The electoral verdict is the same, but with a difference. Rahul Gandhi led the Congress charge in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, and lost both.
But, truth be told, his heart and mind were not in the Himachal battle. Just like Kerala, the reins of administration in Shimla have oscillated between the Congress and the BJP.
And with Virbhadra Singh, the incumbent Congress chief minister mired in controversies and corruption cases, the Congress was facing an uphill task in this hill state.
Indian Prime Minister and head of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Narendra Modi gestures at the start of a speech at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Monday
So, Rahul Gandhi was not so much in action in Himachal, and beyond a couple of forays, chose to focus on Gujarat alone.
Elections
Even before the elections were announced, he meant business and started travelling across the state and took on the ruling dispensation with earnestness. He bent his back and gave whatever was left of his party’s cadres, all he could, to enthuse them.
It was meant to be a cakewalk at the hustings for the BJP. It has been in office for 22 years, having won five times consecutively. It was the Gujarat model of development, touted by Narendra Modi, that propelled him to power at Centre in the 2014 general elections. And BJP swept Gujarat 26-0 in the Lok Sabha.
New Congress president Rahul Gandhi ‘should take heart from the results’
With Amit Shah at the helm, the BJP was all primed to go on the offensive with its development agenda and ‘record/performance’ in office over the past five terms.
Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, was pursuing a hopeless cause with the Congress having been decimated in 2014, down to less than 45 in the lower house of Parliament, and trounced in state after state, and a party president, Sonia Gandhi, not in the pink of her health.
With Shankarsinh Vaghela leaving Gujarat Congress and Ahmed Patel scraping through in a scrappy Rajya Sabha tussle, the party was in no shape to even put up a semblance of a fight.
BJP national president Amit Shah and his wife flash victory signs after casting their votes
But following the announcement of election dates, it was the BJP that was on the defensive. It was as if they were the perennial underdogs.
The BJP went after Rahul Gandhi, as if the latter was in power. It was startling to see a rattled BJP that consciously give up on the development agenda, worried over the impact of demonetisation and ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ (the Rahul tweet that gained huge traction) on the trading community in Gujarat.
Development
Rahul Gandhi taunted Modi on a daily basis as to why ‘the PM has forsaken the development agenda’.
A run through the speeches of Modi during his record rallies reveals a lot. He was not defending his record as PM or of Vijay Rupani’s as CM.
Prime Minister Modi tasted victory in Gujurat as the BJP retained power in the area. The party has been in power in the state since 1995
Instead, he was reverting to his old refrain of Gujarati ashmita and ‘attitude of Congress to ignore Gujarat’. It was a stunning reversal of roles.
Shah had camped for nearly two months in Ahmedabad and was working overtime. It was an election for the ‘BJP to lose’.
And then came Mani Shankar Aiyar gaffes — first, giving the Opposition an opportunity to compare Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as Congress president with that of Aurangazeb and then the fatal ‘neech aadmi’ jibe.
This was a godsend for a gasping BJP and Modi himself latched on to these remarks.
Newly-elected President of the Indian National Congress party Rahul Gandhi (L) listens as his mother and former party President Sonia Gandhi (R) offers him a seat during a ceremony at the party headquarters in New Delhi on December 16, 2017
In the end, it proved to be a bridge too far for the Congress to cross. To begin with, it was more than a David versus Goliath. Rahul Gandhi was a midget and dwarfed by the Modi-Shah combine in every facet of the electoral face-off.
Rahul had only himself to offer in challenge and the environment which jangled the nerves of the BJP. He stood up. He was not rattled by the personal barbs thrown at him. He stood taller than he was — displaying a faculty hitherto unseen in him.
In fact, what came through these electoral exchanges was that Rahul Gandhi is here to stay.
Performance
Despite his best performance yet, the newly appointed Congress president’s party has been trounced again, for the sixth time in Gujarat.
But instead of losing heart at exit poll projections, which predicted the Congress’s defeat in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi gave a balanced first speech upon taking over as the Congress president.
For too long, he has been the butt of the joke, especially with his own partymen clamouring for Priyanka Gandhi to take over as the Congress chief.
However, Rahul Gandhi has shown different spots this time and India would be the better off with it. And his statement that those in the BJP were brothers and sisters should be taken seriously and reciprocated by the saffron party.
National parties cannot go after each other. Growth of regional forces — not regional aspirations — does not augur well for us. The ball is now in the court of the BJP.
It should give up its Congress-mukt Bharat mindset, for the sake of India.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress should take heart in the fight back against odds and prepare for 2019. There is hope yet. PM Modi, on the other, must rise as a statesman and show humility and grace.