It is foolish to expect that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would ever deign to learn anything from anyone, and least of all from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. But the fact of the matter is that the much reviled “pappu” of national politics is now starting to emerge as a serious counterpoint to the ‘Unvanquishable One’.Till about a year ago, it was almost easier to criticise Modi on social media than it was to appreciate Gandhi on it. Even those who didn’t think he was such a bad chap thought twice before voicing support for him on social media, knowing fully well the mocking that would follow.All that is now changing.Starting with the Bharat Jodo Yatra and then with the Congress’s huge win in Karnataka, the ‘pappu’ label has now fallen off. Gandhi has come across as confident and caring, and as someone much more likely to ‘walk the talk’ than the prime minister. It is now Modi who is becoming the recipient of labels that are less than complimentary. Modi’s unwillingness to make a move against Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing serious allegations of sexual harassment by women wrestlers, has seriously dented his image as a protector of the maas and betis in the country. Gandhi, on the other hand, has brought retribution upon himself for daring to talk about the assault and exploitation that women across India face regularly.Not that he will, but here are three important life lessons Modi would do well to learn from Gandhi at this point in time:Listening to learn In a recent speech at Stanford University, Gandhi shared a fascinating epiphany he had during the first few days of the Bharat Jodo Yatra:“We met what I would describe as ‘the soul of our country’ and very quickly, in a week to ten days, a silence descended on us. We went from trying to explain things to people – ‘this is why agriculture isn’t working, this is how you should think about education, this is how the healthcare system should look’ etc. – to suddenly becoming silent and instead listening to them. We came in contact with an intelligence we had never seen – farmers, who many would say were uneducated, were explaining things to us in a way that we could only listen to in stunned silence. We saw this again and again with labourers, small businessmen, everybody. And so we stopped talking and started listening. We heard tales of immense suffering and very clearly saw that there is a huge disconnect between our politics and our people.”Perhaps Gandhi’s deepened ability to genuinely listen to people on the ground had a ripple effect and played a role in the Congress’s victory in Karnataka. He is right when he says there is power in silence and in empathetic listening.Modi’s forte, on the other hand, is the monologue. He can also be silent, but usually, it is at the wrong time and for the wrong reason.HumilityDaryl Van Tongeren, author of Humble: Understand and Use the Quiet Power of An Ancient Virtue says, “Humility is a way of approaching ourselves, other people, and the world around us with a sense of enoughness – an unconditional worth and value – that opens us to the world as it is.”No amount of ego-boosting, however, seems to be enough for our prime minister and we can count on one finger of one hand the number of times he has actually issued a public apology. Incidentally, the word humility comes from the Latin word humus, which literally means earth or ground. A humble person is, thus, someone who is grounded and down to earth. Modi, with his great love for luxury and grandiosity is now being viewed as anything but.Brant Parker and Johnny Hart’s cartoon strip The Wizard of Id comes to mind when one thinks of our prime minister. In one particular cartoon, the wizard is peering out into the vastness of space through a telescope. The king asks him what he is looking for.The wizard replies, “The centre of the universe,’ to which the king replies, “Speaking.”Gandhi, by contrast, is being seen more and more as a humble and approachable leader who is not afraid to admit he doesn’t have all the answers.Authentic communicationThis might sound counter-intuitive since Modi is supposed to be the better communicator by far. The fact of the matter, however, is that while the prime minister may be a better orator, the actual content of his speeches leaves much to be desired, as they are filled with self-promotion, chest-thumping and disdain for anyone who does not think as he does. Also Read: The Cost to the Nation of a Perpetually Campaigning Prime MinisterGandhi, on the other hand, may not be the most eloquent of speakers. His oratory does not soar, but there is no denying that his content calls out to the better parts of human nature – love, solidarity, justice, and egalitarianism.Those who swore by Modi till even a year ago are suddenly not quite as whole-hearted in their acclaim of their vishwaguru. The loss of employment, the lack of jobs and the brutal suppression of democratic voices do not sync with the prime minister’s lofty rhetoric. Sooner or later, people get tired of the “same old, same old”. It takes time, but substance eventually wins over style.Modi will most probably never learn anything from anyone (besides, of course, his own role models in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and some of his other autocratic buddies around the world). But the rest of us would do well to learn the lessons the last nine years have tried to teach us.Rohit Kumar is a writer and educator.
