Three days. Three public appearances. Three speeches that attacked the government. But Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's interventions this week have also had one other common thread: a willingness to bash corporates. Making a quick mention of the net neutrality issue in Parliament on Wednesday, Rahul once again brought up his new bogeyman, the successor to the "system" that he had earlier kept talking about.

"Over one million people have registered against net neutrality and the government is trying to carve out the net and hand it over to the corporates," the Congress party leader said in the Lok Sabha. "The government wants to allocate the web to industrialists too... I would request the government to stop TRAI's consultation paper. Please change the law or write a new law on neutrality."

Rahul was quickly corrected by telecom minister Ravi Shanker Prasad, who pointed out that his government's stated position is that the internet is for everybody and should not discriminate, although it would wait for the telecom regulator's consultation paper. But, more than Rahul's basic foray into net neutrality, Prasad sought to hit back at the corporate-bias allegations.

Corporate Friends

"Internet sabka hona chahiye, ye humara maanna hain. Rahul ji humari sarkar na kissi udyogpati kay dabav mai aati hai na aayegi." (The internet should be for everyone, this is our belief. Rahuji, our government has neither come under pressure from any corporate nor will it).



Rahul made similar arguments over the previous two days, when attacking the government in its approach towards land acquisition and agriculture. "Your corporate friends want the land of our nation, you are weakening the farmers and then you will hit them with the ordinance axe," the Congress vice president said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The day before also he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken loans from corporates when coming to power and was repaying those loans by acquiring land for them.

Corporate Government

Over and over, Rahul has sought to insist that this is a "corporate" government.

That ought to be a little galling. After all, Rahul Gandhi's party, the Congress, was booted out of power because of a series of scams where the government was accused of illegally favouring private corporate firms at the cost of the public exchequer. From the 2G spectrum scandal to the Commonwealth Games scam to 'Coalgate,' the United Progressive Alliance had earned a reputation for a reign that was full of crony capitalism.

But Modi's image – his known associations with top corporate honchos like Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani – as well as the PM's open willingness to court industry, such as through the land acquisition ordinance or diluted environmental norms, has left his government open to accusations of being run by corporates.

This has been most powerfully exploited by the Aam Aadmi Party, an outfit that is openly contemptuous of big business and corporates. And it has been no secret around the Congress that Rahul would like to see his party emulate AAP much more. Recall his words after the Congress' loss in Delhi elections in 2013: "The Aam Aadmi Party involved a lot of non-traditional people and we will learn from that...and will better it in a way you cannot imagine."

Power play

This has become easier for Rahul primarily because he doesn't have to worry about blowback from the market or from companies that might have otherwise have donated money to the party. Gone are the days when the Congress vice president felt the need to address industry bodies like FICCI and speak of beehives. Not being in power means not having to take any responsiblity for the economy or the business atmosphere. Which means Rahul can attack the government and corporates at will.

A few in his party do recognise the dangers of doing this. Consider this interview of former Congress MP Milind Deora, who has asked for Rahul to be made president, in the Times of India. Deora insists that Rahul is anything but anti-industry, and refuses to acknowledge any sort of "Left turn" the Congress might have taken. But this is only a belated attempt to focus the attack only on the BJP and not industry in general. And it's also an approach that Rahul himself is unlikely to take any time soon, at least not as long as he's getting headlines and plaudits for the way he's been taking on the government.