New Delhi: The ‘ecosystem’ that generally thrives in reflected glories of Rahul Gandhi’s fracas and flip-flops will try to give a few odd spins to the latest political development in the country.
The Surat court has found the former Congress president ‘guilty’ of defaming the goodwill and reputation of an OBC community – the Modis. The law has taken its course as the court sentence was for two years jail term for Rahul Gandhi, and the Lok Sabha secretariat has declared him disqualified.
“Consequent upon his conviction by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat…Rahul Gandhi, Member of Lok Sabha representing the Wayanad Parliamentary Constituency of Kerala stands disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha from the date of his conviction i.e. March 23, 2023,” the notification read.
The spin doctors have been busy ever since trying to generate the so-called victim card for their favourite folk hero. Never are they referring to the fact that Rahul has tried to degrade and put the blame on an entire OBC community and compared them to ‘thieves’.
“How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Rahul Gandhi said during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Replace the surname ‘Modi’ with any dominant OBC or any other caste from north India; or a specific surname linked to a religious community – then what happens. No intellectual wedded to the political ideology of the ‘ecosystem’, or the so-called Sickularism gang would try to examine the issue objectively.
One spin that came out on March 24 is when Rahul Gandhi blasted the entire ‘Modi community’- there was a context to it. But on the same argument, if there is a ‘context’, could someone target an entire community?
Dr Subramanian Swamy has merits in his argument when he compares Rahul Gandhi’s remarks as ‘hate speech’.
Now, this is what the BJP line on the episode ought to be. The saffron party strategists have reasons to focus their campaign on two basic foundations – first, Rahul Gandhi had tried to target the entire OBC community and present them in poor light. And secondly that the protest, as planned by Congress and other Opposition parties, suggests the ‘verdict’ against Rahul Gandhi is a Government decision. This is far from the truth as due course of law was followed, and it is the court that has decided on the quantum of punishment. The Opposition stance to question institutions like court(s) will simply backfire; and will be spurned by the common people.
Moreover, those trying to sympathise with Rahul Gandhi are also forgetting that such ‘defamation’ cases are against him in various other courts across India. Nowhere has Rahul tendered an apology or has expressed regrets for his crude and unjustified remarks, including against the nationalist organisation such as the RSS.
The Guwahati court has granted him bail in a defamation case filed by the RSS. The bail was granted on a bond of Rs 50,000 in September 2016. The case was filed after Rahul Gandhi had misled that he was ‘prevented’ by the RSS from entering the Barpeta Satra in Assam in December 2015.
On July 4, 2019, Rahul Gandhi was granted bail by a Mumbai court in a defamation case filed by a RSS worker. This case was filed for his remark linking activist Gauri Lankesh’s killing with the “BJP-RSS ideology”.
Political pundits assessing the fallout of the court verdict and disqualification are trying to build mountains out of molehills — vis-a-vis the ‘so-called support’ extended to him by parties such as AAP and Samajwadi Party. Of course, from time to time, leaders such as Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal have had issues with the Congress party; but in a broad sense, all of them have done business together in the name of anti-Modi politics either in elections or in parliament.
Of course, AAP has grown in States such as Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat at the expense of Congress; but in Rajya Sabha, when ruckus was created by standing on the table – AAP and Congress members were all together. Having said these, we must note that these ‘supports’ from non-BJP and non-Congress parties for Rahul Gandhi would be only ‘temporary’ in nature, and very soon the parties like AAP and Samajwadi Party will realise the futility of their moves.
There is an unspoken fact of life. A large number of hardcore BJP supporters and Narendra Modi fans all these months and years had complained that the Government of the day was ‘soft pedaling’ on issues concerning corruption charges against Rahul Gandhi and his brother-in-law Robert Vadra.
This section of voters and die-hard champions of Hindutva politics is also against kids-glove handling of issues like land scams against Robert Vadra and various corruption cases, including ‘the National Herald’ case against Rahul and his mother Sonia Gandhi. In the ‘National Herald’ case, both mother-son duo are out on bail, and if Dr Swamy’s version is to be given importance, troubles will mount for the Congress leaders next month.
Finally, it is true time and again debates are generated about how the so-called communal and religious polarisation helps BJP or does not help it. The fact of the matter is signs of a strong Government in Delhi under PM Modi will also galvanise unity among BJP footsoldiers. A large section of Modi admirers believes the incumbent Prime Minister is a man of words, and he will certainly let the law take its own course vis-a-vis multiple corruption cases against Rahul Gandhi, Robert Vadra and several others.
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