Rahul Gandhi Has Finally Emerged As The Fiery Leader Of Opposition

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was slated to reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address at 4 pm on Tuesday. PM Modi must have spent the previous hours prepping for the reply which came nearly 24 hours after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had set ablaze the Lok Sabha with his maiden speech as LoP. Some say the Prime Minister must have burned midnight oil overnight drafting the reply in his head. Rahul Gandhi did not leave him any option with a fiery address which brought both Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to their feet at different points in time, compelled to break the spell cast by the newly anointed LoP.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi learned that several portions of his speech had been expunged by Speaker Om Birla. The expunged excerpts pertained to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations on NEET, Agniveer and his comments on Hinduism which brought Modi and Shah to their feet. Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were in the visitor’s gallery when he took to task Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP besides the entire lot of Hindus “who call themselves Hindu”. In Rahul’s book, there are also Hindus “who do not call themselves Hindu” and this second lot is harmless, and not seething in anger looking for revenge.

So, Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced an uphill task. He must have burned midnight oil to give a befitting reply to the LoP, who has made a burning impression with his Motion of Thanks to the President’s address. The Prime Minister was the last one to speak and the question troubling the BJP was how would the Prime Minister counter the LoP who had come armed to take on Modi straight on. Including material, like posters of Lord Shiva, Jesus Christ and Guru Nanak. Of course, Rahul Gandhi raised “Hindu-Muslim” and praised Prophet Muhammad for being the epitome of “Peace”, but played safe by not alluding to an image of the Prophet.

The LoP touched on all the raw nerves of the BJP, capping his narrative with a comparative analysis of the religions practiced in India. In the process, Rahul Gandhi pronounced the BJP godless without a religion of its own to practice, only calling themselves Hindu. PM Modi’s all-encompassing slogan ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ couldn’t have been given more summary burial. LoP Rahul Gandhi got the chance and reason to zero in on a religion to make an example of it.

Rahul Gandhi garnered cheers and Modi had to settle for jeers. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was compelled to defend the Hindu after the Prime Minister became the first casualty of Rahul’s fiery address. Like always, with “those who called themselves Hindu”, the BJP was reduced to defending the supposedly indefensible, a lesson which they haven’t learned in a 1000 years of subjugation. The Hindu has had a target on his back and Rahul Gandhi is not the first leader to make an example of the Hindu. Rahul Gandhi held up Lord Shiva and Rahul Gandhi is a “Shiv bhakt”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to counter “Rahul’s Scathing Attack Against the BJP”. Truly, the Prime Minister couldn’t have been in a bigger fix, his oratorical skills were put to the test by a first-time LoP. Modi had the onerous task to undo the damage done to him and his party? He was up against Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that Hinduism is “not about spreading fear, hatred and falsehoods”. Did Modi’s party and his government spread fear, hatred and falsehoods? Modi did not have the option to say “No LoP, you are wrong.” Those “who call themselves Hindu” were hard-up for alternatives. At least half of India call themselves ‘Hindu’, but Modi had worked himself into a corner and was not in a position to defend Hindus.

Then, there were the LoP’s accusations that the BJP had launched “systematic attacks on the Constitution” and the “fundamental idea of India”. It was very difficult for the Prime Minister to deny and destroy these two accusations. The LoP’s fight with the Prime Minister continued throughout Rahul’s speech and Rahul Gandhi managed to get under the skins of both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. At one time even the Raksha Mantri stood up to deflect and refute the LoP. The LoP’s claim that “those who call themselves Hindus” were engaged in “violence and hate” was an opening the BJP grabbed with open hands with Modi calling it a “serious matter”.

But then, that was the LoP’s intention, to turn everything against the Bharatiya Janata Party into a “serious matter”, requiring urgent intervention. Prime Minister Modi and the hordes of BJP MPs had been watching Rahul Gandhi for 10 long years and the assessment was “this guy is not a threat”. Rahul Gandhi kept his place in the third row of the Opposition benches and he spoke very little. On occasion he used to even nod off. Then, there were days when he didn’t turn up at all, which had become a butt of BJP jokes.

So, this was the MP who became LoP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah didn’t think Rahul Gandhi would be a threat or a challenge to the BJP and the Modi-led NDA government. But LoP Rahul Gandhi gave both Modi and Shah a jolt as he took the sledgehammer to the BJP and 10 years of Modi-rule with a vengeance and severity not seen in the 75-plus years of parliamentary democracy and if that required doing “Hindu-Muslim”, so be it.

LoP Rahul Gandhi came ready to attack. The slim red copy of the Constitution of India took a backseat as he brought all the gods upfront, those who could be seen, and into the Lok Sabha, where they became part of the campaign to discredit the Modi regime. Modi and Shah should have known what was coming. Who sneaked in the portraits of lord Shiva, Guru Nanak and Jesus Christ is not known, but the gods were on Rahul Gandhi’s side as he went about dismantling “those who call themselves Hindu”. With the Constitution of India put to bed, the battle lines were clearly drawn. Rahul Gandhi chose to do a comparative analysis of religions and gave a clean chit to all except to “those who call themselves Hindu” and “indulge in violence, violence, and more violence.” (IPA Service)