When Leader of the Opposition in the Lok SabhaRahul Gandhi sat on a dharna at Delhi’s Parliament Street police station on August 21 to register a first information report (FIR) along with Sahil Lochab, one of the pellet-gun victims of police action during the students’ agitation against paper leaks, he was trying out a new political playbook: sudden, swift action that catches the rival by surprise and pressures the authorities to act.

Exactly a month earlier, the Opposition leader had sat on an unannounced dharna outside the Prime Minister’s residence, prompting senior ministers to rush in to listen to the Opposition’s demands on the paper-leak issue.