After Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is unmistakably and indisputably leading the race when it comes to hogging headlines—national, all the time, and international too, occasionally. There is hardly another politician who has had a rampant and all-encompassing media presence for decades, let alone led his party to a triumphant and all-encompassing victory, even once. His (mis)guided commitment to one-upmanship with PM Modi only leads him into the troubled waters of Hindutva, history, or issues that he should otherwise avoid. Having said this, he has been reincarnated more than a dozen times, with each comeback becoming a bigger setback, but for some reason, his reign as Congress’ supreme leader remains coated in Teflon. From “Is He Ready?” to “Rahul is of The Age,” “The Evolution of Rahul”, and “The Prime Candidate,” these have been the usual canards that one must have read, seen, or witnessed in the media and among the Congress cadre over the decade. The secret to the Gandhi scion’s miraculous stature within the Congress lies in his blood—the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
The Indian National Congress’ (INC) blue-blooded leader recently remarked in Parliament, “India is described in the Indian Constitution as a union of states and not as 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.” For Gandhi supporters, this was yet another historic speech by the “Warrior Prince”, who was once called that by a national magazine. But the common man didn’t let that stop him from noticing the flaws in logic and facts in Gandhi’s pranks. Not at all.
Absolutely not implicating the fact that the 23 crore people he mentioned in his motion of thanks to the President’s speech mystically turned into 27 crore within a few minutes! The connotation is to the fact that his grandmother and former Prime Minister (late) Mrs Indira Feroz Gandhi made the 42nd amendment to the Constitution in 1977 that contained the words “unity, integrity, and fraternity of the nation”. Well, what Rahul said, ostensibly, seems like a diabolic attack on the idea of India that holds “unity in diversity”. It is said that the Hindu philosophy of ‘Aparigraha’ (non-possession) gratified and eschewed our predecessors from the malice of expansionism, and that corroborates our existence and unity despite all the disparities. Although there was no formal or legal documentation stating the ground rules with fancy vocabulary, there was freedom to profess one’s belief or even misbelief in some cases. This very tolerance we have as Indians and specifically, Hindus, has been our heirloom.
Ironically, Nehru’s great grandson lectured the incumbent Modi government over foreign policy. He said that Pakistan and China came closer during Modi’s term as Prime Minister, but history has a completely opposite story to tell. Belying the historical facts and Nehru’s “Himalayan Blunders” that are well documented, it seems quite rich and amusing that Rahul had to touch this jugular vein. As noted French journalist and author, Claude Arpi noted, “Delhi (Nehru’s regime) was not concerned.” He also cited a CIA document stating that the construction activity (by China) began only after 1953, when Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai was becoming the slogan for India-China friendship! Moreover, Pakistan had illegally ceded the Indian territory of the Shaksgam Valley to Pakistan in 1963. China also built the Karakoram highway in PoK during the 1970s. Furthermore, since 1970, China and Pakistan have worked closely together on their nuclear programmes. In 2013, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was initiated, and it mainly focuses on PoK. Perhaps, it might be Rahul’s purported (secret) MoU of 2008 with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that mandates him to question India’s armed forces on one day and our integrity on the other. Also, Mr. Gandhi’s claim found fitting responses by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.
One theory is that Rahul lauded the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in a bid to provoke regional sentiments and stir the North-South divide, oblivious to the fact that the Aryan-Dravidian divide theory was discarded long ago by genetic evidence, but somehow. That, for Congress, seems like a tangible toolkit and roadmap to the 2024 elections: to pit the BJP’s nationalism against the regionalism of the states. By emphasising the aforementioned hypothesis by repeating the words “union of states”, he has only emphasised it. This feels like an act of sheer mockery of the supreme sacrifices made by the freedom fighters such as Netaji Bose, Bhagat Singh, and Chandrashekhar Azad who lived and died for ‘Poorna Swaraj’ (complete Independence) of an undivided India. Nothing ought to bemuse coming from the dynasty that compromised India’s sovereignty multiple times, took KGB money, didn’t allow former PM PV Narasimha Rao’s mortal remains to enter Congress headquarters, and insulted former PM Manmohan Singh by tearing his ordinance in Parliament. And allegations have also been levelled time and again that the INC doesn’t allow anyone within the party to dare speak in front of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The ignominy of Congress leader and former Andhra Pradesh CM T Anjaiah and the current Assam chief minister Hemanta Biswa Sharma is no secret. It is ambivalently hilarious to witness the warrior prince talking about kingdoms and suppression.
Rahul’s trysts with Parliament after the arrival of Narendra Modi have been full of gaffes: self-goals, inanity, hypocrisy, and lack of political understanding. Howsoever eloquent one might be with words, it would still be a euphemism. This speech is no exception. Indeed, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would ponder if he was the Father of the Nation or the ‘Father of the union of states’.
Yuvraj Pokharna is a Surat-based educator, columnist, and social activist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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