With elections around the corner, Rahul Gandhi in reply to motion of thanks to President’s address chose the platform of Lok Sabha to take on BJP. He raised issues about unemployment, Pegasus, Chinese aggression and weakening of the federal structure of the country. To drive home his point, he asserted that India is a not a nation but a “union of states”. He claimed, “India is described in the Indian Constitution as a union of states and not a nation. One cannot rule over the people of a state in India. Different languages and cultures cannot be suppressed. It is a partnership, not a kingdom”.
Needless to
say, he purposely chose to state a half-truth to push his agenda. While Article
1 of the constitution says, “India that is Bharat is a Union of States”,
the makers of the Constitution presciently included an explanation in the
debate and issued a clarification. Drafting committee chairman Dr B R Ambedkar
explained that “union of states” was used to clarify that states did not
have the right to secede from India1 and warned against calling this
a federation akin to the United States which is a Federation of States.
Ambedkar and all the other makers of the Constitution have espoused
unequivocally the national identity of India.
By resorting
to the selective interpretation, Rahul Gandhi has disingenuously attempted to
create a misconception. The preamble of the Constitution declares- “Fraternity
assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and the integrity of the
nation”. Lamenting that “I feel uncomfortable”, “there are two
Indias-one for the poor and one for the rich. The chasm between these two
Indias are increasing continuously” he undermined the inexorable fact of
India’s nationhood, he subtly stoked latent disaffection towards an elected
government.
This tried
and tested technique of Congress to sow seeds of distrust has been the latest
fad of Congress party which has long last its interest to royally claim its
place through electoral verdicts. Resting in the laurels of the gifted moral
victories of the ecosystem, which is ever ready to defend the dynasty despite
its eroding electoral support, Congress has stopped putting a tough fight in
the elections.
Instead, it
has resorted to the sinister tact of toppling the government by other means. Incapable
of taking on the Modi juggernaut and BJP’s colossal well-oiled election
machinery, Congress has outsourced its campaign to external sources, which has
replaced the manifesto with a tool kit. Having tasted its first victory with
the meticulous implementation of a tool kit leading to roll back of the three
farm laws, the Congress party and its part time President are now making brief
appearances before the elections armed with weapon of stoking dissensions and
capitalising on the deep fissures in a diverse country like India. Analogous to
the “divide and rule” policy of the British calling India a “union of
states”, Congress is innocuously instigating the states against the Centre.
Besides
attacking the judiciary and the Election Commission, Gandhi launched a tirade
against the government saying, “Now there is a Shehanshah. Now the
instruments of the conversations between our state and people are being
attacked by one idea”. While Congress left no stone unturned to label the
elected government as fascist, a covert attempt to revive sub-nationalism
sentiments and attempts to polarise the country along the regional lines has
been the major import of his message.
As has been
the case, the usual suspects hailed his speech as “coming of the age”.
This jaundiced interpretation of India as a nation, vituperative criticism and
cynical portrayal of India since 2014, has become a second nature to Congress
party. Relinquishing the responsibility of a principal opposition party in a
Parliamentary democracy Congress has brazenly resorted to the idea of fueling the
separatist tendencies to discredit the government. This kind of unrestrained
negative propaganda is steadily strengthening the vested interests.
Countering
the dangerous precedent of begetting dissensions towards the concept of India,
as the Prime Minister of our nation, Modi in his address to both the houses of
the Parliament has decimated the spurious postulations of Rahul Gandhi.
Launching a
blistering attack on Congress, Modi gave a reality check to Congress which is
losing ground across the country. Countering Rahul Gandhi’s quip, “Main
Tamil Hu Na”, Modi reminded Congress was last voted to power six decades
ago in Tamil Nadu and listed out the states where the party has been shunted
out lock, stock and barrel. Fluctuating electoral mandates are part and parcel
of a functioning democracy. But a systematic decimation of a party from a
number of states clearly points to an underlying flawed political strategy.
