievements in Gujarat.

Today, however, Modi is much diminished since 2014. He does not have the advantage of being the challenger to an unpopular government. He is facing, at the very least, anti-incumbency. He is so short of achievements to sell that he has to attack the Congress as if the Congress was still in power.

From foreign policy to farmers, from jobs to GST, he is looking weak on all fronts.

A Right to Information query has revealed the Ganga is more polluted now than it was in 2014, when Modi had made tall promises of cleaning up the river.

The bullet train project he promised has just about kicked off with the commissioning of its first bridge. His party has alienated Dalits, and big businesses crib in private. Which section of society exactly is happy with him?

In the face of such criticism, the Modi supporter’s last answer is ‘Aur hai kaun?’

Not even trying

There have been countless protests by farmers across the country in the last few years, some of which have been mobilised by Left-linked farmers’ associations. Farmers’ discontent, and not the Patel agitation, was why the BJP was routed in rural Gujarat.

If India had a real opposition, we would have seen a large farmers’ protest in Delhi bringing the government to its knees, like the Lokpal movement did to UPA-2 in 2011. If instead of Gandhi we had a real opposition leader, he would have collected farmers’ leaders from across the country and sat on an indefinite hunger strike at the Ramlila Maidan.

Instead, Gandhi goes here and there, especially during state elections, addresses farmers and then runs off to Europe. He gave one speech in Mandsaur about farmers’ rights and then he was off to London or wherever. Had he been agitating for farmers and not holidaying in Europe in June, he would have been able to take credit for the Modi government’s increase in the minimum support prices.

The Congress party’s eminent lawyers saved the day in Karnataka but instead of overseeing the formation of a smooth coalition cabinet, Gandhi was abroad. He gave an iftar party but forgot to invite opposition leaders. He said Coca-Cola emerged from shikanji and reminded people of his ‘Pappu’ image.

Under his leadership, his party organised a midnight protest against the Kathua and Unnao rape cases. The protest was so badly organised that Priyanka Gandhi lost her cool at people who were pushing and shoving around. Gandhi can’t even organise a protest at India Gate properly. Can he really run the country?

Organising a good protest and a politically astute iftar, or making a good speech needs advance planning. The only thing Gandhi plans well is his Europe holidays.

Four and a half months after the Congress Working Committee was dissolved, Gandhi hasn’t been able to create a new one. It’s the party’s highest decision-making body.

It’s been nearly 10 months since the Bihar Congress has not had a chief (there is an acting head). Can you imagine the BJP leaving such a crucial state, or any state, faceless for months?

What role is Gandhi playing in UP? What is his intervention in the ongoing political churning in Bihar? What is he doing about addressing the Gehlot versus Pilot factionalism in Rajasthan?

In at least 200 Lok Sabha seats, there will be a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress. This is where the BJP will see its best performance, as it did in 2014.

Modi may be looking like a poor shadow of his 2014 self, but Gandhi is not even trying to defeat him.

Gandhi thinks power will fall in his lap whenever people are bored with the BJP. If that happens in 2024 or 2029, so be it. Why should he try hard?

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