Letter to BS: PM Narendra Modi sees threat in me, says Rahul Gandhi

The question India is asking Congress President Rahul Gandhi (pictured) is why in the world would Prime Minister Narendra Modi see a threat in Rahul Gandhi when Rahul, as president of the once-all-powerful, pan-India umbrella party is gifting away state after state to PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party on a platter because of his lacklustre political appeal to the aspirational masses of emerging India. They abhor the outdated, feudal and  dynastic politics aggressively followed by the Congress, which lays more emphasis on a family name than on the seniority, ability, credibility and popularity of a person while deciding who heads the party.

When Rahul Gandhi talks about the principles of democracy and equality and quotes the 12th-century spiritual master, Basavanna, it sounds like some of the words of William Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice: “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose/An evil soul producing holy witness/Is like a villain with a smiling cheek/A goodly apple rotten at the heart/Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

It is time the Congress stops being hypocritical and starts introspection, looking within to cure what ails it — the malady of dynastic politics, which has blocked the emergence of budding leaders from the grassroots and a competitive opportunity to rise from the ranks to the highest posts in the party and the government, resulting in rapid decline of the party. 

Mahendra B Jain  Belagavi 

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