The Minority Department in the Congress party organisation is charged to look after the affairs of minorities that include Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis. At the Minority Department’s convention on 07 February 2019, Congress President’s speech was devoid of any reference to minority affairs. But then that is Rahul Gandhi – make your choice between clueless and discombobulated. His whole speech was about being critical of Mr Modi (mostly without any substance) and calling him new names showing total disdain for the institution of Prime Minister of world’ largest democracy. His fixation and fear of RSS was once again evident in his speech. Despite assuming the position of President of the Congress Party in 2018, Mr Gandhi continues to be more like a tiger who cannot change his stripes. RaGa proves the point that age and position do not necessarily guarantee maturity and knowledge.
Rahul Gandhi (RaGa) dared the Prime Minister to have a five minutes face to face debate with him on National Security and Rafael deal but qualified the challenge by adding that the Prime Minister (PM) will not do so because he is a ‘darpok’. Frankly RaGa may be right about the PM being ‘darpok’. After all both national security and Rafael are very serious issues with important ramifications. Such matters can only be discussed with responsible people whose commitment and concern for the nation come first and foremost, even above party interests if required. Any responsible PM will be afraid to discuss such critical matters with an opposition Party President who does not meet this criterion. Given Congress’ dubious record in recent past where it is charged with planting a false story about a military coup in 2016, its support for anti-national elements and acts in JNU, its leaders seeking support in Pakistan to oust Mr Modi, its baseless questioning of the Rafael deal despite clearance from Supreme Court and undermining the morale of the armed Forces by calling Army chief a ‘goonda’ in public surely raise many questions on Congress party’s nationalistic credentials. Without a doubt the party President has to be answerable for all such demeanours. So, Mr Rahul Gandhi please note that Mr Modi is right in not getting into a debate with you since during a debate important issues will come up for discussion and that would not be wise given your and your party’s track record on matters of national security. Obviously, at times it may be prudent to be a wise ‘darpok’ in national interests.
Coming to the remark about the Prime Minister not even having a four-inch chest leave alone a 56” chest. Rahul is right about the four-inch barb since it is humanly impossible for any man to have just a four-inch chest. So, let the case rest there. But when it comes to 56” it an entirely another matter. The world knows how the Chinese back tracked at Doklam, the nation is aware how India is going ahead with its development of North Eastern border areas despite Chinese threats from time to time. Surprisingly RaGa forgets that his party’s successive governments either ignored or deferred decisions on developing North East region as a whole because of fear of Chinese backlash. But then RaGa would not be what he is if he were to think before he speaks. He has been known for his speak and scoot habit for too long now. Once again proving the point that a tiger cannot change his stripes even if he is made President of a political party.
RaGa stated that if Congress workers stand together then they (RSS, BJP, Modi) will run away as they are cowards. Was that an admission that Congress workers have not been standing together given the rout that Congress suffered in 2014 and other elections since then. If that be so then it is obvious that the coward tag is more suited to Congress than to BJP or RSS. A look at the last assembly elections in Karnataka makes an interesting study in this regard. Despite having 78 members as compared to just 37 of JDS, Congress party decided to let JDS lead the government. Was the Congress President scared of letting his party lead the government? In all probability he was for reasons best known to him. It may do RaGa good to first look within and sort his own house before venturing out to comment on others when it comes to being cowardly. In his speech he alleged that RSS puts its people in judicial system, in Election Commission and even in CBI when required. What can one say about such bizarre statements that only RaGa can make with his party leaders acting as cheer leaders to egg him on? By doing so RaGa is only giving an omnipresent status to RSS in all facets of the government and making the organisation appear many times stronger and larger than what it actually is. Suffice it to say that anyone who can believe in such crap has to be a congressman for sure.
No speech of RaGa is complete today without the mention of Rafael deal and the insinuation that Anil Ambani has made a profit of Rs 30,000 crores. As always RaGa has got his mathematics all messed up. He cannot understand the simple fact that Anil Ambani’s company has been short listed only for a small part of the total Rafael deal offset of about Rs 33,000 crores. The share of Anil Ambani group is reportedly only about 8-10% at the best. This amount relates to the investment that Dassault is likely to make in a joint venture with Anil Ambani. However, RaGa has termed the whole offset amount of Rs 30,000 crores as profits in the pocket of Anil Ambani. Will someone please tell RaGa that if Anil Ambani was richer by Rs 30,000 crores he would not have been filing for bankruptcy for his flag ship Reliance Communication today. It is surprising that for someone who understood the sweet deal figures of National Herald case where an investment of Rs 50 Lakhs brought in assets worth over Rs 2,000 crores for the Gandhi family, he fails to understand the whole Rafael offset deal in its correct perspective. Is it because the Rafael deal has no sweet deal for him or his family?
Lastly RaGa stated that he knows Mr Modi’s character since he has been fighting him for last five years and qualified this by saying that since he does not back off that scares Mr Modi. This may well turn out to be the overstatement of the year. Mr Gandhi, first and foremost individuals who stand up and do not back off do not belong to the scoot and run pedigree. Secondly to be a worthy opponent of someone like NaMo, an individual needs to have a vision for his nation. How can someone whose vision starts and ends in two words “remove Modi’ even consider himself an opponent of NaMo. Does any Indian citizen know what is Mr Gandhi’s vision for India? Frankly NaMo is known not to back off from a fight but then now that he is the Prime Minister of the nation, he obviously realises that he cannot engage in a faceoff with every Tom, Dick, Harry and Rahul. So, Mr Gandhi stop living in a fool’s paradise by over rating yourself. Rest assured that the day you are worthy of a fight, NaMo will certainly not keep you waiting. The problem is that you have a long way to go before you can even come close to being worthy.
The speech in question was delivered by the Congress president at a convention organised by the Congress Party’s Minority Department on 07 February 2019. It was devoid of any issue related to minorities and instead was all about criticising Mr Modi, BJP and RSS. Hopefully in one of the next political rallies where RaGa will be expected to rundown Mr Modi, BJP and RSS, he will surprise one and all by talking about minorities!
Saroj Chadha, an engineering professional, is a successful entrepreneur. Having retired from the Indian Army after having served for over 23 years, he has also been a consultant for leading Indian and Multinational electrical companies. He lives in New Delhi.
