Rahul Gandhi is not just a Member of Parliament now. He is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. How could someone who has been entrusted with the responsibility of speaking up for the people of Bharat, take their issues to the Government, and keep alerting the Executive on people’s welfare, could end up calling them “violent” and “hateful”? This is what happened when Rahul Gandhi was speaking on the Motion of Thanks and arrogantly stated, “those who call themselves Hindus talk violence… hatred… untruth 24 hours.” When he was confronted by PM Narendra Modi immediately, Rahul Gandhi reinterpreted his statements as an attack on Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Before that PM Modi had already warned Gandhi through Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla that, “This is a very serious issue. Calling the entire Hindu society violent is a serious issue (poore Hindu samaj ko hinsak kehna yeh gambhir vishay hai).”
The statement took the nation by storm with several reactions coming in. Home Minister Amit Shah immediately ought an apology from the Congress leader. As the treasury benches protested, Gandhi said “the BJP and the RSS are not the entire Hindu society… Aap Hindu ho hi nahi (You are not Hindus).”
Decoding the Danger
In a more than hour long maiden speech as the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi was interrupted more than 50 times with several “point of orders”. It was not unparliamentary and undemocratic as Congress and its allies would like the people to believe. The interruptions and the point of order were made to request Gandhi to respect the office he holds now, and the parliamentary procedure and decorum.
It is dangerous tha Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition in a single speech spoke several lies, but more importantly he lied about national security. He categorically said that “Agniveer is a use and throw labour. One jawan is getting a pension, while another is not. You (the Union Government) are creating a divide between jawans.” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh countered Rahul Gandhi’s allegations, asserting that the Congress leader is spreading misinformation in Parliament. Singh emphasised that the Government provides Rs 1 crore in compensation to the families of Agniveer martyrs. The people and jawans backed up the Government and challenged the Leader of Opposition. The family of an Agniveer from Maharashtra who got martyred in the line of duty last year has said they have received an assistance of Rs 1.08 crore from the Government. Agniveer Akshay Gawate, native of Pimpalgaon Sarai in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district, became shaheed in the line of duty in Siachen on October 21, 2023.
Lies, Damned Lies
Rahul Gandhi seems to have mastered the art of lying and propaganda in a Goebbelsian way: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” His lies about BJP and PM Modi wanting to abolish the Constitution were repeated several times for two months long election campaigns. Of course, We, the People, never paid any heed to this misinformation campaign and the whole Opposition alliance couldn’t even equal BJP alone, but could we be sure that these lies didn’t affect anyone. Certainly not! The issue is how Rahul Gandhi gets away after indulging in constant fearmongering. His misinformed take on Agniveer scheme was also repeated several times during the election campaign.
Going back to his “Motion of Thanks” speech on President’s address, Rahul Gandhi also attacked Ayodhya and Sri Ram Mandir by politicising the issue. He said, “Modi instilled fear in people of Ayodhya, he snatched their land, demolished their homes, and didn’t let the poor and the farmers of Ayodhya attend the temple’s inauguration. People sent them the right message.” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath refuted the claims and provided detailed figures of the compensation disbursed in Ayodhya. He stated that the government has distributed Rs 1,733 crores as compensation to the individuals displaced by various development projects in and around the city.
Childlike, Reckless, or Arrogant?
In the last ten years, Rahul Gandhi has condemned and mocked the Indian democracy, Government of India, and the National Interest on several occasions. On a visit to London in March 2023, he had categorically stated, “…Our government simply does not allow any idea of the opposition to be discussed. The same happens in the Parliament House.” Now that he is the Leader of the Opposition and has hour long speeches to made, he is spreading only lies.
Between 2015-19, Rahul Gandhi travelled abroad at least 247 times — an average of 62 trips in a year. Some tours, at least seven of them, stand out because Rahul Gandhi attacked the Government of India on foreign lands. Most of these attacks were on unsound reasons and were synonymous to fearmongering.
Now that Rahul Gandhi is the Leader of the Opposition, one hoped that he will stop being irresponsible and reckless in the way he has acted in the past. One still wonders whether calling a whole OBC community “chor” (thiefs) was a responsible act? On 28 September 2013, was tearing an ordinance in a press conference as a token of protest was a responsible act? Was blowing kisses in the parliament, or winking when the Hon Prime Minister was addressing the parliament a responsible act?
PM Modi in his magnanimity and his respect towards the Constitution and the Parliament sat throughout the speech of the Leader of Opposition. Only to be hurled disrespect and to be called “names”. He dismissed these slurs as “Bal Buddhi” (childlike) and moved on with the business of national interest. But eventually it is the opposition and its leader that will have to renegotiate and align their political posturing with the national interest. Meanwhile, by calling Hindus “violent” and “hateful” and intentionally propagating lies about the national defence, the Opposition seems to be on a dangerous path. Certainly, not a path of national interest.
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