Now that he has been elected Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, will Rahul Gandhi hug Narendra Modi and wink? Remember that ridiculous episode in February 2019?
Jokes aside, as LoP now he will be a member of several committees that also have the prime minister as a member. They will have to sit across or around a table to thrash out a consensus on many contentious issues.
How Rahul Gandhi conducts himself in committee will be closely watched. It’s one thing to grandstand on the floor of the House and quite another to do it in a committee. The LoP position isn’t a consolation prize for not being prime minister.
The record so far is that Rahul Gandhi has often repudiated in public what Mallikarjun Kharge as LoP had agreed to in committee. Indeed, no one has forgotten how he dramatically tore up a Cabinet decision on corruption of his party’s own government in 2013.
The question that’s begging to be asked is if Rahul Gandhi will act as a more mature man now, or whether he will continue to be childish. The biggest problem he has in this regard is that he has zero administrative experience. He steadfastly refused to become a minister after the Congress came to power in 2004.
More importantly, he has grown up in a family that was privately very contemptuous of politicians. Stories of that abound.
That atmosphere, say those who know him, has shaped his conduct and behaviour. Sonia Gandhi, with her European upbringing, is respectful of other people. She is never discourteous as Rahul can be, as Hemanta Biswa Sarma found out when he was in the Congress and had gone to see him.
The LoP in committee needs to be fully aware of details, effects and consequences of whatever is under consideration. That requires serious application of mind. So far, Rahul Gandhi has not surprised us with an exhibition of that quality. Maybe he will, now.