Rahul Gandhi mounts a turnaround, but can he stop the Modi juggernaut?

Rahul Gandhi has sought to gain momentum in recent months by sparring more aggressively with the prime minister on Twitter and in public speeches

Five years ago, Rahul Gandhi, scion of one of the world’s most famous political dynasties, stood with his mother by his side, trying to explain why his Indian National Congress had suffered the worst defeat in its history.

Rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won a landslide and crowned Narendra Modi prime minister. For much of India’s 2014 elections, political rivals had mockingly referred to Gandhi as ‘pappu,’ a name used for young bumblers, attempting to cast him as an ineffectual amateur.

But a string of wins in state elections in recent months have helped transform the Congress into a resurgent party