A few of my friends said that Rahul Gandhi had yet again committed a mistake by projecting himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate and now Modi and his team will reduce him again to "Pappu". I beg to differ. Gone are the days when Modi and his social media team could demolish Rahul Gandhi. Yes, I agree that Modi and his team launched and rode Operation Pappu very successfully before and right after the 2014 election when Modi's popularity was at its highest, he was seen as the new messiah and the Congress was a sinking ship flooded with corruption charges.
But today, Mr Modi is suffering from a serious credibility crisis. His misunderstanding or misrepresentation of history and non-performance have put a question mark over his leadership. In the last four years, he could not rise to meet the expectations of the people. People believed him in 2014, but not any more. Now his only hope of coming back to power lies in his capacity to polarise voters along communal lines. On the other hand, after a serious credibility crisis, Rahul Gandhi has risen in stature in the eyes of the people. He looks more confident, more sure of his emotions, especially after the Gujarat elections. He is ready to experiment with new ideas. His decision to visit temples and his intent to flaunt his Hindu-ness initially did not go down well but now it seems to be a good political move to blunt the attack by the RSS that the Congress only cares about Muslims. In fact, even among the intellectual class, he is now being taken more seriously.

PM Narendra Modi said Rahul Gandhi's statement that he was ready to become Prime Minister showed his "arrogance".
This shows that Rahul has succeeded in engaging Modi and his entire team on a one-on-one basis: they are replying to him and not the Congress. He is effectively Modi's counterpart.

Rahul Gandhi has mounted a firm challenge to PM Narendra Modi on social media.
In my opinion, Rahul Gandhi and his team want it that way. They are ready to pitch him for the bigger battle and are willing to be compared with the incumbent Prime Minister. This has three advantages: he will be seen as the real challenger; it will also kill all kinds of ambiguities about who will be the prime ministerial candidate of the combined opposition; finally, it will end the theme which Modi and his team thrive on - about there being no alternative to Modi. The question "who after Nehru?" had benefited the leader in election after election. Similarly, the whispers of "who after Indira?". But the country knows that India did not stop after the demise of Nehru. Shastri proved to be a worthy successor. This country saw a great leader in Indira Gandhi who transformed from "Goongi Gudiya" she was known as. After Rajiv Gandhi's death, Narsimha Rao, a political lightweight with no political capital, ignited transformative changes in the country and if today India is respected for its economic growth, the credit should go to him. Similar was the debate during Vajpayee's time, but India decided to junk him in 2004. Manmohan Singh, a most unlikely man for the top job, succeeded him and India did not disintegrate. But today we are living in the digital age, where perception management is important to win elections. Word now travels faster and decisions are taken in split seconds. It is in this context that Rahul Gandhi has gambled to place himself at par with Mr Modi. If he has allowed himself to be compared to Mr Modi, then it also opens up the space for Mr Modi to be compared with his challenger.
This leads to an interesting scenario. 2019 will be like the US- style presidential election. The people of India will have the choice of making a considered opinion on whom to vote for. Mark my words that this won't be a one-sided affair. This will be very bitterly fought; this will be a gladiatorial battle. This election will bring out the worst amongst us.
(Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January 2014.)
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