Besides
being divested of the ground realities, the Congress party devoid of a capable
leadership and have now resorted to depraved politicking. Through its
preposterous strategy of denigrating anything related to India to show the
ruling party in a poor light, Congress party is inadvertently colluding with
vested interests. This trend has become more pronounced during the pandemic,
when Congress was complicit in the vicious western propaganda. The scale of the
blind hatred towards ruling dispensation has reached to such an extent that
Pakistan began using the posts of the Congress leaders to support its
anti-India propaganda.
This
worrying trend remained uncontested with the ecosystem singing the same tune as
the Congress party. For decades, the party had a free run with all its offences
unchallenged and unquestioned. Even as the list of blunders would make people
hang their head in shame, the unflinching loyalty of the ecosystem ensured that
the narrative still favoured and revered the party.
Demolishing
the grand old party’s self-entitlement, Modi listed out the misdemeanours of
Congress- “had Congress not been there… democracy would’ve been free of
dynasty, India would’ve been spared of the blot of Emergency, corruption
wouldn’t have been institutionalised, the abyss of casteism and regionalism
wouldn’t have been so deep, Sikhs wouldn’t have been massacred, Punjab wouldn’t
have brunt on the fire of terrorism, Kashmiri Hindus wouldn’t have had to leave
their state”.
In a similar
vein, rebutting the charges of suppression of right to freedom of speech, Modi pointed
out to treatment meted to Lata Mangeshkar’s brother Hridyanath Mangeshkar who
was unceremoniously sacked from AIR in 1955 for setting the tune of Veer Savarkar’s
poem. Prof Dharam Pal and Majrooh Sultanpuri were jailed for criticising Nehru
and Kishore Kumar was banned from singing on radio for condemning the
Emergency.
Generously
citing Nehru’s statements on inflation and India’s nationalistic identity, Modi
decimated Rahul Gandhi’s charade of lies and destroyed the high moral ground of
Congress. Alongside quoting from Nehru’s speech- “No one should be under an
impression that we would launch a military operation in Goa. There is no
military stationed around Goa. People within want to make noise and create a
situation which forces us to send our Army there. We will not send our Army. We
will decide on it peacefully. Let everyone understand this……. but if
they call themselves satyagrahis, they should also remember the values, the
principles and the path of satyagrahis. There is no army to back them2”
Modi elegantly punctured the image of Nehru who refused to send the Army to
liberate Goa 15 years after independence for the fear of spoiling his global
image of a peace lover. With Assembly elections just days away, while this
falls in the category of electoral appeasement, Goans have dearly paid with
their lives for freedom to impute any motives.
Claiming
that the Congress party has become the face of the “tukde tukde gang”
with its ideology hijacked by the Urban Naxals, Modi demolished the façade of
the party which seeks umbrage from any political scrutiny for its contribution
during the freedom movement. Holding a mirror to Congress party that accused
Modi of destroying the federal fabric, Modi recounted the ouster of several
chief ministers under Congress regime and indiscriminate use of Article 356.
Modi’s
devastating takedown of the Congress, which seemingly bordered on election
campaign, covered a vast ground that unravelled the deviant politicking of the
Congress party since 2014. Resorting to disrespectful and mindless criticism of
initiatives striving to attain self-reliance, Congress has muddied the progress
and dented the collective aspirations of the country. Especially the boycott of
all party meetings during the Covid, abetment of vaccine hesitancy and
triggering mistrust towards indigenous Covid vaccines have been rather odious.
Encircled by
belligerent neighbours, keen on creating domestic unrest and external tensions
to unravel India, by hideously crossing the redlines of the respectable
criticism, befitting of a democracy, Indian opposition is bolstering external
forces. With unsparing attacks on India and its nationhood that ill behove a
responsible opposition, Congress party and its ecosystem baulked at India’s
efforts to combat Covid.
Outmanoeuvring
Rahul Gandhi, Modi launched a scathing attack on the dynasty politics calling
it the real threat to democracy. Incapacitated to take on Modi electorally,
Congress has adopted a three-pronged approach of discredit, destabilise and
dismiss to overthrow a government. Being a seasoned politician, Modi rightly
alerted the citizens of Congress treacherous motives. Dissent is now being
weaponised to destabilise governments across the world. Under the garb of
dissent, vested interests are desperately attempting to overthrow democratic
governments and India must be prudently wary.
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