How Narendra Modi And His BJP Helped Resurrect Rahul Gandhi And His Congress !

BY R.K.MISRA

The best- laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Condemned to be crucified, the legally garbed  political  strategising ,  has only ended up resurrecting Rahul Gandhi  and injecting another dose of adrenaline into the Congress. In the process it has also perked up the fledgling Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance(I.N.D.I.A.),a grouping of 26 key Opposition parties, bracing to take on Narendra Modi and his BJP.

The timeline of a process that began from Gujarat , and was  enlarged through court proceedings, is important to read , if only  to gauge intent. A BJP leader files a defamation case against Rahul in  BJP- ruled Gujarat for a 2019 election speech made in Karnataka alleging defamation of  the Modi community. Subsequently the leader, who has been a BJP minister, in March 2022 brings a stay from the High Court in his own case and later moves to get it vacated through an order dated February 16,2023. On March 23,2023, the Surat court convicts the Congress leader meting out the maximum admissible sentence of two years which is required to disqualify a Member of Parliament . The plea for a stay of the judgment winds its way through the session court and the High Court without any success until it comes up before a three- judge bench of the Supreme Court which stays the conviction on August 4,2023.

 The proceedings in the apex court and its  judgement is insightful. An extract from it goes thus” Particularly when the offence was non-cognizable, bailable and compoundable, the least which was  expected from the learned trial judge was to give reasons for imposing the maximum punishment. Though the learned appellate court and the High Court have spent voluminous pages in rejecting the application, these aspects are not seen considered”.

 There is lots to introspect about for the subordinate judiciary in the remarks of the Bench during the proceedings though it refrained from making any observations on the merits of the matter considering the pendency of the appeal. It observed though that the utterances of Rahul Gandhi were not in good taste and a person in public life ought to have been more careful while making public speeches. Earlier Gandhi’s advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi had drawn attention of the court that the original surname of Purnesh Modi who filed the defamation case  is not Modi and that he belonged to the Modh Vanik Samaj, there is no conviction in any case   despite several cases  filed against Rahul Gandhi by BJP workers and also that the High Court judgement had come  66 days after the order was reserved.

What emerges out of this legally attired but politically scripted screenplay is a move to bury one of the most trenchant and hard-hitting critic of  the Narendra Modi government in a poll-barred  pit that would take at least eight years clambering out. Senior advocate and former Congress leader Kapil Sibbal ,  in fact , hit the nail on the head when he expressed sadness at the unhealthy practice of using court trials for political agendas.

However, as pointed out earlier, the best laid plans of master strategists are prone to go haywire. The BJP strategy of buttonholing Gandhi has bombed as  did its planning in the Karnataka elections.

Narendra Modi had won hands down in 2014 to become Prime Minister only because he had the foresight to harness technology and social media to spell out his dreams. The Congress has since caught up by going back to the drawing board and reconfiguring its priorities. The BJP’s best bet is still polarization as is evident from its line  in Haryana as well as  in the poll-bound states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The ‘new’ Congress, on the other hand, has positioned itself at the opposite end of the spectrum providing a clear contrast with inclusive politics. Rahul Gandhi’s  ‘Bharat Jodo’ yatra has substantially changed the complexion of  the game and his popular image, as it reflects  shades of  Mahatma Gandhi’s reach-outs like the Dandi Yatra or salt satyagraha emanating from Sabarmati Ashram.

Indians love their leaders close to them commoner-like. Modi’s ability to sculpt his humble origins into popular minds brought him so far. However wrapped in the trappings of power and exuding an arrogant demeanour, he is today a far cry from the persona of his past. And the politics that the BJP under him practices is widening the preach-practice divide as witnessed in pulling down elected governments in Karnataka-MP-Maharashtra, the defiant silence on Manipur and the overnight switch on anti-corruption guarantees to sharing power in Maharashtra.

 In contrast ,Rahul comes through as affable, approachable and willing to listen. The BJP’s latest move to target him has only ended up raising his political stature.

Gujarat has been an age-old crucible for national political experiments  and the second part of  Rahul’s  “Bharat Jodo yatra”, which is likely to begin from Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace Porbandar will be interesting to watch, both for popular reaction and the way the ruling BJP deals with it.

Garrulity is good in the short  but actions speak louder than words ultimately.

This syndicated news column was published in the respective newspapers edition dated  August 8,2023 whose links are given below.

http://epaper.lokmat.com/articlepage.php?articleid=LOKTIME_NPLT_20230808_6_1

http://odishapostepaper.com/edition/4599/orissapost/page/9