What is the politics of Rahul Gandhi? It’s a question that has confounded both, his supporters and detractors for some time. He has questioned the “greed for power” within his own party, and continues to trade barbs with the Opposition. Last year, when Gandhi pulled off the colossal Bharat Jodo Yatra, there were murmurs of course, not as much about its scale, but about the traction it would receive. This novel attempt at mass contact, however, turned out to be quite a successful endeavour, enough to at least keep the Congress cadre motivated. Gandhi himself, has since continued to make headlines, be it his disqualification as MP of Wayanad, his controversial visit to violence-torn Manipur and his recent comeback in Parliament, where his cri de coeur to save the burning Northeastern state was followed by a diatribe against PM Narendra Modi and the BJP: “You are throwing kerosene in the whole country. You threw kerosene in Manipur and lit a spark... You are killing Mother India,” he said.

Journalist-author Sugata Srinivasaraju, who is out with a new book, Strange Burdens (Penguin Random House), that offers insight on the scion, in the context of the Modi and the BJP, says, “Rahul has always been his own person. He is not like his mother certainly, who had a set of advisors and went with their advice, and was a bit flexible in her approach. In his case, there’s a certain kind of intransigence and stubbornness that comes across, which is often read as arrogance by the Opposition.” According to Srinivasaraju, what makes Gandhi different from many others, is that he is not exactly collaborative in such a big party. “He has his ideas and wants to go through them.”