“JUDGING HIM WITH INTEREST”
The seeds of his turnaround were sown in 2022 when he embarked on a cross-country walking tour inspired by his unrelated namesake, independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, to hear the concerns of ordinary people.
His journey gave him a gravitas that had previously eluded him and his colleagues credited it with helping reinvigorate the party, delivering an election result that defied exit poll forecasts of another landslide BJP win.
Gandhi also stayed unruffled through the several ongoing criminal cases arrayed against him, which he and his supporters accuse the government of orchestrating to eliminate him as a rival to Modi.
Last year, he was briefly disqualified from parliament after a conviction for criminal libel in a case brought by a BJP member, and weeks before this year’s election, Congress had its bank accounts frozen as part of a running income tax probe.
Having pierced Modi’s aura of invulnerability and shrugged off adversity, Kidwai said Gandhi’s new post would give him the opportunity to capitalise on his newfound public esteem and establish himself as an alternative prime minister.
“Taking up this position is going to do a lot of good for him,” he said.
“People who didn’t take him seriously will now start judging him with interest.”
