Rahul Gandhi wants to neuter assertive Hinduness, kill kshatriyata, and weaken the instinct of self-defence in the community. … Portraying the BJP and the RSS as un-Hindu is a ploy to divide the devoted and the fence-sitting, deracinated Hindus. – Abhijit Majumder
Rahul Gandhi may be far from his prized prey, the PM’s chair, but he has tasted blood. He realises that even though the Congress still has just 99 seats in the Lok Sabha, it has bettered its tally from 52 mainly because he could consolidate minority—mainly Muslim—votes, and divide the Hindu mandate on caste lines.
Emboldened by the minority support, and aware that the core saffron base will never vote for him, Rahul’s first speech in Parliament was a full-frontal attack on Hindutva.
“Those who call themselves Hindu do violence, violence, violence … hatred, hatred, hatred round the clock,” he said.
Here is what his strategy looks like.
First, Rahul Gandhi wants to neuter assertive Hinduness, kill kshatriyata, and weaken the instinct of self-defence in the community. His speech dwelt a fair bit on spinning Bhagwan Shiva as the protector of the appeased rather than the destroyer of evil, when even Bhagwan Vishnu, the original protector of everything good, takes up arms to slay adharma every time it is needed.
Rahul Gandhi said Hindus and Sikhs have never attacked other nations, but never mentioned the violent and barbaric expansionism of Islam or the evangelical guile and conversion agenda of Christianity.
Not once did he condemn the Sharia-style flogging of a woman by a goon Tajemul Haque, whose political master, TMC MLA Hamidur Rahman later said these things happen in a Muslim Rashtra.
Nor did he call out other recent cases of naked Muslim violence against Hindus.
Second, by later clarifying that PM Narendra Modi, BJP or the RSS do not represent Hindus, he is trying to choke the rising Hindu political voice. Portraying the BJP and the RSS as un-Hindu is a ploy to divide the devoted and the fence-sitter, deracinated Hindus.
Third, Rahul Gandhi has discovered the magic of dividing Hindus along caste lines. His call for caste census, and spreading a false alarm among Dalits that if the BJP comes with a resounding majority, it would change the Constitution and withdraw reservation seem to have paid off.
But Rahul Gandhi must remember that in spite of his immediate success, the revival of Hinduness is not going anywhere in a hurry. While the BJP lost over 60 seats, its slide in the overall vote share has been less than one per cent: 36.56 per cent in 2024 compared with 37.36 per cent in 2019.
The more vicious, divisive, and denigrating his attacks against Hinduness gets, the quicker saffron forces will regroup. The BJP and RSS just needs to introspect whether hubris and complacency have set in, fix internal fissures, and go back to the people unitedly. – News18, 3 July 2024
› Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist and editor-in-chief at Earshot Media, New Delhi.
Filed under: india | Tagged: anti-hinduism, anti-hindutva, hate speech, indian parliament, rahul gandhi |
Rahul Gandhi’s Disdain For Parliamentary Decency Comes With A Cost – Abhijit Majumder – News18 – New Delhi – July 3, 2024
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 135-minute speech in Parliament on Tuesday, the Opposition packed in a month of interminable screaming and sloganeering.
The lung power and stamina were admirable, the content and intent absolutely low-grade, childish, and dismissive of the Prime Minister’s position as well as every tradition of India’s Parliament. It was led by the Leader of the Opposition from the Congress, Rahul Gandhi.
The Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, had to chide Rahul for standing up while PM Modi spoke, turning around, inciting his bunch to storm the Well of the House.
But Rahul Gandhi has tasted blood after improving Congress’s tally from 52 to 99 and restricting the BJP to 240 in the general elections, and he would have none of it.
He is on an adrenaline rush to avenge all the mockery of failure that he has endured, ironically after leading the Congress to its third biggest failure in parliamentary history. When you set your bar at the height of a door threshold, clearing it feels like an equestrian feat.
But Rahul Gandhi’s misbehaviour is not as recklessly spontaneous as it seems. The abrasiveness and vicious mocking by the Opposition including Rahul, Akhilesh Yadav and TMC leaders are aimed at constantly humiliating Modi and shattering his strongman image. A vulnerable Modi is going to be like a falcon without its beak. The Opposition reckons that if it can drag him to that state of helplessness, his image of invincibility will disappear among his supporters and opponents alike. His allies will desert him. The government will fall.
But here is the caveat.
Modi became what he is today after being hounded by a ruthless Congress and a biased, predatory mainstream media for 12 years.
He is firmly getting work done, both on and off the stage. Unfazed by the ruckus, the new Parliament’s first session posted 104 per cent productivity and had seven sittings of about 34 hours. A total of 41 matters were taken up under Rule 377, three Statements were made under Direction 73A, and 338 papers were laid during the Session. In all, 539 members took oath. The Prime Minister introduced the Council of Ministers. The Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address went on for over 18 hours, and 68 members spoke. Fifty other members delivered speeches.
Rahul’s unruly and disrespectful behaviour towards the PM and Parliament, his attack on Hindus, and his looming air of arrogance are not going to go down well with Indian voters. If the nation’s collective wisdom has snipped the BJP down to coalition size because of complacency, the Congress’s hubris without heft will quickly be punished.
And lastly, the Congress should at least be careful, not cavalier, against a political force like the BJP. It still controls all the institutions, and is privy to every misconduct, scam, or treachery. PM Modi sounded ominous on Tuesday when he warned the Opposition that every affront, every conspiracy by the ‘ecosystem’ will be answered in its own language.
His opponents will be naive not to take note.
LikeLike