Why Rahul Gandhi remains in the BJP's cross hairs

The sharp criticism of Rahul Gandhi's speeches in the United Kingdom by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shows that the Congress leader continues to draw the ire of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has perceptibly gained political stature and public acceptance after his 4,000 km Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY). His interactions with the people and the media during the 5-month journey have broken the image of someone cut off from the masses or lacking a vision for India. Gandhi took pains during the BJY to elaborate that his vision of the Indian nation was defined by inclusiveness, equality and fraternity – contrasting it with what he called the BJP's divisive and majoritarian vision.

Apprehensive that people's receptiveness during the BJY to his counter-narrative for India could translate into votes in 2024, the BJP is trying to undermine Rahul Gandhi's political capital through a two-pronged strategy. The first attempts to take away the nationalist plank by projecting his speeches in the United Kingdom as defamatory and derogatory to India, its democracy and political institutions. They say his statements amounted to a call for "foreign interference" in India. Surprisingly some political commentators agree.

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad fulminated against Gandhi's speeches abroad as "shameful", confirming the BJP's "clear conviction that Rahul Gandhi is completely in the grip of Maoist thought processes and anarchist elements." Union law minister Kiran Rijiju made do with the overworked metaphor of "Pappu", insinuating that Gandhi was a raw and inept leader. He concluded one of his tweets with, "People of India know Rahul Gandhi is Pappu but foreigners don't know that he is actually Pappu. And it's not necessary to react to his foolish statements but the problem is that his anti-India statements are misused by the anti-India forces to tarnish the image of India." The invective was amplified by others in the BJP, chief ministers, the BJP's media cell and its large army of sympathetic trolls

The second strategy of the BJP is to initiate action against Rahul Gandhi in Parliament through the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha. This will pillory him, they hope, as an arrogant politician with no respect for parliamentary norms. Parliamentary procedures will be relied on essentially to punish him for drawing a connection between the political rise of PM Narendra Modi and the economic ascent of controversial businessman Gautam Adani.

Gandhi is charged with asking for "foreign interference" in India when he said, "Democracy in India is a global, public good. It impacts way further than our boundaries. If Indian democracy collapses, in my view, democracy on the planet suffers a very serious, possibly fatal blow." It is hard to see how this amounts to a call that "America and Europe must intervene in India to restore democracy", as the BJP alleges.

Gandhi's statements in the UK – in his address at Cambridge University, his speech to British Parliament and his interaction at a think tank, Chatham House, and with the Indian Journalists' Association – made no criticism he had not made earlier against specific policies of the government, its shutting out avenues of public criticism to the Opposition, the forum of Parliament in particular, and the use of Pegasus software against Opposition leaders. None of these statements merits the scandalised reaction of the BJP, especially the public call to his mother and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to "control her son"!

Ensnaring Rahul Gandhi through the parliamentary procedure will take a while longer. The speaker expunged his allegations in Parliament on February 6 of a symbiotic relationship between the Prime Minister and Adani. The speech must be presumed to have never been made for all practical purposes. However, the speech that no longer exists has been referred to the Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha and the complainant, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, wants Gandhi's expulsion from the House for it. Dubey is said to have deposed before the committee that videos of the entire speech were still running on Rahul Gandhi's official YouTube channel even after the Speaker ordered that the allegations be redacted.

Dubey has asked for Gandhi's expulsion from the Lok Sabha, citing the case of Subramanian Swamy, who lost his Rajya Sabha membership in 1976 (during the Emergency). An investigation by the Upper House indicted Swamy of propagating "anti-Indian propaganda calculated to bring the Parliament and the country's democratic institutions into disrepute." The Rajya Sabha, after prolonged debate on November 15, 1976, unanimously voted to expel Swamy for conduct found to be "derogatory to the dignity of the House and its members, and inconsistent with the standards which the House expects from its members" and therefore "resolves that Shri Subramanian Swamy be expelled from the House." Only Swamy was expelled for his comments made abroad, while Rahul Gandhi's expulsion is being sought for something he said inside Parliament.

Dismissing Dubey's charges as "vague and unspecific", Rahul Gandhi has submitted his reply to the Privileges Committee claiming that "freedom of speech" within Parliament was of utmost importance. He is expected to make a personal appearance before the committee. Whether he is expelled or not, it is quite likely that some punishment may be pronounced against him. This, the BJP assumes, would limit his interventions in Parliament and also dull the accusations made by him about political backing to Adani.

The BJP is particularly concerned that the Congress, re-energised by its South to North BJY, has announced a second walkathon – an East to West yatra from Pasighat in Assam to Porbandar in Gujarat before the 2024 general election. It is not in the BJP's interest to have the national attention once again focused on Rahul Gandhi.

Perhaps, the BJP hopes, the second phase will not fructify if Gandhi and the Congress can be effectively browbeaten and demoralised. The spiel has already begun that such yatras do not lead to electoral gains. If the BJP believes this and will always be home and dry in every election, then perhaps it should stop wasting its breath on Rahul Gandhi.

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