NO MATTER how hard he tries, Opposition leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi will never be able to use ‘Vote Chori’ as the main election plank. For, in the past couple of years -- after the Opposition has failed to wrest the initiative from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- the ‘Vote Chori’ has no longer remained a critical point that turn an election on its head. Though Mr. Gandhi’s party -- Congress -- has continued to harp on the vote-theft issue, the electorate has learned how hollow the argument is. Not just the electorate but also many constituent parties of the Opposition camp have understood that the ‘Vote Chori’ issue is not going to take anybody anywhere in the electoral contest. Even from inside the Congress party, voices of reason are being heard about the hollowness of the issue. Of course, Mr. Rahul Gandhi is not likely to hear all these sane voices, as is his wont.

 

He is determined to go to polls on the issue of ‘Vote Chori’ -- through Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls or through manipulated or tampered electronic voting machines (EVMs). Because he is insistent upon that point, his party too finds itself wedded to the cause without reason. And as he pushes that cause, the media and the political community are exposing the hollowness of his claims on the issue. With patience and persistence, the BJP and the Modi Government also are tearing apart Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s argument on every possible forum, every possible moment. Common people wonder if Mr. Rahul Gandhi stands so badly blinded by his own notions -- so much so that he cannot understand fallacy of his own argument. There are reasons to suspect that he has been afflicted by some sort of psychological sickness that blocks his sensible, logical, step-by-step thinking on any issue. It is out of that sickness, probably, that Mr. Gandhi dared Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to a debate.

 

When he gave that challenge, Mr. Gandhi tried to look simple and sincere in his presence. Yet, to those who have understood his ways and means, he appeared most insincere -- or incompetent to think rationally. A similar irrationality seems to be afflicting Mr. Gandhi’s approach to the issue of ‘Vote Chori’ as the main election plank for the Opposition. His own party colleagues tell him to drop the idea. His Opposition comrades also tell him the same. The common people also keep sharing with him their sincere feeling about the hollowness of the ‘Vote Chori’ as the election plank. The media, too, has not missed a chance to tell Mr. Rahul Gandhi that he is chasing a mirage. Yet, for Mr. Rahul Gandhi, all these arguments are powered by the BJP -- and therefore fake and politically motivated. So, he gets further determined to carry on with his narrative of ‘Vote Chori’. Mr. Gandhi also does not realise that his own party has come to power at a few places in the country on the basis of the votes cast by people through regular process. At these places, he has seen the BJP losing elections through the same process.

 

Yet, our Man Friday does not see sense in anything. He persists with his own argument -- and is getting ready to lose many more electoral battles in the near and far future. The media has counted that so far Mr. Gandhi has lost as many as 99 electoral battles in the past 12 years. Yet, Mr. Gandhi is unbothered. He is sure, everybody is misleading him. And so, he is not going to listen to any wise counsel from anybody, no matter how important the person may be. Thus, he is getting ready to give a battle-cry about ‘Vote Chori’ as the Prime Minister’s biggest sin. Some people in the Opposition might have got sold to that idea, all right. But many others in the camp are clear in their thinking that Mr. Rahul Gandhi is chasing a goal that does not actually exist. And because of this situation, the BJP must be very happy -- that it has an easier electoral battle ahead. For, when the rivals are standing on a non-existent plank, they are cutting their own chances of winning in a big way. ‘Vote Chori’ is no narrative at all. And Mr. Rahul Gandhi is refusing to understand the reality.