Nepal, Aug. 8 -- It has been over two decades since Congress leader and Gandhi family scion Rahul Gandhi ventured into politics. In these years, he has served as the vice president of India's largest opposition party and then as its president. He has been elected Member of Parliament five times and has been the party's de-facto face against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has been his party's star campaigner, addressed innumerable rallies across several elections, and led two pan-India yatras. As of today, he is the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha-a position of heft and meaning.

And yet, despite these decades of exposure and experience, Rahul Gandhi has yet to master the basic craft of managing public perception and continues to seem ...