Rahul Gandhi's Berkeley speech: More polish, less obfuscation, but not fully honest

Rahul Gandhi did a much better job than before, but, he was being less than candid in some areas. But then, maybe, this is what makes him a better politician today than what he was before.

This article first appeared on Business Standard on 14.09.2017.
 
Why is it that politicians seem more human and even a bit more honest when they are addressing audiences abroad than in India? Narendra Modi plays with children, takes selfies, and beats the drum with gay abandon, thus displaying his human side, when abroad, while at home he displays stern seriousness. Rahul Gandhi, while delivering well-tutored lines in parliament (“suit-boot-ki-sarkar”) and hackneyed lines (“Paytm is Pay To Modi”) back home, comes across as more believable when speaking to audiences outside India.

Maybe this is the traditional Indian inferiority complex at