Why Rahul Gandhi needs a teleprompter
The Indian Congress leader’s gaffes can disappear if he sticks to a pre-written script
No matter how many thousands of kilometres Rahul Gandhi travels across India, his frequent gaffes are never going to let him overcome his image problems. Concluding his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Mumbai, Rahul Gandhi made several gaffes. The one that went viral was so bad you wondered if it was doctored. It wasn’t.
Quoting an unemployed young man who couldn’t get a job in the army, Gandhi said, “I [the youth] wanted to go to Ladakh, in the freezing cold, shiver in the cold …. Shiver before the enemies of the country … and take their bullets if I get the opportunity.”
That is an English translation of what Gandhi said. It is obvious he meant to say the young man wants to go fight the enemy despite shivering cold weather. The gaffe can produce only one response: laughter.
Supporters of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party are no longer able to defend his gaffes by saying ‘the BJP has created this image of him’ or ‘have you looked at Modi’s gaffes?’
Modi’s gaffes are few and far between, and he has the political capital to afford them.
Rahul Gandhi’s image would be a lot better if he just walks and does photo-ops. His poor oratory in contrast to Modi’s clear and emphatic speeches is one of the reasons why swing voters have moved away from the Congress to the BJP.
Just read it out loud
There is one solution. If Rahul Gandhi starts using a “presidential teleprompter”, he will be cured of gaffes. All he has to do is to find a good speech writer and stick to the script. This will also take care of Rahul Gandhi’s aversion to doing homework. He just has to read.
The best of world leaders use teleprompters. Barack Obama used them, as does Joe Biden. The only major world leader who is averse to using them is Donald Trump, who puts a premium on authenticity and performance. Donald Trump can afford to speak extempore, his theatrics work for him.
In India, Narendra Modi was perhaps the first politician to start using a presidential teleprompter in political rallies. Modi’s critics, especially supporters of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party, criticise Modi for using teleprompters. Their objection is similar to the one that Trump has: authenticity. The idea is that the leader doesn’t mean what he is saying, and cannot answer a straight question, all he does is read out a speech.
If only it was that easy. Top leaders have to deliver so many speeches it is difficult to remember the talking points, memorise the keywords to use, not forget the details. Especially if you have to do real work like running a party or a country, you just don’t have the time to prepare for speeches.
Narendra Modi has started using live AI translation tools for his speeches, and Rahul Gandhi is yet to understand he needs the teleprompter more than Modi.