I was watching the Mahua Moitra ‘scandal’ and some left liberals talking about how there is never smoke without fire, and that she should have been more discreet in her personal life as a public figure and all other semantic contortions that only we left liberals are capable of. Mahua’s core constituency is deserting her for what is essentially a lovers’ (or ex-lovers’, in this case) tiff over a dog, which the sharp-nosed Amit Shah smelt a thousand miles away, and then turned it to create a smear campaign that would not just obfuscate the Adani questions and speeches Mahua has been in the news for, but also besmirch her reputation (because he knows her vote bank well) forever and make her a pariah, not to be spoken of without either a huge disclaimer or some sort of smirk that originates in the place where the left liberals produce and store their infinite quantities of righteous indignation.
And now, let me paint a scenario of the future (which I have done a couple of times in the past, though I am unable to find that exact post, even when I remember having written it) for which Amit Shah probably has an entire strategy prepared, resources like media & IT Cell deployed, and justice (not the kind of justice you think, but the process itself) ready. And that is: A ‘Me Too’ allegation against Rahul Gandhi. Perhaps several, one after the other, with each one coming just when the public uproar over the previous one is flagging.
Rahul’s base on social media (especially the left liberals) will vanish into thin air, abandoning him in about 60 seconds, and will actively play a part in vilifying him, aiding and amplifying the BJP and right-wing message with a verve and energy unequalled by the IT Cell. It will be spectacular, the meltdown and about-turn of the pseudo-secular, fashionably woke, fake feminist, pompous, faux liberal hypocrites, and I mean all these epithets, for you are truly neither (secular, woke, feminist, or liberal) if you are so capricious of mind and blind of eye, and so in need of validation and so scared of being singled out, even if that single voice is that of reason, that you will join in the melee where other monkeys you identify with are flinging shit at someone who was part of them literally a minute ago; not unlike the lynch mobs of the extreme right and left that go even more nuts when turning on their own.
Now, do you think Rahul does not realise this? He knows. And has known it for some time now. From this lens, it is easy to understand what he’s doing with his Bharat Jodo Yatra and his public outreach, his visits to refugee camps in Manipur and chai with the shepherds in Ladakh, his making dosas with street food vendors and singing Moosewala songs with truck drivers, his learning how to tighten a chain with mechanics and chatting with tea-pluckers in the Nilgiris? He is creating a voter base of real, solid, committed, and serious voters, a base of people who can see through the propaganda, a base that sees him for who is truly is and disregards the mud that’s thrown at him, a base that is not as fickle and stupid as you.
He knows what you are. And, armed with this knowledge, he has made allowances and changes to his strategy to nullify your coming about-face, which, when it comes, as it will, will surprise everyone. Except him.
Because he’s not just smart. He’s smarter than you think.
