It’s thus; his grow up afflicted his mental makeup and stunted his personality development; and so, in whatever he does or does not; his ‘personality disorder’ manifests itself in all its awkwardness, earning him derisive sobriquets such as Pappu ‘n Buddhu.

In that televised press meet to ‘accept people’s verdict’ in 2014 - 44 seats, down from 206 in 2009 - while Sonia looked crestfallen and her daughter Priyanka appeared gloomy, the real ‘loser’ Rahul seemed unconcerned. But still, even as he took the mike after his mother has done with it, she not only peremptorily stopped him from speaking but also pulled him by his hand signaling their exit. While the entire nation saw the mawkish 44 year-old meekly submitting to his haughty mother, none, as Sherlock Holmes would have put it, had ‘observed’ the abnormality of his personality.

It may be appreciated that when Sonia lost her man to Dhanu the suicide bomber, she was barely 44, her son was nearing 22, and her daughter crossed 19. What with her own flock back in Italy and not a friend to name in her in-law’s family, not to speak of detractors aplenty and leeches no less, in an alien country, where her political ambition made her stay put, she had to fend for herself and her children. So, as any widow would do in such a situation, she too succumbed to the urge of clinging to her son, at once providing support to him, and getting it in return from him, in the psychological sense that is. While that naturally made him a mama’s boy that his genes or fate and / or both rendered half-witted, only made it worse for him in his growing up. But that’s not all as there’s more to his apparent ‘personality disorder’.

While his mother’s faith ensured that he was christened as Raul Vinci and privately reared as a Christian, his grandmother’s political compulsions labeled him as Rahul Gandhi. No denying the craven media was overindulgent to the family in not exposing this cynical reality to this day – in contrast with western media’s penchant to turn every Hindu fault line into an anti-Christian chasm - but it would be beyond any kid, least of all a dim-witted one like him, to change his religious cap to a political titfer and vice versa, at the drop of a hat, that too for years on, without disturbing his head. Surely, that did affect as is evident from his confused (Raul–Rahul) thought-process that runs on a course of contradictions - his words tend to be incoherent and his acts would be seemingly disjointed.

Added to that is his confused demeanour, awkward behaviour and intelligible expression, and that leads to the supposition that Sonia willy-nilly enabled her unfortunate son to imbibe Dr. Dud ‘n Mr. Fraud split personality.
Added to his psychic dichotomy was the inimical influence of his mom’s moral turpitude, first brought to light by Bofors Kickbacks, and his exposure to the assorted skeletons in the family cupboard. It’s thus; his grow up afflicted his mental makeup and stunted his personality development; and so, in whatever he does or does not; his ‘personality disorder’ manifests itself in all its awkwardness, earning him derisive sobriquets such as Pappu ‘n Buddhu. If anything, his vain attempts to portray himself as a janeudhāri Hindu to varnish his and his party’s, anti-Hindu image for political marketing, made him seem a buffoon to boot.

Excerpted from the chapter ‘Italian Interregnum’ of the free ebook ‘Puppets of Faith: Theory of Communal Strife (A Critical Appraisal of Islamic Faith, Indian Polity ‘n More)’ in the public domain.