Will Rahul controversy help Cong?

Muzaffarnagar: Oodles of charisma, some charm and a dash of controversy, Rahul Gandhi got the recipe just right when he made a three-day road trip through western Uttar Pradesh to boost the Congress' chances in the elections beginning April 7.

With the Gandhi-Nehru halo firmly around his head, Rahul wowed locals, who turned up in their thousands to see the Congress star in Bareilly, Muradnagar, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Deoband.

Whether the stardom translates into votes in the state is still to be seen, but he also managed to unnerve his political adversaries.

In the third year of his entry into politics, Rahul has learnt the tricks of the trade — fully utilise personal charisma to build direct rapport with the masses and make carefully worded statements aimed at newspaper headlines, but in his trademark earnest, non-aggressive style without naming anybody.

He made ripples in the caste and communal ridden politics of western Uttar Pradesh.

This seemed to have shaken his political opposition vying for power in the state currently run by the Samajwadi Party.

On Tuesday morning, his pre-scheduled rally at Bareilly was cancelled by the district magistrate despite thousands of people gathering at the venue.

With an eye firmly on the crucial Muslim vote bank, Hindustan ka bhavi pradhan mantri (future prime minister) — as state Congress Committee president Salman Khursheed called him — made a carefully calculated statement saying that a Gandhi would have never let the Babri Masjid fall.

Touching on the emotive topic of the 1992 demolition of the mosque, Rahul was careful not to name then prime minister and party leader PV Narasimha Rao.

But determined to make up for that one single act that robbed the Congress of its long-standing Muslim support base, the young Gandhi distanced his party from the destruction of the 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya: "Babri Masjid (destruction) would not have happened had any Gandhi family member been there," he said.

The Opposition may raise any number of fingers at Rahul Gandhi but he knows that the Muslims of the state hold Rao responsible for the demolition and whoever verbalises this goes up in their esteem.

A statement from the Nehru-Gandhi family scion in consonance with their thinking, he knows, is bound to touch a chord in the hearts of Muslims, the largest religious minority in Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly, as he mentioned a Congress "sellout" to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 1996 assembly elections — when the Congress under Rao's leadership reached a first alliance in the state and allowed the BSP to contest 300 seats, leaving only 125 for the party — he struck an instant chord with grassroots leaders.

Initially, as his motorcade sped towards Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Deoband, it appeared as an act of bravado on Rahul's part as the Congress has virtually no presence in the area.

Till the first public meeting held at Muradnagar Sunday, the general view was that Rahul Gandhi had bitten off more than he could chew. Come Modinagar though and the crowds started swelling, slogans were louder and shrill cheers could be heard from even rooftops flying Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party flags.

This expectedly gave Rahul a high and he got out from his Prado SUV, driven by old time loyalist Satish Sharma, and walked across to shake hands with truck drivers.

The frenzy continued all the way, with a charged Rahul on the roof of the jeep, reaching out to people and exchanging greetings.

Could it work?

"Rahul's initiative has certainly caused Muslims and perhaps even Jats to think about the Congress," said Nasiruddin, an electrician in Khatauli.

However, Om Singh, a Jat farmer standing next to him, seemed disappointed because the Congress could not strike an alliance with Ajit Singh.

Nobody, not even key Congress leaders or Rahul himself, believes that this three-day trip will make a major difference to the Congress' electoral fortunes.

But the point is that he has managed to leave an impression on the people of this region in general and the Muslims in particular.

Though students at the Darul Uloom seminary in Deoband refused to raise any slogans despite repeated pleadings from the dais at the rally -- many are not willing to dump Mulayam Singh Yadav as yet -- they did wait for over five hours to attend the public meetings and were anxious to shake hands with him.

Who knows, if not right now, they could consider Rahul and the Congress as a serious contender for their support if the sincerity is shown to be genuine.

On his part, Rahul is ready to wait. Putting the blame for the state of affairs on "organisational weakness of the Congress party", he said of Congress prospects: "If not this election, maybe next or the one after that. I will continue coming here and working with you."