Rahul Gandhi: 運命's child or an 'empty 控訴'?
In contrast to the Hindu 国家主義者 Modi, Rahul Gandhi has reached out to イスラム教徒 投票者s and 強調する／ストレスd his 世俗的な 信任状
Rahul Gandhi, 争う to become the 最新の 首相 from India's most famous 王朝, has worked hard to shed his image as an する権利を与えるd footloose princeling and political lightweight.
But the 広大な／多数の／重要な-grandson, grandson and son of three past 首相s of the world's biggest 僕主主義 still 直面するs a 堅い 仕事 （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing 総理大臣 Narendra Modi in the 選挙s.
No relation to independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, Rahul was born in 1970 when his grandmother Indira Gandhi -- daughter of India's first 首相, Jawaharlal Nehru -- was 首相.
In 1984, Indira was 発射 dead by her Sikh 護衛s and she was 後継するd by her son Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul's father. Rajiv was himself assassinated in 1991 by a Tamil 自殺 爆撃機 when Rahul was 20.
Rahul was 入会させるd at Harvard but dropped out after a year, に引き続いて his father's death. He later 卒業生（する）d from Rollins College, Florida and in 1994 earned a master's degree from Cambridge.
While in his 20s, he lived in London, where he worked at a 管理／経営 consultancy for a time.
His Italian-born mother Sonia Gandhi, 未亡人 of Rajiv, took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the 議会 party in 1998 before 手渡すing over the reins to Rahul, her first-born, in 2017.
- 'Empty 控訴' -
Ten years earlier, in 2007, 漏れるd US 外交の cables said Rahul was 見解（をとる）d as an "empty 控訴" and "lightweight", with little known about his political beliefs -- if he had any.
India's 総選挙 2019
But by 2009, the US 査定／評価 was now that Gandhi sounded like a "practiced 政治家，政治屋 who knew how to get his message across and... was comfortable with the nuts and bolts of party organization and 投票（する） counting".
"He was 正確な and articulate and 論証するd a mastery that belied the image some have of Gandhi as a dilettante," a 漏れるd cable by 上級の US 外交官 Peter Burleigh said.
After Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 鎮圧するd 議会 at the 2014 選挙, Gandhi 始める，決める about 生き返らせるing and 若返らせるing the party, while keeping older 手渡すs onside.
A speech in the lower house last year drew 普及した 賞賛 and 軍隊d political pundits to take notice. He ended it by giving an uncomfortable-looking Modi a surprise 抱擁する.
He has also, in contrast to the Hindu 国家主義者 Modi, reached out to イスラム教徒 投票者s and 強調する／ストレスd his 世俗的な 信任状, and also to women, 約束ing to bring 法律制定 setting aside seats in 議会 for them.
Last December, 議会 安全な・保証するd victory in three 重要な 明言する／公表する 選挙s, 含むing in Modi's northern Indian "cow belt" 中心地域, suddenly making Gandhi look like a serious 競争相手.
- 'Not foolish' -
During the （選挙などの）運動をする for the 選挙 -- which 包むs up on Sunday, with results four days later -- Gandhi has attacked Modi's 記録，記録的な／記録する on 農業者s, 職業s and his の近くに 関係 to 商売／仕事.
Rahul Gandhi with his mother Sonia in 1998
"Across India, people are 失望させるd and angry. Mr Modi is 試みる／企てるing to use hyper-国家主義 to コースを変える the attention of the people," he said in a 最近の interview to the Kolkata-based Telegraph newspaper.
"But the people of India are not foolish. They can see through this game," he said.
選挙 adverts show him hugging an emaciated 小作農民 woman, while Gandhi's 左派の（人） manifesto 誓約（する）s to end abject poverty by 2030 and give cash 移転s to 50 million families.
But tea-販売人's son Modi is no pushover, using 伝統的な and social マスコミ, 同様に as tub-強くたたくing speeches, to 支配する the headlines.
Modi has capitalised on India and Pakistan's tit-for-tat airstrikes in February to appear as the 愛国的な "chowkidar" (watchman) of India.
Gandhi's 試みる／企てるs to 得点する／非難する／２０ points with 主張s of dodgy 取引 関係のある to India's 購入（する） of Rafale jets from フラン have also failed to stick with 投票者s in a big way, opinion 投票s have 示唆するd.
And at the same time, Modi seldom 行方不明になるs an 適切な時期 to contrast his own humble beginnings with his silver-spoon adversary, deriding Gandhi as "shahzada" (栄冠を与える prince).
Gandhi "appears to be 粘着するing to the 社会主義者 ideas of his grandmother and doesn't realise that people have changed, that even the poor have changed", Parsa Venkateshwar Rao, a 退役軍人 新聞記者／雑誌記者 and political commentator, told AFP.
