Rahul Gandhi – The Most Establishment Populist

This ambitious attempt to reconnect with the masses fails to take into account what Gandhi himself acknowledged in London: that the INC was central to building the structures that it now claims have been captured by the BJP and RSS. Gandhi also ignores that the INC [Indian National Congress] itself was central to corrupting these structures.

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Banerjee’s criticism gets to the heart of the problem that Gandhi faces with the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Looking to the people of India for support to oppose the BJP makes sense, it will indeed take a large supporter base to remove the BJP and release its grip from the tools of power. The INC and Gandhi, however, cannot expect to build such a support base on an anti-corruption and anti-state capture march. As Gandhi himself acknowledged, the INC was central to putting in place the structures of independent India. What he fails to recognize, or acknowledge, is that the INC also has its own very real and recent history of exploiting these very same structures, whether to suspend the rule of law and hold on to power or simply to extract wealth while in power. In the multiparty contest to dethrone Modi, the INC cannot easily pivot from embodying the Indian state itself to campaigning on a populist charge to oppose the deep state.

Related:

India’s main opposition protests rising prices, lack of jobs

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of Indians rallied on Sunday under key opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, who made a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over soaring unemployment and rising food and fuel prices in the country.

Notes for Self:

Foreign NGOs used Rahul as protector (archived)

High-profile foreign NGOs active during 2004-2014 in blocking development projects in India, have contacts with aides to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi; while some key foreign NGO functionaries have access to him on a scale denied even to Cabinet ministers during the ten years of the UPA government, say sources within the Congress party. They say that “Rahul Gandhi has a partiality towards global NGOs” and that he has “frequently intervened on their behalf”. UPA ministers close to Rahul Gandhi, such as Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh, were also seen as deferential towards selected NGOs that were targeting development projects across India. As details of Rahul Gandhi’s visitors and travels remain secret and the man himself remains inaccessible, there has been no way of independently verifying such claims, which are denied by those close to the Congress vice-president.

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At least four of the nine foreign nationals active in Greenpeace operations in India, who have been identified by the IB as having been hyperactive in orchestrating protests against major projects in the country, “have close links to those in Rahul Gandhi’s inner circle“, according to a Congress functionary. The functionary claimed that “at least two of the nine are personally known to Rahul, who met them and others from such outfits when abroad”. Those close to Rahul Gandhi deny this, saying that “the Congress vice-president is a patriot who would never do anything to hurt the interests of India”.

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Apart from nuclear power plants, foreign NGOs have trained their sights on coal-based power plants as well. They have been opposing the addition of the critically needed 100,000 MW of additional power, half of this in Arunachal Pradesh, by seeking to incentivise locals to fight against the setting up of power plants, building on their success in Orissa, where (with help from Rahul Gandhi) they blocked a major metals plant (Vedanta), which would have provided a total of 145,000 extra jobs and thereby transformed the presently very poor region.

Glowing article about the Ghandi Dynasty by NED fellow, Anita Inder Singh.

MBAs, ex-SPG personnel, ex-Leftists, bankers — Meet Rahul Gandhi’s Congress ‘coterie’

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the party Friday, blamed what he called a “coterie of inexperienced sycophants”, referring to those close to the Gandhis. Azad alleged that this coterie, consisting of “PAs and security guards”, was making all the decisions in the party.

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Jaiveer Shergill, one of the national spokespersons of the party, who quit Wednesday, said in an interview to ThePrint after his resignation that the party was being run by “PAs and OSDs and a few select leaders”. Shergill also said that he was unable to secure an appointment with the three Gandhis in spite of trying for over a year.

Azad and Shergill are not the first leaders exiting the party to have spoken about this “coterie”. Other Congress leaders, some in private and some not, have also accepted the decision-making powers this “coterie” has. They have also spoken about how the “coterie” restricts access to the three Gandhis.

Rahul Gandhi should not blame democracy for poll defeats: BJP

Prasad noted that it was Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother and then prime minister Indira Gandhi who had suspended people’s democratic rights by imposing Emergency.

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If people saw dictatorship, it was during the Emergency when people, including opposition leaders and editors, were jailed, judges superseded and censorship imposed. Indira Gandhi had then spoken about having “committed judiciary,” the former law minister said.

Rahul Gandhi is being questioned about the ownership of Young Indian Private Limited (YIL) by the Gandhi family and its shareholding pattern in Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper, said sources.

Rahul Gandhi vs ED: Here’s what happened so far

[04-2021] Rahul Gandhi Sparks Fresh Controversy, Asks US Ambassador ‘Why Is America Silent On Issues In India’? (video)

R. Nicholas Burns (born January 28, 1956) is an American diplomat and academic who is the 13th and current United States Ambassador to China since 2022.

— Wikipedia

CONGRESSMAN CROWLEY AND RAHUL GANDHI DISCUSS INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:

11. (C) The CII representative (Senior Consultant – Vikram Badshah) who arranged the meeting claimed close and long-term contact with the Gandhi family. He explained that Gandhi’s followers have convinced him that he could no longer afford to remain in the background and must become more publicly involved. Badshah also indicated that Gandhi was now prepared to end his long term avoidance of public contact with American officials and hinted that further interaction would be forthcoming. Badshah told Representative Crowley that most within Congress had preferred Priyanka Gandhi as the heir apparent, but her refusal forced the party to turn to Rahul. However, there was growing speculation that Priyanka would eventually “rule from behind,” and that if and when Rahul becomes PM, Priyanka Gandhi would be the Congress Party Chief and Rahul’s role would be largely that of a figurehead. Rahul appeared tentative and reluctant to state policy preferences, and was more in a listening mode. When he did speak, however, he was articulate, reasonable and charming. His emphasis on US partisan politics and the Democratic party reflected his comfort level with American politics and culture, bred from his years in Boston. It also appeared that as part of his education for greater power, he has been reading extensively about various policy issues. He seemed more interested in these big picture issues than local politics.

Gandhi began his undergraduate career at St. Stephen’s College before moving to Harvard University. Gandhi transferred to Rollins College in Florida due to security threats following the assassination of his father, the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He graduated in 1994. The next year, Gandhi obtained their M.Phil. from Cambridge. Post-graduation, he began his professional career with the Monitor Group, a management consulting firm in London. He soon returned to India and established the Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm, Backops Services Private Ltd.

— Wikipedia

Descendent of Gandhi dynasty, Nehru–Gandhi family.