Rahul Gandhi, who just turned 43, is a confident and progressive leader

NEW DELHI: As Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi turned 43 on Wednesday, the Congress workers across the country celebrated the day with lots of enthusiasm. Many partymen found innovative ways to mark the occasion. Charity for disaster-struck Uttarakhand and social pledge by Congressmen were the highlights. Congress Party workers from different parts of
the country came together in New Delhi also on Wednesday to celebrate the birthday of Rahul Gandhi.

At 43, Rahul Gandhi is a much more confident and matured leader. He has been trying to intervene in matters concerned with the aam aadmi and ensure adequate solutions for those. As he always said, for Rahul Gandhi, party is supreme and he has never been after power. He wanted to ensure sufficient participation of the youth in the party and he tried his best to democratise the Youth Congress and NSUI outfits.

Rahul Gandhi proved that he is a progressive leader, he always stay connected with the common man. This was the intention behind his visits to villages, eating with the poor and staying at their huts. He believed that the strength of our country is in the villages and with the poor and aam aadmi.  None can forget that Rahul Gandhi had taken Shiv Sena in Maharashtra head on during his visit to Mumbai in 2010 by taking a ride in a local train which attracted wide appreciation from the people. His pro-people, pro-poor approach helped Congress to get 22 seats in UP in the 2009 LS polls.

Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as Congress Vice President has given new hopes for the young Congress leaders and the new generation of the country. It has strengthened the Congress and united everyone. At a time when one witnesses that Modi’s elevation has divided the BJP and NDA, Rahul’s elevation has further strengthened the Congress Party and that is the difference. The process to democratise the Congress – a Rahul Gandhi’s initiative-  also have given a lot of young leaders to come into the leadership. “As Congress leader Amiba Soni had said “Rahul has initiated a process (of internal elections). This is an exercise of gigantic proportion. People will have to wait for the results before pronouncing any judgments on Rahul Gandhi”.

Rahul Gandhi’s silent insistence on strengthening the Congress has resulted in building a trust and confidence among many Congress leaders. He is, in fact, strengthening the Congress party at the grass-root level by reaching out to the rural masses. His intervention at Bhatta-Parsaul, Niyamgiri and other places where farmers were harassed and tortured while protesting against the forceful land-grabbing by the then state Uttar Pradesh Government had prompted the Central Government to draft a new Land Acquiisition Bill, which is about to be taken up in the Parliament.  Newly appointed Congress General Secretary Ajay Maken correctly said recently, “Rahul atleast went to such places. He took the risk to travel inside Naxal-hit areas and meet the tribals. How many politicians did that”. Correct, none of his opponents has any satisfactory answer to this question. In fact, Rahul Gandhi could create an atmosphere against the then BSP Government in UP with his visit to Bhatta-Parsaul in March 2011 and created base as progressive leader with Dalit agenda.

At a time, we witness many leaders, busily engaged in self-promotion through social media and other sources, Rahul Gandhi never took any interest in self-advertising. He believes in delivering what he has been visualising and he is too fond of his freedom to bear larger responsibilities. Union Minister Manish Tewari has a point about this, “People come to public life with different motivations. Rahul Gandhi wants to devote himself to public service which is in sharp contrast to those in Opposition who are clamouring for power”. Yes; here one can remember Rahul Gandhi’s words at Jaipur Chintan Shivir “One must use the power to empower the poor”. That is what he believed in he is practising just the same.