Rahul Was More Real Than Rhetorical

If you yourself haven’t watched the full interview of Rahul Gandhi on Times Now with dispassionate outlook you would be misled into thinking he came out as “dumb”, “dull” and proved himself “unworthy”.

Because this is how most of the journalists – seasoned, senior and respected – have portrayed him after his first formal interview with Arnab Goswami.

But such lowly portrayal of Rahul Gandhi is misplaced, prejudiced and false. It appears to me the commentators have relied more on what is trending on Twitter and Facebook rather than on their own ability to decode and decipher the interview. Such application of journalistic prowess is appalling.

In most of the answers in the interview Rahul Gandhi sounded real rather than rhetorical. The fact about Rahul’s interview is that he said what was true and factual. He said what he and his party have done.

Since he and his party have not done much- and he must be criticised for that- he had not much to say. He had to repeat few things like RTI, women empowerment, pushing the democracy deeper into India.

He could have chosen to talk non-sense, and will-do-this and will-do-that. He didn’t.

And I believe, repeating the reality, howsoever discomforting, is far better than iterating and reiterating fiction. But stating reality in political debates is not “fashionable”, is it?

What is “fashionable” is when you watch Modi challenge “Shahjada” by thumping his 56 inch chest which is hollow and pointing his index figure which is red. What is fashionable is when Modi twists history to fit his agenda.

What is fashionable is when Modi says, “Dalits were like mentally retarded children”—while releasing the book Samajik Samrasta”, when he says, “he had information that Sir Creek was being handed over to Pakistan on Dec 15, 2012. He claimed India had referred Sir Creek to India-Pakistan Western Border Tribunal”.

The fact is the two countries never referred the matter to the IPWBT. : Outlook

Coming back to Rahul, he must also be criticised when he said, “I am not responsible for anti-sikh riots in 1984 because I was not personally involved in that.” And later on he said, “We will have alliance with RJD. Because political alliances are made Based on Ideas.”

But Rahul must be hailed for being real and not faking. He must be hailed for not leaving the interview mid-way because some of questions perturbed him. And on the media’s coverage of the interview I find it apt to quote BBC Hindi journalist Dilnawaz Pasha.

Pasha says in his Facebook update, “Dear journalists! If twitter trolls are driving your ‘news agenda’ and ‘news peg’ then you need to go back to college and learn basics.”