Rahul Gandhi, who is being pressed again to officially serve as President of the Congress, continues to serve up his brand of Zen leadership, astonishing his own party and the Opposition.
With just two years to go for the general elections, it would seem probable that Team Opposition unify over the targeted hunt by central agencies for politicians in the anti-BJP league. Scratch that. While each major party has claimed a witch-hunt when its own leadership has been raided or questioned by agencies like the Enforcement Directorate or the CBI, they are less willing to offer the same premise when it comes to other parties.
And so, with characteristic tunnel vision, the Congress has said that it "welcomes" the raids on Manish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister of the Delhi government. The way it lasted 10 hours and saw the Congress siding with the BJP by claiming that an investigation into the controversial liquor policy that was implemented and then withdrawn by the Delhi government should be investigated for alleged corruption.
Rahul Gandhi has not condemned the raids on Manish Sisodia.
The Congress should be given an honorary Olympic gold for shooting itself in the foot. But supporting the Modi government's actions against AAP and Manish Sisodia, it undermines its own declaration that the investigation against Rahul Gandhi and his mother, Sonia, is motivated by vengeance against Opposition leaders. After all, it cannot be that the Gandhis alone are being wronged by false corruption claims and money-laundering investigations. The Modi government can now invoke the Congress's support for the raids against AAP as proof that investigating agencies act independently and without any direction from the Centre.
The Congress says its support for the CBI raids against AAP is based on Arvind Kejriwal running a corrupt government, and by the fact that he does not lend any support to other parties when their leaders are being raided or hauled to jail. This latter may be a valid point, but other leaders have spoken up - like Manoj Jha of the RJD MP - against the AAP raids, even as they stress that AAP needs to show more solidarity when the Opposition is targeted. Rahul Gandhi himself has mocked the use of central agencies by the Centre as overkill and said that his family and party will not be coerced into submission and silence.
Manish Sisodia has received rich praise for his work on Delhi's government's schools.
Congress-run handles on social media gloated over the action against Manish Sisodia, who holds charge of Delhi's Excise Ministry. As the BJP made the ludicrous claim that a front-page article in praise of Manish Sisodia's work in Health and Education was "paid news", the Congress seconded the motion. Manish Sisodia's party has claimed that it is the New York Times' praise of its leader that was triggering for the BJP.
The AAP which largely side-steps the Modi government and the BJP has pulled out all the stops with the raid on Sisodia dominating headlines and the run order of the news channels. The optics of the little guy trying his best and being stomped on by the big bully have played out widely. It's the same tiny David versus giant Goliath script that Kejriwal uses endlessly.
Both the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, of course, are contending with the fact that Arvind Kejriwal is steadily delivering on his promise to emerge as the alternative to the Congress for those who do not support the BJP. The raids took place just after the Delhi Chief Minister announced his plan to go national. As the CBI searched Manish Sisodia's home, every television channel stayed with the story as the only news event of the day. The Congress cannot overlook the importance of AAP gaining that ground, as it went to town doing what it does best: projecting itself as the little guy up against the might and power of a heavy-handed BJP. Every AAP leader stressed that the raids are rooted in the BJP's recognition of Arvind Kejriwal emerging as the only viable alternative to Modi.
Arvind Kejriwal is keen on scaling up the AAP outside Delhi and Punjab.
The fact that the New York Times focused so extensively on the Delhi government's overhaul of Health and Education comes as Arvind Kejriwal, especially after the Punjab election, has been pushing the agenda of a "Delhi model" of governance as one that would benefit the entire country.
AAP is contesting the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, with Arvind Kejriwal giving both states his full attention. The strategy is to hoover up the votes of the Congress in the states and place as the principal Opposition to the BJP.
A listless Congress is barely putting up a fight in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, reminiscent of the time it rolled over in the Delhi election two years ago.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is still locked in Hamletian dilemmas of to be or not to be Congress President. The last message was that he doesn't want the job, but can't quite let go of the leadership it allows. Meanwhile, AAP has grabbed every inch of attention which will allow greatly for its positioning as a party to be taken seriously on a national level. And in this, the Centre may have tripped up with its raids.
(Swati Chaturvedi is an author and a journalist who has worked with The Indian Express, The Statesman and The Hindustan Times.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.