New Delhi: Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greatest politician of all?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. No, sorry, Rahul Gandhi. No, both. Yes, both, as the two have become one entity, blurring the lines that once differentiated their contrasting characteristics.
These days, when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi stands in front of a mirror, probably he is getting to see the reflection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rahul is strangely looking like Modi and Modi like his predecessor Manmohan Singh. And, all these political role reversals have left the nation more confused.
Thanks to the Congress’ relentless attempts to reinvent the Gandhi scion to make him ‘acceptable’ to the Indian voters, that Rahul is doing the same ‘stunts’ which Modi is ‘infamous’ for.
From triumphing over Twitter, proving masculinity to clicking selfies, Rahul has copied all the tricks that helped Modi to become a ‘national phenomenon’ right before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
If Modi gloated about his 56-inch chest to prove his robustness as a prospective prime ministerial candidate before 2014 elections, then Rahul recently showcased his martial arts skills by practicing Japanese Aikido in front of the nation.
Both Rahul and Modi want to convey the same message–they are physically strong and fit men capable of taking the responsibility of the country single handedly.
Does India need a WWF wrestler to run the country? Then, The Great Khali is a better choice. Or, we need a smart, sensible and rooted man/woman who understands India’s problems well to give the country some semblance in these difficult times?
Talking about Twitter, long before the Congress discovered that social media could push one’s popularity to a dizzying heights (that is why we have so many Twitter stars, who have found magic within the limits of 140 characters), Modi, in spite of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s initial hesitation to adopt technology, used the platform to regularly post his pictures, announce upcoming public meetings and interact with commoners in a friendly manner.
Twitter made Modi accessible to all. People of India, who have to generally stand under the scorching sun to have a glimpse of their leaders from a distance, loved the breaking of barriers between voters and VIPs.
As Modi turned into a social media superstar with 36.2 million and 42.5 million followers on Twitter and Facebook respectively, Rahul, again, reluctantly joined Twitter in 2015.
It is only in recent times that Rahul has started to take his Twitter image seriously and has been relentlessly tweeting with good dose of pun and humour to attract attention.
While Rahul has 4.1 million followers on Twitter, the Congress VP has 1.4 million followers on Facebook. Rahul definitely has a long way to go before reaching Modi’s social media milestone.
Nonetheless, he is trying hard and has allegedly engaged bots or software-driven accounts that automate actions like retweets and likes, to inflate following on the site. Even the BJP is accused of same treachery of bots-driven popularity. But who cares when our electronic voting machines (EVMs) are allegedly prone to hacking.
Do we need to even discuss Indians going crazy over selfies? Unfortunately, it is the same madness that has snuffed out the lives of so many people across the country. India ranks top in selfie-related deaths across the world. Out of the 127 selfie-related deaths that the world witnessed in the last 18 months, India accounted for more than 60 per cent of the reported fatalities.
The same selfie bug has bitten both Modi and Rahul (albeit lately). Whenever the two top leaders see a smartphone, they immediately flash a big smile–to oblige their supporters anywhere and everywhere.
Recently, we have seen how a young fan in Gujarat broke security cordon and climbed to the top of Rahul’s mini-van for a selfie. The Gandhi scion gladly smiled, like Modi did from Ahmedabad to America.
The backdoor guys of the Congress writing the ‘reincarnation’ script for the 47-year-old Congress VP have adopted the Modi success story ‘template’ from A to Z, so that there remains no difference between Modi and his bÊte noire.
In the next General elections scheduled in 2019, voters have the choice to vote either for the ‘real’ Modi or the ‘fake’ Modi. Most likely, people will elect the ‘real’ Modi, once again dumping the Congress ‘prince’, whose latest antics are good enough to attract television cameras and fuel Twitter wars between the Congress and the BJP supporters, but don’t guarantee votes.
OneIndia
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