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BJP's growing fear of Rahul Gandhi

Dr Satish Misra. Dated: 1/17/2018 2:55:52 PM

Latest statements and reactions of the BJP leaders and spokesperson on Congress president Rahul Gandhi clearly indicate that the country's grand old party and its newly elected chief is no more beings ridiculed but is being treated as a serious political challenge.
Is it a mere Gujarat nightmare that is haunting the BJP top leadership or there is something more than meets the common eye, only coming electoral battles in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will confirm.
Let us take a close look at what Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Gandhi's short visit to Bahrain on January 8. "BJP condemns the irresponsible utterances of Rahul Gandhi abroad", he said at a specially convened press conference at the BJP headquarters in the union capital on January 9.
Painting a contrast, Prasad praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he spoke on the good work being done by 270 lawmakers of Indian origin in various countries. The Law Minister sought to know why had given expression to his hatred and hostility towards the BJP during his foreign tour. "When we go abroad we do not discuss our political differences", the Law Minister said.
It was expected of the Congress chief that he would not harp on political differences and "spread hatred in a foreign country as he did in India". Prasad said accusing young Gandhi of "spreading hatred among people".
In sort of a counter-attack, the Law Minister said, "Congress has the longest history of practicing the politics of hatred".
It would be appropriate here to know what Gandhi had said in Bahrain while addressing a convention of NRIs to enable a dispassionate view of the political rivalry between the two national parties.
"Tragedy is, instead of focusing the attention of our people towards real issues, there is an increase in hatred. Instead of accepting that we are struggling to create jobs, instead of uniting people of all religions and communities together to face the challenge, the government is busy converting the fear being generated in jobless youth into hatred between communities", the Congress leader told NRIs at a meeting of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO).
Gandhi further said that India has become a nation where journalists are shot at for reporting truth, judges hearing crucial cases are found dead under mysterious circumstances. The rising forces of hatred needed to be curtailed, he said telling them that "we need you to help us to fight these forces.
"Tragedy is, instead of focusing the attention of our people towards real issues, there's an increase in hatred. Instead of accepting that we are struggling to create jobs, instead of uniting people of all religions and communities together to face the challenge ,the government is busy converting the fear being generated in jobless youth into hatred between communities", the Congress leader said expressing grief over the government being in a state of "denial".
In short, Gandhi only tried to inform fellow citizens living away from their own country about the ground realties and drew their attention to dangers to India's unity and integrity to seek their support to counter these negative developments.
Very fact that the BJP-led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to field a senior minister and not leave the issue to party spokespersons or senior party leaders to attack Gandhi clearly shows the level of fear that the ruling establishment has from the Congress.
Coming to the Law Minister's charge that Gandhi should not have raised all these issues on a foreign soil seems to be totally out of place as Modi himself has attacked the Congress and its leaders on the foreign soil umpteen number of times. Modi has done it not in the capacity of an opposition leader but as the Prime Minister of the country. Where was Prasad then?
Yes, the decision to field Prasad was a well thought out move because the Gujarat assembly election electoral battle has established beyond any doubt that the Congress cannot wished away and the mission "Congress-mukt Bharat" or Congress-free India cannot be turned into a reality.
The RSS has been working on ridding India of the Congress for over seven decades. The RSS leaders knew well that it could never come to power until the grand old party was alive and kicking.
Initially, the saffron organization hurled abuses at Mahatma Gandhi and held him responsible for the partition of the country and when it realized that Father of the Nation could not be destroyed, it decided to coopt him. The RSS hated everything that was related with the freedom movement. National tricolor was not accepted and it continued to hoist its saffron flag at its offices and buildings. It was even averse to the national anthem.
In full realization that the Congress cannot be destroyed, the RSS changed tacks and adopted the divide and rule tactics. It began to train its guns on the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and made him their subject of contempt. Simultaneously, it started spreading myths about clash of interests between senior Congress leaders like the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Nehru. It also started accusing the Congress of pursuing the dynastic politics so that Nehru Gandhi family could be maligned and way could be paved for its political protégé-the BJP- to come to power.
The RSS succeeded in its agenda when Modi tapping on the popular anger against the Congress-led UPA government brought the BJP to power with absolute majority. The Congress was reduced to its historical low after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and successive defeat in subsequent assembly elections. Majority of political commentators and experts pronounced the demise of the Congress and wrote its obituaries.
Now that the tides seem to be turning against the BJP, attacks on Rahul Gandhi and the Congress are going to be vicious but this may boomerang on the RSS-BJP combine, as people are much wiser than political conspirators are.
(Dr. Satish Misra is a Veteran Journalist & Research Associate with Observer Research Foundation).
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