Brand Rahul Gandhi is a work in progress

The Congress scion has won a game of perception after the Gujarat polls and taking over as party chief. But will his brand draw enough investment?

If politics is a game of perception, Rahul Gandhi has secured a win after leading the beleaguered Congress to a fight to the finish in the recent Gujarat elections and taking over the mantle of party president. Although the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah remains unstoppable in its quest to win elections in state after state, the fact that it ceded ground in Gujarat to the Congress and his sure-footed engagement as an Opposition leader of late has shown the emergence of Rahul Gandhi as a brand.

Chief of Mahila Congress and party spokesperson Sushmita Dev denies any “image makeover” of Gandhi, but insists he has built the brand of a leader who is “young, sensitive, confident and yet not overbearing”. “Given the huge battle of public perception, he didn’t compromise and stuck to his strength. He has not changed his style of dressing or anything. One can’t survive the level of attacks he has faced without confidence,” she says.

She explains that Gandhi started a Twitter account after the 2014 Lok Sabha election, and has reshuffled the All India Congress Committee (AICC) at his own pace. Over three years he met at least 4,000 hopefuls to pick people for organisational bodies like AICC and Mahila Congress. Following that he started focusing on his public perception, giving interviews and hired fresh personnel to handle his Twitter handle or that of the party’s. “He has clarity and does what he thinks. That’s his branding.”

Gandhi takes personal interest in his Twitter account, Dev points out, and his sharp tweets including one famously introducing his pet as the brain behind his attacks on the government indicate a leader who is both capable as well as self-deprecatory.

According to experts, Gandhi is still a brand in the making.

As image consultant Dilip Cherian says, he is three-fourths of the way into being made a brand, and it’s been a slow evolution with much of it in the realm of negatives. The fact that he has sustained also indicates robustness of brand. Talking about the multiple evolutions he has undergone, Cherian says Gandhi’s first image was of a son who was thrust into politics, followed by a “reluctant politician”. This was followed by the BJP creating the brand of a man who avoids active presence. But after Gujarat polls, his brand has been resurrected as a fighter.

The surname, the commonality of multiple dynasties involved within the Congress and some other parties, and his unique style that distinguishes him from his predecessors in the Gandhi family are all parts of the overall brand. “I would say the brand evolution has appealed to people who are looking for an alternative, to young voters today and also a Left-liberal middle class,” he says.

Samit Sinha, founder and managing partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting, says Indians are quite willing to accept his mother Sonia Gandhi as their “bahu” (daughter-in-law), so his legitimacy is not a concern. Sinha argues the Nehru-Gandhi family is the closest to a monarchy in independent India, an equivalent of ones in Thailand and the UK. “Anybody from that family already carries a certain amount of entitlement in people’s minds, which is almost natural.”

When Gandhi entered politics in 2004, he had all the advantages of belonging to the branded house of Nehru-Gandhi, but his perception was of not being a worthy carrier of the name. “It was like a bad product from a good brand,” says Sinha, adding he has managed to transform remarkably to his current perception of a serious challenger. While he faces the challenge of living up to the name of the legacy brand, his election as Congress president has sent a clear sign that Gandhi’s fully committed and made a big difference to public perception.

Santosh Desai, MD and CEO of Future Brands, says that post-demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) there was room for an alternative voice, and Gandhi has made the right noises and led a restrained and intelligent campaign in Gujarat, all of which has made people take him more seriously than before. But, he adds, he hasn’t yet crystallised into a brand.

A critical question, says Cherian, is whether brand Rahul will have enough investment from the owner to sustain it? “The second question is, does the brand get enhanced by the management structure? And third, the bigger issue is how effective is the brand when it comes to elections across states?”

“What is his vision? In terms of personality, he seems to be a gentler, quieter person, but in terms of content there isn’t anything new yet, and old Congress ideas are not connecting with today’s audiences. He has yet to become a brand in the real sense and connect at a mass level and consistently,” says Desai.

In the big battle of political brands — Modi and Gandhi — rhetoric has been the principal weapon. So while in 2014 Modi presented an alternative agenda by raising public expectations and Gandhi bore the baggage of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s tainted legacy of scams, a growing sense of unfulfilled promises against the market leader — the ruling party — is helping the Opposition to turn the tide with the help of a different line of rhetoric.

N Chandramouli, CEO of Trust Research Advisory, points out that Gandhi’s true brand is emerging now, and he captured public attention by fighting rhetoric with rhetoric — citing the example of the Gandhi scion coining the phrase “Gabbar Singh Tax” in the run-up to the Gujarat polls. He adds that although demonetisation was met with patriotic euphoria, after the implementation of GST some sections of business seems to have suffered and an ambience of fear rather than compliance has grown. Also, Gandhi’s transformation has occurred at a time when the BJP narrative has strayed from “vikas” (development) to caste and religion.

As he transforms from an underdog figure to a contender for the top job, experts suggest Gandhi consolidate his position first. Says Desai, “He’s made a start, but in the state elections ahead where the Congress is a force, he has an opportunity to do well and make a turnaround that is more significant.”

Chandramouli agrees that Gandhi must ensure he protects every remaining state in the Congress kitty to stem the BJP tide. For this, he should empathise with the top leaders in the states and set a model for his reign as party chief. Gandhi should also continue to walk the talk, as he did with senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar who was suspended for disparaging comments against the PM. “Lastly, he should keep connecting at the grassroots, and start the 2019 campaign soon. He must not protest issues like Ram Mandir which the BJP might raise,” he adds.