For the first time in his ten-year rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, proclaimed to be the super-leader to shape the destiny of India, wore a pitiable, visibly shaken and dejected look sitting in the front row of the treasury benches in Lok Sabha, while Rahul Gandhi, who has been assigned the constitutional task of being the Leader of Opposition, shredded his assiduously-built and nurtured-at-massive-cost image of ‘Hindu Hridaya Samrat’.
Modi, who arrogantly boasted of being the ‘Vishwa Guru’ and the ‘creator of New India’ would face this nature of jibe and derision from Rahul, the Gandhi scion who till recently was derided by him as “Pappu” and “Shahzada”. Rahul did not simply berate Modi’s brand of Hindutva based on fear and hate, he even told him on his face on the floor of the Lok Sabha “you are not a true Hindu”. Rahul said: “Narendra Modi doesn’t represent the entire Hindu samaj. BJP-RSS doesn’t represent the entire Hindu samaj.”
Something unimaginable happened in the house. Modi who usually preferred to skip the proceedings of the house, for the first time not only remained seated in his chair, instead he rose twice to defend himself. None could have imagined that Rahul, who till the other day was not taken seriously by the urban middle class and dismissed by the BJP leaders as non-serious person, who is yet to attain the status of a master politician, would floor Modi on the mat. Members of the house and people across the country were witnessing the rare sight of a shaken Modi and Shah intervening repeatedly, and ironically enough, urging the Speaker for ‘protection’!
Unable to face the onslaught from Rahul, Union home minister Amit Shah even lost his cool and went to extent of blaming the Speaker, Om Birla, who is a BJP member, known for having a harsh and tough approach towards the Opposition, of being soft towards Rahul. Shah said: “Aap ek tarfa niyomo ke upar jaake unko riyata de rahe ho, manyavar. Humein sangrakshit kariye, aise nahi chalta (You are ignoring rules to give them one-sided concessions. Protect us, this isn’t acceptable)”.
No doubt, Rahul created a history in the Lok Sabha. Rahul took Modi head on. He exposed the PM’s claim of being the ‘Hindu Hridaya Samrat’ by saying “Aap Hindu ho hi nahi! (You are not a Hindu). In the Hindu religion, it’s written, ‘Stand with the truth, don’t step back from the truth, don’t fear the truth’. Non-violence is our creed”. Modi’s two-decade-long Hindu saviour image, manufactured painstakingly from the days of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, was delivered a massive blow by Rahul’s firebrand speech as the Leader of Opposition.
Modi and Shah desperately tried to turn the situation in their favour, but failed miserably. In their attempt to polarise Hindus, they tried to project Rahul as anti-Hindu. But this too did not work. Rahul succeeded in his mission to paint Modi as a communal leader who was using religion for his political gains. To substantiate his observation, Rahul cited the preaching of Lord Shiva. He said: “Shivji kahte hain, ‘daro mat, darao mat’ (Lord Shiva says, ‘Don’t be afraid and don’t make others afraid’). He shows the fearless posture, talks about non-violence… and those who call themselves Hindu, they talk about violence, hatred and falsehood round the clock”.
Though Rahul in past had questioned Modi’s claim of representing the aspirations of Hindus, it was first occasion when he shattered this claim on the floor of the house. Citing the message of Abhay Mudra, he said that a true Hindu cannot indulge in violence and falsehood. He challenged Modi and Shah’s claim of being real Hindus and presenting Hindu values. Obviously, this was not at all palatable for them. Shah tried to generalize Rahul’s pointed criticism by saying that the Leader of Opposition was accusing all Hindus of resorting to violence. Modi and Shah accused Gandhi of labelling Hindus as violent. Gandhi clarified that his remarks were targeted at the BJP, not Hinduism, emphasising that true Hinduism promotes courage and peace.
Even Rahul’s admirers would have been astonished to see him so unsparing in his criticism of Modi and attacking him from the front. The intensity of Rahul’s attack could be gauged from the simple fact that Amit Shah, the formidable home minister of India who is known for shouting down the opposition members, rose at least five times and even pleaded for “sanrakshan” (protection) from Speaker Om Birla.
Rahul Gandhi invoked ‘Abhay Mudra’ of Lord Shiva to expose the religious hypocrisy of Modi and criticise the government for its “full-scale assault on the idea of India, the Constitution, and those who resisted these attacks”. The message of Abhay Mudra (gesture of fearlessness) is quite significant. Lord Shiva in his sitting posture sends the message that do not fear. Fight the evil. Rahul Gandhi described ‘abhay mudra’ as the next step of Lord in the evolution of facing truth and non-violence and to illustrate the strength they derived from the deity. [Interesting coincidence then that the Congress’ party symbol, the hand, has a striking similarity with the ‘Abhay Mudra’, and surely, there will soon be academic reflections on the political acuity of the reference.]
