Ramachandra Guha, an analyst of contemporary Indian history and polity, has stirred a hornet’s nest by demolishing Rahul Gandhi, a fourth-generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, as incapable of challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his recent article and in a discussion on Karan Thapar’s show. For Guha, Rahul Gandhi “lacks gravitas” (endorsing the Pappu and Rahul Baba taxonomy) and “lacks a CV for a claim to India’s premiership”.Gandhi’s “only claim to fame is his being a Nehru-Gandhi dynast”, his Bharat Jodo Yatra was “a failure”, he “lacks charisma that Modi has” and, “instead of stating a constructive agenda, he only makes personal attack on Modi”. Under Gandhi’s leadership, the Congress party has been “losing elections since 2014”, seeing its space shrink in legislative bodies at the national and state levels, as well “as on the ground”. The Congress party, too, having become a “family firm”, is completely out of breath to reach the goal post Guha says. And Rahul has displayed “political incompetence”, even as he reaches his fifties, in leading the party and lacks the capacity for hard work.Is Guha objective in his description? Were his article and discussion with Thapar not based on his analysis? Second, has he taken into account the political developments since 2009 in their entirety? Would he really say with authority that Modi has won all the national and state elections since 2014 by dint of possessing every quality that Guha has declared Gandhi lacks? The way Guha has put his arguments, one is compelled to juxtapose the two leaders and their parties.Rahul Gandhi’s journeyRahul entered politics by winning the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Amethi by 3,00,000 votes and retaining the seat in 2009. He declined former Prime Minister late Manmohan Singh’s invitation to join his Cabinet. Beginning as an average reticent backbencher in Lok Sabha, he was noticed for his controversial public trashing of the Manmohan Singh government’s ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification on September 27, 2013.In 2014 and 2019, when the Congress lost power in the Lok Sabha elections, Mallikarjun Kharge led the party in Lok Sabha. Gandhi, creditably, resigned as the party president in 2019, taking the blame for the party’s defeat.Most damaging to his image since 2014 was the malicious ‘Pappu’ campaign launched against him by the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, after taking over as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) following the 2024 election, when the party won 99 Lok Sabha seats, his image began changing. Since then, and more particularly since the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022-23 and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in 2024, the ‘Pappu’ campaign, on which the BJP reportedly spent Rs 2 crore, was dropped. But the BJP, beginning from the top, continues to be derisive against him.Still Rahul has been raising issues and leading the discussions in Lok Sabha. No wonder, on March 24, 2023, he was disqualified from his membership of the Lok Sabha, until the Supreme Court reinstated him in August 2023. This reflected partisanship of the presiding officers in the Parliament.Regularly touring the country, meeting people at the grassroots, sharing meals with them, he is developing an image of a popular, if not a mass leader. As compared to the expensive multi-apparel-a-day routine of Modi, he has adopted a simple middle class attire. As the LoP, participating on policy debates in Lok Sabha – which Modi routinely avoids – his CV includes governance duties as well.Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi interacts with a man during a visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. @INCIndia/X via PTI PhotoElectorally, the 2024 election with coalition formation and snatching absolute majority in Lok Sabha from the BJP, he dented the invincible image of the party and Mo-Sha combine. Their victory in states since then is another story.Modi’s descentModi, a sincere RSS pracharak with controversial claims about his educational qualification – from high school to M.A. – and a capacity to read in a very abnormal way, was parachuted down on the chief ministerial chair in Gujarat by then deputy prime minister and Union home minister Lal Krishna Advani as a reward for organising his rath yatra in October 2001. The Bhuj earthquake had shaken the party and the state government. Heading any government was then not on Modi’s CV. The first test he faced, four months in office, was the rioting that followed the Sabarmati Express fire. What came to the fore was the swayamsevak, not head of government in a multi-ethnic state. He failed miserably! It haunted him, so much so that he ran away from the Karan Thapar show when faced with tough questions on the Gujarat violence.Also read: India Deserves an Opposition That Knows What it Stands ForHis CV since then began swelling, helped by his association with industrialists such as Adani and Ambani. The myth of a Gujarat model was created and hyped and the persona of an efficient administration was built for him. The Congress then had begun to crumble under corruption charges. This was taken advantage of too, with certain sections of the media helping. That most of those allegations did not stand the test of judicial scrutiny says it all. The Modi image was by then built to be bigger than that of Advani; the RSS was convinced and sidelined him. Modi’s campaign picture travelling on Adani’s personal aircraft says it all.Amit Shah, first as the BJP president and then as Union home minister, built up the financial strength of the party and stretched its tentacles into states. Not always by fair means. Political leaders and legislators were purchased like never before and the elected governments were gulped down. Crucial institutions – police, civil administration, CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Election Commission, the judiciary – were compromised. Most of the electronic media were taken over by business houses close to him. Opponents have been harassed in several ways. The rule of law has been crushed under bulldozers.The inept handling of Manipur, which has been under devastating unrest since May 3, 2023, over three years now, demonstrates the governance efficiency of the Modi government. The prime minister did not visit the state for 28 months after that violence.Influencing the education system has been another task. Not just the curricula has been moulded to suit the Sangh Parivar thrust, the appointments in most educational institutions have been made from the saffron ranks even by compromising educational qualification. Vice Chancellors, head of institutions, teachers, professors – you name it and they are mostly from their ranks. The current paper leaks of NEET-UG and other examinations are the visible consequences.Civil society space has been flattened. Indeed, it stood up against governments, but it provided ideas for development, welfare, knowledge and indeed employment. In the same realm, autonomous academic institutions have been starved of funds, some were even raided by the Income Tax department and the ED.The way the Election Commission has been in the news; its use of the Special Intensive Revision, right at the eve of elections in Bihar and West Bengal, and deletion of ‘hostile’ voters shows the manipulation of elections. In West Bengal, Shah camped with the Central Armed Police Forces after the Election Commission of India transferred all state-cadre officers out and brought in officers from BJP-ruled states. This was meant not to allow any party to compete by fair means.The use of public money to convert voters into “labharthi (beneficiaries)” right after the election was announced in Bihar, ignoring the consequence of reducing them to unskilled and idle masses, cannot be countered by any rival.Good wishes, RGIndeed, Gandhi needs to build the Congress party organisation, leadership at all levels, the cadre and base in states, and the road ahead is rough. He is seen to be making enormous effort to tame a rival who follows no rules. But an analyst such as Guha must factor in the realities in entirety and highlight how Modi has been destroying India’s society, polity and economy for over a decade. If Guha thinks that is a good CV, India is unfortunately being failed by its intelligentsia too.