He came. He saw. And he took on the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi like never before and that too when it mattered most and where it mattered most.

This is Rahul Gandhi for you in Varanasi, the holy city of Uttar Pradesh which turned into a ‘War(anasi)” on Saturday, the last day of campaigning in the marathon five-week-long nine-phase Indian general election.

Modi is contesting his first ever Lok Sabha election in Varanasi and so is Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal, India’s two most photographed, written about and talked about politicians.

Rahul held a massive roadshow in Varanasi attended by thousands of people. This was perhaps the best show ever put up by Rahul Gandhi in his decade-old political career which should work wonders for Ajay Rai, the Congress candidate who is pitted against the giants.

The Gandhi scion was not scheduled to visit Varanasi but things changed dramatically a few days ago when Modi took out his own massive roadshow in Amethi from where Rahul is seeking election for the third consecutive time. Modi thus broke an unwritten tradition of top political leaders not campaigning in constituencies of their prime rivals.

Rahul’s show of strength in Varanasi on Saturday thus was a kind of a ‘return compliment’ and a political tit-for-tat. As Rahul was not earlier scheduled to campaign in Varanasi, Ajay Rai, the Congress candidate from Varanasi, urged Rahul’s sister Priyanka to campaign.

Priyanka refused to oblige, thus sending a political signal to the Congress leaders and workers down the line that this election belongs to Rahul only as far as the Congress is concerned and she would do nothing to steal her brother’s thunder. Priyanka has emerged as a star campaigner for her party and has mesmerized the people in her numerous election rallies.

But the problem is that she has confined herself to only two constituencies — Amethi and Rae Bareilly — from where her brother and mother (Sonia) are seeking re-election.

Somebody from the Gandhi family had to pay the BJP and Modi back in the same coin and Rahul took upon this task upon himself during his day-long outreach to the people there. The gloves were off and Rahul showed his iron fist to Modi in his speeches where he launched a frontal assault on Modi.

Sample Rahul’s quotes in Varanasi:

“They (Modi and BJP) gave (industrialist Gautam) Adani land at the rate of INR 1, but when Indian Air Force asks for land, they charge them INR 1000. Whose money is this? Isn’t it your money?”

“This country runs on love and inclusiveness not on hatred among communities...”

“I saw a poster with Modi’s face that said “I will give women power... not us, but I... he comes and gives you speeches and says you (Congress) haven’t done anything for 60 years … US President has said India is growing like a tiger.. but Modi denies it. Modi says make me a watchman... he tells women you have no power... I will give you power. But he doesn’t know that India’s women already have power.”