Rahul had brought placards carrying the pictures of various religious leaders and Hindu Gods. It was after being pointed out by Shah and other MPs, Birla interrupted Gandhi, advising him that “rules don’t allow the display of placards”. Though the remark drew immediate criticism from Gandhi, Birla did not ask him to remove those placards from house. Rahul replied: “I wanted to show the image because it represents ideas that we in the opposition defend.”
Effectively, in one single stroke, Rahul smashed the edifice of Hindutva built by RSS, BJP and Modi over the last ten years of Modi Raj. Though Modi bhakts as usual were highly critical of Rahul’s attacks, the people on the streets appreciated his bulldozing the structure of hatred created by RSS and Modi surrounding Hindutva. People were appreciative of the fearlessness of Rahul, his rare variety of courage and conviction to take the BJP-RSS hate machine head on. Even while interrupting Rahul’s speech, Shah tried to resort to his old tactics of terrorising his opponent. He urged the speaker to ask Rahul to apologise to the House and the country for hurting the feelings of crores of people who take pride in identifying themselves as Hindus.
The speech of Rahul was so absorbing and focused that Congress members consented to Speaker’s query whether their time should be allotted to Rahul. While Rahul was focussed, none of the BJP stalwarts could counter his allegations through facts. On the issue of providing MSP, the concerned minister tried to counter the allegation by saying that it was being given, but he preferred to remain silent when Rahul pointed out that the farmers’ demand for legal guarantee has not meet met with. On the issue of providing compensation to Agniveer soldiers, defence minister Rajnath Singh was seen hedging around saying that a soldier was paid one crore as compensation. But on this count he could not reply to Rahul’s observation that Agniveer soldiers and regular army soldiers are the best persons to certify the real position.
Modi and Shah today miserably failed in their attempt to divert the attention of the house and distract the debate. Unsurprisingly, Shah spoke of the Emergency and 1984 anti-Sikhs riots instead of replying to Rahul’s charges. Shah said Rahul had no right to talk about non-violence when the Congress had spread “terror” in the country. But this attack from Shah could not deter Rahul in his pointed criticism of the Modi-Shah duopoly.
Commentators have already observed how in the backdrop of Modi’s serial and staggering assault on the constitutional bedrock of the country, the charges against Indira Gandhi pale in comparison. She had formally suspended fundamental rights, imprisoned leaders and imposed censorship, but it was for a short period of two years. But India under Modi has been witnessing an undeclared emergency for the last ten years, since he took over the office of prime minister. Many leading scholars and academics, even social and political activists are languishing in jails for years. Journalists are terrorised and even killed. Father Stan Swamy, a prominent human rights activist, died while in custody on July 5, 2022. He was even denied a sippy cup despite having serious medical conditions.
Modi had showed to the world that emergency could be imposed even without using the Constitutional provisions. It was his intention to incapacitate the democratic system and functioning that he disregarded the parliament and its practices. The three draconian bills, the Bharat Nyay Samhita, which came in force from July 1, were never debated in the house. They were adopted without vote after 146 members of Parliament were expelled from the house. There are many examples of this nature of wilful violation. It was quite revealing to listen to Rahul saying: “I was attacked on the orders of Prime Minister Modi. There were 20-plus cases (against me), (my) house was taken away, 55 hours of interrogation by the ED”.
Gandhi accused Modi of a “systematic and full-scale assault on the idea of India, the Constitution, and those who resisted this attack. Some of the leaders are still in jail. Anyone who resisted the idea of concentration of power and wealth, aggression on poor & Dalits and minorities was crushed”. He even said: “I was attacked by the order ofGovt of India, by the order of the Prime Minister of India…The most enjoyable part of it was the 55 hours of interrogation by ED…”.
Modi will certainly refute the accusations and allegations levelled against him by Rahul Gandhi while delivering his speech on the motion of thanks on President’s address. Already, the entire corporate media ecosystem has been activated to discredit Rahul once again, describing him as ‘anti-Hindu’ and insinuating that he ‘insulted Hindus’. However, no amount of saffron-washing will succeed in repairing the damage inflicted by Rahul Gandhi’s scathing expose in the floor of the House. India finally has a worthy Leader of Opposition in the lower House of the Parliament. (IPA Service)
