He came, saw but didn't conquer: 5 reasons why Rahul Gandhi's Anantpur Padayatra is damp squib

Rahul Gandhi came, he saw, but did not conquer. Why? Because, he cannot. Rahul Gandhi and his Anantpur ‘padyatra’ became a subject of  ridicule as neither seemed to have caught the people’s pulse. The Congress vice-president couldn’t personally come across as an astute demagogue who could provide an “inspiring” leadership.

Rahul Gandhi, on Friday, visited Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, his first ever to the residuary part since the bifurcation of the State, amid orchestrated fanfare of Congress leaders. Here are the five reasons why his “visit” was a damb squib.

1. Rahul Gandhi’s visit, skipping a crucial Parliament session, neither had a broad-based objective that impacts at least the State, leave alone pan-India ramifications, nor could it kindle the euphoria, typical to politicos of his stature. Though christened as ‘rythu bharosa yatra’ (Reassuring the farming community), the Congress managers in the state reduced his tour just to a ‘delayed morning walk’ that lacked seriousness.

2. The droll stroll of 10-km unveiled an opportunity for Rahul to interact with some farmers and motley crowds en route. He arraigned the ruling Telugu Desam and the opposition YSR Congress for being “afraid of Narendra Modi” and shying away from mounting pressure on the Centre, demanding special status to Andhra Pradesh and funds for the Polavaram Project, which were “enshrined in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014”. But, how are these two points relevant to the drought-ridden farmers of Anantapur is beyond any logic and comprehension.

His observation evoked instant reaction from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who launched a scathing attack on the Congress. Livid with the unscientific manner in which the Congress-led UPA Government bifurcated the State, Naidu lambasted Rahul Gandhi for shedding crocodile tears on the State now and said the injuries it (the Congress) had inflicted remained fresh even after a year.

3. The Congress vice-president garlanded the statue of the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy at Obuladevara Cheruvu before commencing his promenade, drawing severe criticism from YS Jaganmogan Reddy. While YSR had been loyal to the Nehru-Gandhi family all through his life, they were “ungrateful and foisted false cases against him and me, in connivance with Chandrababu Naidu. Today, Rahul Gandhi had no option but to garland the statue of the late YSR,” said an infuriated Jagan. Rahul’s depiction of the exit of three PCC presidents in the united Andhra Pradesh from the party as “opportunism” did not go too well for a party that is on its brink in both South Indian States.

4. Rahul Gandhi’s consolation visit to the house of a distressed farmer Harinatha Reddy, who had committed suicide, and distribution of cheques to families of some farmers and weavers, who too had committed suicide, was akin to the “Odarpu Yatra” embarked on by Jagan to console the families of those who died due to “shock” after the demise of YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Dichotomy is that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi had earlier opposed the “Odarpu Yatra” of Jagan, while Rahul Gandhi did almost a similar act. However, the two cannot be compared in size and scale.

5. Though the 45-year-old Rahul slighted the questions by reporters at a tete-a-tete about his marriage and his ascendancy to the Congress presidency, these questions found a prominent coverage in the media. Though he claimed that he was like “Arjuna who had focussed on the eye of the bird to be shot”, he inadvertently indicated that he was not too focussed by responding to the queries on his marriage and taking over the reins of the Congress – like a critic derided the legend saying even Arjuna wasn’t concentrating on the bird’s eye, and that’s evident from his very act of responding to the query as to what was visible to him.

By his flying visit, Rahul Gandhi could not extricate the Congress in Andhra Pradesh that’s gripped by ennui and tedium., as he was surrounded by leaders who were all defeated at the hustings. Roping in matinee idol and Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi was seen as an attempt to pull “minimum guarantee” crowds. Else, the visit would have been much paler a shadow of his visit to Adilabad district in the neighbouring Telangana earlier, where at least some elected representatives could accompany him.