Eyeing image makeover, Rahul to leave for Kerala tomorrow

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24

After visiting Uttarakhand, Punjab, Maharashtra and Telangana over the past 32 days, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is now all set for his Kerala tour following which he will go to Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Rahul’s Kerala visit, scheduled for May 26, will be the fifth in 32 days in a series of his nationwide travels as he goes all out to gain political acceptability across the country ahead of his near-final coronation as the Congress president any time this year.

After Kerala, he will go to Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on June 2 to launch Congress’ national celebrations of BR Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary. On June 6, he plans Bengal visit before hitting the Hindi heartland which gave the BJP the maximum strength in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

In Kerala, Rahul will address a Youth Congress rally at Calicut before meeting fishermen and rubber planters (in Thrissur) whose livelihood issues he had raised in the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded Budget session of Parliament.

As Rahul crisscrosses the nation to enhance his image as a pan-India leader, top Congress sources acknowledge that his travels have a larger political and social goal and are not mere photo opportunities as the ruling BJP is saying.

“Within the party, Rahul is gaining greater acceptance as he goes around states, mobilising workers and infusing life into lethargic state units which have lost their morale after the 2014 Lok Sabha defeat and subsequent state election losses. One accusation he has always faced is that of being distant from his own party colleagues and workers. His travels are changing that perception as we brace for his imminent elevation as the Congress chief,” said a source close to Rahul.

On the social level, Rahul’s travels are positioning the Congress on the right side of the marginalised, in line with the party’s socialist ideology which ex-PM Jawaharlal Nehru championed.

“By going to the people and sharing their concerns, Rahul is firmly positioning the Congress as the voice of the voiceless. That is in line with the party ideology considering the Congress has traditionally been the first choice of the weaker sections though it draws its support from all segments. Rahul’s visits to states and his padyatras are part of his efforts to place himself at the head of the Congress revival as its future leader and as the leader of choice for the masses,” said a senior Congress leader.

The Gandhi scion’s next big move — after speaking up for farmers, middle class, fishermen and ex-servicemen — would be standing up for Dalits who remain alienated from the Congress. At Mhow, the birthplace of BR Ambedkar, Rahul will address a massive Dalit rally on June 2 to celebrate the leader and reclaim him as a Congress man. The party is working on publishing pamphlets containing evidence to debunk what it calls the BSP propaganda that the Congress had deserted Ambedkar.