Rahul quotes Ghalib to respond to Modi’s taunt; is he coming of age as a leader?

Who would have thought one day even Rahul Gandhi would start making some sense? But, O tempora, o mores, that day seems to be upon us. Mera Bharat badal raha hai!

After being ridiculed and laughed at for almost more than a decade for practising shoot-and-scoot adventurism and rolling out one malapropism after another, the Congress vice-president is finally showing signs of some gravitas, heft and courage. And, there are emerging signs that people are listening to him, if not immediately buying his charges, allegations and theories.

First, he dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his den in Gujarat’s Mehsana. Buoyed by a crowd that would be huge by Gandhi’s meagre standards, the Congress finally found some courage to attack Modi’s image, target the Prime Minister’s image of being beyond reproach and this decade’s ‘Mr Clean.’

And then, in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, he stood up to the Prime Minister’s taunts and replied with a lyrical riposte, asking Modi what was this style of conversation where the Prime Minister, instead of answering questions, was making fun of the rivals. Har ek baat pe kehte ho tum ki tu kya hai, Gandhi retorted quoting Ghalib.