Rahul is wrong: Karnataka poll is very much a battle of personalities, too

Polling day in Karnataka is next Saturday, May 12. Battle is building up to a crescendo, campaign volleys are coming heavy and quick. With opinion polls and poll pundits suggesting a hung assembly, everyone is hungrily pressing for a last mile surge. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly topping his 15 rally blitz in the state with another six, which will mean that many more rounds of sharp attacks on Congress, particularly chief minister Siddaramaiah and party president Rahul Gandhi.

One Congress stratagem is to contrast the “personal” nature of Modi’s attacks with the “substance” of Rahul words. Buttressing this pitch, the Congress president said on Thursday that Modi’s “attacks aimed at him” will fail because the Karnataka poll is a battle of ideologies, not personalities.

It’s debatable whether Modi’s or Rahul’s attacks have been more “personal” but what’s beyond dispute is that the politics of personality casts just as large a shadow over Indian elections today as it did when charismatic politicians like Indira Gandhi and MGR strode the land. If Siddaramaiah rewins the state, no small credit will go to his distinctive personal brand. Cultism does hurt our democracy in several ways but its centrality cannot be denied. In fact if Congress is to re-rule the country under his leadership, it will need a manifold growth of the Rahul Gandhi cult.