Rahul missing, again

Fighting against land acquisition, political observers thought, had become Rahul Gandhi's thing. He had declared he was the soldier in Delhi of the tribals of Niyamgiri; he had sought photo-ops with the farmers of Bhatta-Persaul; and so on. But, when the Modi Cabinet cleared an Ordinance amending the Congress' Land Acquisition Act, Rahul's voice was conspicuously absent. For that matter, even the Congress' outrage was muted. Reporters' calls for quotes went unanswered. The party's voice in the discussion on Twitter and on television was strangely subdued. Has the Congress decided to back the government's changes? Apparently not - some of the responses from Congress insiders revealed the problem. How is it possible for the Grand Old Party to create a response when the Grand Young Heir is missing in action? By most accounts, the Congress vice-president has left Delhi for an unknown, and probably exotic, destination to bring in the New Year.