Attack as defence: There’s not just Rahul 2.0, there’s Robert 2.0 too

by Ishan Russell

Rahul Gandhi’s blistering attack on Prime Minister Modi, alleging him of using cronies to attack his family at last week’s Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary celebrations, shows a marked shift in the Congress’ strategy; that attack is the best form of defence.

While Rahul Gandhi might be upping the ante against the BJP, there is a subtler game that is also afoot — that of re-orienting the public perception about Rahul’s controversial brother-in-law Robert Vadra.

“The nation wants to know what magical model Robert Vadra has so that Rs 1 lakh becomes Rs 300 crore in less than three years,” thundered, now Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the run-up to the 2014 general election. It’s a charge often repeated by BJP leaders and spokespersons in press conferences and TV debates. And it has not helped that Robert Vadra from his “Mango People in a Banana Republic” Facebook comment to his “Are you serious?!” response to a media query has often forced the Congress to defend the indefensible.

Because of Robert Vadra, it’s the first time since the Bofors scam that the charge of corruption has reached the doorstep of the Congress’ first family. Charges that are under investigation by SN Dhingra commission in Haryana and by the Rajasthan government.

“It is a diversionary tactic of the BJP to take attention to non-issues. The government should speak about real issues,” says Randeep Singh Surjewala, chief spokesperson for the Congress. But first the AAP and now the BJP have repeatedly raised the ‘Jijaji’ and ‘Damaadji’ jibes, milking it for political dividend, proving Vadra to be the Congress’ Achilles heel.

Now to fight the perception game, the Congress seems to be taking a leaf out of Prime Minister Modi’s 2014 campaign. That is to react to every charge and also create support on social media. Vadra has also built up his team a low-key second generation Congress members, who are helping him fight this perception battle. So over the past year other than investigations into his land deals, Vadra has been in the news for feeding kids at a Blind School on his birthday, dealing with a bomb scare at Delhi’s Lodhi Garden and helping out with an accident. There is a twitter handle @withRV, that is run by ‘fans’ of Robert Vadra, which defends his point of view on Social Media. This apart from Vadra himself who takes to Facebook every time he wants to make a statement.

On the Bihar elections verdict:

Congratulations to the secular forces standing together for the change needed in the country.This will give hope n uplift the sentiment in the country.My Best wishes.

Posted by Robert Vadra on  Saturday, 7 November 2015

On an inquiry by the Rajasthan government:

They are in government and can go to Any part of the Nation, but their efforts and research will only find this result…

Posted by Robert Vadra on  Friday, 23 October 2015

Shailendra Choudhary, a second generation Congress leader and an associate of Robert Vadra, says, “The only option is to take the battle to them. There is a misinformation campaign afoot to malign the image of Mr. Robert Vadra purely for political vendetta”.

Others espousing closeness to Vadra such as the Poonawalla brothers (the elder bother Tehseen is engaged to Vadra’s cousin), jump into TV studios every time Vadra is caught in a jam.

And the strategy has worked especially in the airport frisking controversy, but corruption charges and their fallout are a more serious affair.

For a long time now, Vadra has been in shadow of the family he married into, even publicly disowning his own family. But it is apparent Vadra wants to establish his own identity; the businessman ploy seems to have backfired a bit. And he does nurse political ambitions.

In an interview in 2010, Vadra said, “I can definitely win (an election) from anywhere but I am a businessman. Why politics? I should be known for what I am. There was huge demand for me to stand (from Sultanpur) but I was clear that it was not my place. I was being recognised only because of the family”. Off the record some in the Congress admit that before 2014 a couple of surveys were conducted to assess Vadra’s standing in Sultanpur, the results though reflect in Vadra’s above statement of “being recognized only because of the family.” Another Gandhi family member is now the MP there, but that’s estranged cousin Varun Gandhi from the BJP.

Keeping Vadra in the news this often though could hurt the BJP in the long run, and it is not helped by statements as made last week by Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar saying, “In six months, illegal land deals of the previous Congress regime would be exposed and Robert Vadra would be in jail.” The bravado is coming too often and without substantiated evidence.

Despite the electoral rout that she faced post the emergency, Indira Gandhi had bounced back because of perceptibly being made a victim of political vendetta of the Janata government. “There was a witch hunt, there was a politics of vendetta, commissions were set up, false cases were foisted on Indira Gandhi, who is a great and a popular leader of India,” cites senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.

The Congress hopes that history might repeat itself with Rahul Gandhi daring the prime minister to take action against him or his family on the day of Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary, but then Robert Vadra is no Indira Gandhi.