Who killed ‘Mother India’? Was it the Narendra Modi government as alleged by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi or the grand old party that held the country’s reins for over five decades? Well, the answer is quite obvious and straight. Feigning ignorance on ignominious and corrupt 50-odd years of Congress rule post-independence may not help make out a case for the party with diminishing returns. A party that virtually turned ‘pigmy’ due to its own making and misrule has launched a desperate bid to resurrect itself in conjunction with 13 other splinter political groups run by ‘dynasties’ like the one that Rahul inherits.
It was rather valiant for Rahul Gandhi to make a sweeping charge against the Narendra Modi government, holding it squarely responsible for the turmoil in Manipur or the communal flare-up in Haryana.
To deduce that the Modi government was responsible for killing ‘Mother India’ or ‘Bharat Mata’ was chivalrous for a leader whose party oversaw the partition of India, conceded Aksai Chin to China and its leaders sought a referendum on Kashmir like the Brexit vote that was held in the United Kingdom.
The Congress ecosystem seems to get a high by referring to ‘Bharat Mata’ or ‘Mother India’ often used by right-wing forces with reference to this millennia-old Hindu-centric society that absorbed people from all faiths, modes of worship, denominations, and religion. Reference to ‘Bharat Mata’ may be the Congress’s way of staking a claim on this very wholesome conceptualisation of Hindus that the country and its people have a soul, spirit and distinct way of living. The claim also reflects the rudderless Congress political formation machinations to pursue a soft Hindutva line to negate the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) influence among vast Hindus that believe in cultural nationalism.
Now that the Congress has made its move, will the majority of Hindus buy this and vote for the party in legislative assembly elections in Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh followed by Lok Sabha elections in 2024? Alienation of the majority of Hindus due to the unabated appeasement of Muslims and Christians is something Rahul Gandhi seems to be working on. Will this ploy work is something the Congress strategists have to think about. Weaning away the nationalist ideological base and ardent Hindus from right-wingers may not happen like heaping charges of corruption and corporate dealing on the Modi government did not work. But, Rahul Gandhi seems to take on the NDA, BJP and Narendra Modi on this plank. It may be a grave mistake that Rahul committed even before the campaign for the 2024 elections began.
The grand vision of ‘Bharat Mata’, ‘Virat Bharat’ or ‘Akhand Bharat’ of Hindus may be beyond the comprehension of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi who may be looking to poach into BJP-led alliance votes. A thriving society that’s unique in its way of life and spread virtually across South Asia with a cultural ethos as one common thread may not be an easy fact to accept by left-leaning Congress that lost its moorings of pre-independence days and fell into the trap of sectarian politics of divisive variety.
Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra showing up for ‘aarti’ at temples to garner a few votes cannot be the Hindu way of life or what Hindus believe this country as a ‘living entity with spirit and soul’. Otherwise, the Congress has to date not offered a plausible explanation for its government’s decision to pull back the Indian Army in the 1971 war after the forces had Pakistan territory till Lahore. Was it not that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, hailed as the leader of the 1971 war with iron fists, did not pursue India’s West Pakistan agenda finalised in consultation with the Indian Armed Forces? Does Rahul Gandhi even have an inkling of how this played out?
Did his party people, who have the cheek to seek a referendum on Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, forgot Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)? A part of this Indian territory was usurped by China in a 1963 deal with Pakistan, but did Congress remember ‘Bharat Mata’ then? When Aksai Chin was occupied by China and the Congress twiddled its thumb in New Delhi, can it now claim that ‘Mother India’ was sliced into pieces in Manipur and elsewhere by the Modi government? The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was given a free pass in the 1950s and 1962 war to take over Aksai Chin, almost the size of Bhutan and was hitherto part of India’s Ladakh and never reflected in Chinese maps.
Giving a staged outrageous twist to the Manipur issue by claiming that the state has been divided will not work for the Congress, given that recent violence was the handiwork of a combination of forces including the Church, drug mafia, and insurgents from across the Myanmar border.
Like corruption and corporate deals charges did not stick to the BJP, separating ‘Bharat Mata’ from Hindutva forces may not happen in a jiffy. Rahul Gandhi has to think of rejigging substantive Congress strategy to take on Modi, the BJP, which emerged as the largest political party globally and the NDA.
Author is Director and Chief Executive, Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies, non-partisan think tank based in New Delhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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