India, May 18 -- The glass is more than half full for Rahul Gandhi and his Congress, offering an opportunity to build a worthwhile challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the general elections of 2029 - or even earlier if Narendra Modi and Amit Shah sense that even their ardent bhakts are growing a little tired.

Not much was on trial for Rahul Gandhi in the recent elections. Kerala was almost in the bag even before the first vote was cast, such was the groundswell against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. There was little to lose in Tamil Nadu, where the Congress was a junior partner in the ruling coalition (as it remains now), or in Bengal, where it barely existed at the booth level. There was pre-poll excitement only in Assam, but t...