Rahul Gandhi for PM? Unite India march elevates Congress scion’s message of peace and love in Modi’s ‘bazaar of hate’

The Congress party figurehead’s 3,500km cross-India trek has resonated with ordinary Indians, who’ve turned out in their thousands to join him

Observers say it’s helped reinvent the 52-year-old’s image and positioned him as a credible challenger to the dominance of Narendra Modi and his BJP

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Rahul Gandhi, of India’s opposition Congress party, waves to supporters during his march through New Delhi last month. Photo: AP

Published: 1:00pm, 14 Jan 2023

The old Rahul Gandhi is “gone”, or so the 52-year-old figurehead of the opposition Congress party insists, as he marches across an India divided along religious lines and where hate is on the rise.

The new one has a luxuriant beard, meets the people in a T-shirt and a pair of trainers and says he is guided more by positive vibes than political calculations.

Gandhi, who has twice been defeated in elections by Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi and was widely written off to be the political equivalent of a busted flush, began his 3,570km (2,200-mile) march in September from southern Kerala, aiming to reach northernmost Kashmir within five months.

Critics have accused him of conducting a PR stunt commensurate in scale to the ego of the Gandhi political dynasty, who have relentlessly pushed him forwards as a potential prime minister only to find he keeps getting rejected by the Indian people.

A shopkeeper holds masks of Rahul Gandi (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sale before India’s 2019 election that Gandhi lost. Photo: AFP

But a few weeks before the scheduled end of his yatra (march) in the Himalayan foothills, admiration and curiosity have grown.

Analysts say Gandhi has ignited debate on equality and the nature of modern India; successfully moved away from his aloof, elitist image of yesteryear; and been reborn as an earnest, thoughtful everyman who’s finally connecting with the country he so desperately wants to lead.

Rahul Gandhi for PM? Unite India march elevates Congress scion’s message of peace and love in Modi’s ‘bazaar of hate’

The Congress party figurehead’s 3,500km cross-India trek has resonated with ordinary Indians, who’ve turned out in their thousands to join him Observers say it’s helped reinvent the 52-year-old’s image and positioned him as a credible challenger to the dominance of Narendra Modi and his BJP