Highs and lows from Rahul Gandhi's roaring Lok Sabha speech
There are only a few times that Congress President Rahul Gandhi makes an impressive speech and yesterday's speech in the Lok Sabha proved to be his 'comeback' speech.
Surrounded by other Congress MPs such as Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gaurav Gogoi and Deepender Singh Hooda, Rahul Gandhi speech showed us that he meant business.
Aggressive Rahul Gandhi attacks NDA govt over farmers' issues
Laced with sarcasm and good comic timing, Rahul speech grabbed everybody's attention including that of the BJP MPs. We take a look at a few hit and miss moments from Rahul's speech:
When Rahul caught us all off guard
Leading the attack from the Opposition over problems faced by farmers in the country, Rahul Gandhi stated facts from the UPA government quoting figures of the MSP and said Father of Green Revolution in India, MS Swaminathan said 'future belongs to nations who have grains, not guns,' to which his colleagues responded with loud thumping.
Rahul's body language, his tone during the speech and bits of humour thrown here and there showed that he was there for serious debate.
Attacking PM Narendra Modi directly, Rahul said 'aapke pradhan mantri' to which the BJP responded saying that he was not BJP's pradhan mantri but 'desh ke pradhan mantri.'
He made fun of BJP's 'Acche Din' catchphrase and said: "The acche din government, that is their name. I am taking your permission before using it. The 'acche din' government has failed the country."
Every time Rahul quoted the Modi government figures his colleagues supported their leader with 'shame' barbs aimed at the BJP MPs.
When Rahul Gandhi's speech in Parliament was hailed with #RahulRoar, #PappuMeows
Rahul praises Nitin Gadkari for his honesty
However the biggest brownie point that Rahul scored during the entire speech was when he praised Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for his honesty. "I would like to praise Mr Gadkari because he is one minister here who speaks his heart and tells the truth," he said.
Rahul said that Gadkari was honest because he (Gadkari) said that 'farmers must not trust God or the Government.' Rahul sarcastically said 'unhone apne mann ki baat keh di (He said what was in his heart, Mann ki Baat being Narendra Modi's monthly radio address).
Moments when Rahul failed to impress us with his speech
Most of us agree that Rahul Gandhi's speech in Lok Sabha was a fiery one and that he definitely got his point across to the BJP, but there were a few moments that proved to be a damp squib in his performance.
First, the constant prompting from his fellow MPs seemed like he was constantly being guided by his party workers. Though not all that bad, it still seemed if he was so prepared for his speech why did he need constant prompting?
Second, Rahul said that he had a small suggestion for the Prime Minister over the farmer issue. He said that the Prime Minister should go and meet the farmers and see what they are going through. Excuse me Mr Gandhi but didn't you just return from a two-month long sabbatical from Thailand?
Rahul must stick to this form if he wants to prove his point
Rahul's speech definitely made us sit back and take notice but in order to bounce back and bring the Congress back on its feet, Rahul needs to be aggressive and pro active in politics. His absence shouldn't be making the news, it should be his presence and what he does for the farmer that should go up as the headlines.
Congress clearly projected Rahul as its leader yesterday and it wouldn't be surprising that after Monday's speech, the Gandhi scion is made the party president.