Manipur, being at the centre of national politics for a while now, has certainly become a sensitive issue for the government, as the opposition does not hold back from using it as a political weapon. On July 8, 2024, Rahul Gandhi visited relief camps in Manipur’s Churachandpur to meet the victims of the long presiding violence. This was also followed by his visit to the governor’s office.
Later that day, Rahul Gandhi also addressed a press conference to offer support as a brother to the Manipuri people wanting to bring back peace in Manipur. He stated he is ready to do whatever he or his party can to restore peace while urging the Prime Minister to visit the tragedy-hit state to listen to the people.
We, at ScoopDogDaily, are more inclined towards finding solutions to the problems instead of merely reporting political issues. Certainly, the press conference was being taken forward in this direction but almost one way, when one of the journalists asked Rahul about his thoughts on the solution to this state-wide social problem, to which, Rahul Gandhi didn’t give a politically correct response, rather he blocked the question saying that, ” I have come to make my statement and not to answer questions that are designed to divert the issue” which was not well bought by the netizens. Like always, an absolutely relevant question was left unanswered by treating it as a diversion. This seems to be a visible pattern in his communication strategy that doesn’t impress us much, for obvious reasons.
On the other hand, this was all happening while the highly anticipated visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow, Russia had just begun. The visit has been the talk of the nation for many reasons and the timing of the Manipur visit by the leader of the opposition made us write this piece, where we believe that it was a strategic move by the Congress to draw a parallel in the media that makes the TV channels and their audiences choose between the two. It is a pretty good strategy to estimate the mood of the nation by analysing the response in digital metrics and if this strategy remains consistent, we might be seeing a different picture altogether very soon.
It is always blamed that the mainstream media is a puppet of the government, ill-famously called Godi-media, by many, but the picture seems to have changed now since Rahul Gandhi has been getting coverage not only from the popular media houses but also by prominent news agencies like ANI and PTI. The event has had a good reach on social media as well and it looks like the dent is being made, very little but not negligible.
We do not disagree that PM Modi’s visit to Moscow has far more reach, significance and attention received on a global landscape but the point that Rahul Gandhi is making his way inside people’s minds by multiple means cannot be undermined. It is credible if this was really a strategy to pull down Modi’s popularity among Indian households by being present in the news at the exact same time when Modi had the stage set for himself. This is certainly a parallel being created in the political game and we believe it will bear good fruits to the opposition.
It is time for Rahul Gandhi to be heard by the people but the only request is that he becomes the valid voice of the people, asks the right questions to the government and extends his support to resolve other such important issues in the best possible way, rather than merely ranting out everywhere.
What do you think of this? Let us know in the comments.
We have covered Modi’s visit in our other article. Don’t forget to check it out by clicking here.
