Ta-ta, Bye-bye Rahul Gandhi

This is my third consecutive post on Rahul Gandhi. Either he has suddenly become smart or I should seriously start reading other and better things for new ideas. The second part may have some truth to it but Rahul has not become smart. Not by any measures. 

He is no longer a Member of Parliament. He does not lead the party, his family's fiefdom. At least, not officially. In short, he is nothing. At best, he is a former MP and the son of a current MP. He never held any position of responsibility in the government, nor did he ever hold any constitutional post. In short, he is finally, a Nobody! I don't think anyone saw this coming so drastically. At least, he did not see this coming. No one in his family, not since his Grandmother and his father, has ever faced any consequence of their actions. No consequences for their words, no consequence for their inactions. No consequence for their unhinged tirades. They managed to sink the grand old party of Indian politics and yet, they remain above everyone and managed to remain unscathed. 

Not anymore though. 

The cause of this downfall seems innocuous. So many have said so much worse than this. But the point is not exactly what he said. I mean, it is but to an extent only. There are so many layers to this issue. The utter disregard Rahul has shown to the public institutions, the political institutions, and the governing and law institutions so far that it was just a matter of time before something comes and levels him in a blow. Rahul tore an ordinance that the then Prime Minister of the country has himself passed. He did that in full public view. This was not his ordinance to trash. He had no locus standi to do that and yet, he did that because he knew nothing will happen to him. And that was true for almost a decade. 

"You can fool some people sometimes, all the people one time but you cannot fool all the people all the time" Abraham Lincoln (allegedly!) 

Rahul kept yapping his way around. He derided his underlings in his party, he derided his constituents. He derided elected officials. Nothing happened. So he got emboldened and he finally made a statement that can certainly be construed as a casteist slur. I do not believe he hurled a casteist slur. I don't think he is smart enough to know that Modi is a caste and that too a backward caste. But he did make that statement. A case was filed against him as criminal defamation. The criminal defamation law, a rather draconian law I must say, is one of the very few laws that politicians of all backgrounds. The law proceedings take place at a rapid pace. The defendant has to prove, rather convincingly that they did not mean personal abuse. But if the court sides with the accuser, then the defendant goes to jail straight up. The defendant can get out of this mess by publically apologizing. Kejriwal had to do that to Nitin Gadkari, who filed a criminal defamation case for Rs. 100 crores against Kejriwal. But Kerjariwal is a smart fellow, he publically apologized, learned his lesson, and moved on. Now he says all the bad stuff against everyone only in the assembly where one cannot be held in criminal contempt. 

Rahul did nothing of that sort. In fact, after making that statement in a public rally (the Congress party last time Congress won a Loksabha seat in Gujarat was in 2009!), Rahul increasingly went berserk. He openly questioned the Indian army during the Galwan crises, openly questioned the homemade Covid vaccines, openly questioned India's purchase of Rafale purchases and most recently, he publically questioned India as a country while singing peans about China. He went a step ahead and alluded that western nations should intervene in Indian democracy! 

All that finally caught up with him through that one funny-sounding statement he made in 2019. Forget about politics, the opposition unity, the pending elections, or the evolving election strategy of all the parties. Rahul is finally held responsible for his actions. And he is finally paying price for his crimes. And I will take that. 

I am happy!

A Manchurian Candidate

Despite the Congress party losing election after election and despite Rahul Gandhi himself losing the prestigious Amethi seat in 2019, I tend to write a lot about him about what he does and about what he said. It is evident that the party and the ideology if there was ever anyone, is rapidly losing ground across the country. The leadership, barring a few state governments, is completely a vacuum. The political strategy of the Congress party (and that of Rahul Gandhi) oscillates between a low-level theatrical production of absurdity to virtual political suicide over tone-deaf, political career-killing statements. It is hilarious and jarring at the same time. But just because Rahul's political stunts and Congress's political strategy always lead to meme fest does not mean both of them are not dangerous. They are dangerous. There is a reason the 'la Familia ruled India for decades. The party apparatus and family's tentacles are quite deep-rooted. It's like an iceberg where the dangerous nature of the Congress party and Gandhis is only 1/8th visible to the public. These people know the system well. Hell, they were THE systems at one point. Their corrupt and corrosive ways mean there an ecosystem, which immensely benefited under Gandhi's rule, will go to any extent to maintain the hold. Just look at Raghuram Rajan. Such a sad and drastic fall for a brilliant guy! 

The pattern that is evident from Rahul Gandhi is after a whirlwind of political 'activities' in India, he tends to run to a foreign land for vacation. Followed by the vacation, he goes on a rampage in criticizing and defaming India. The venues are some sort of think tank platform or questionable groups hosting him in top-end universities in western nations. First, there is absolutely no need to talk about your country's government in a foreign country. It is contrary to the expectation of an elected member of Parliament. Then why does Rahul Gandhi continue to do that? A key point to note here is, he is not bad-mouthing the Modi government only. He talks about democracy being dead in India. He talks about India's failure as a nation. He constantly talks about Muslim persecution in India. He talks about the economy failing, not having jobs, and in general, the country being in a state of anarchy. Why? Rahul is certainly not getting any votes in the UK or from Cambridge university. Moreover, with such talk, he will not get any votes in India either. Then why do it? 

Is it because his handlers would like him to do that? A Manchurian candidate? 

One of the key achievements and focuses of the Modi govt. since 2014 has been foreign policy. It is proactive, it is definitive and it marks India's entry as a mover and shaker rather than a meek follower. I know foreign policy does not change in a decade but a decade's worth of work is a start. Whether it is a covid shots diplomacy or Ukraine war or whether brazenly attacking Pakistan twice as a response, the Modi govt. wants the world to notice us, respect us, and ensure that our interests are taken care of as well. Foreign entities aren't going to simply allow this to happen. They will fight back and fight back through back channels. The way he builds an argument, it feels like Rahul is doing that at the behest of foreign entities. Either a foreign government or a spy agency or both. For example, remember the Chinese ambassador secretly meeting Rahul Gandhi at Rahul's residence during the height of the Galwan crisis? Rahul Gandhi never issued even a statement at that meeting. Yet, he keeps parroting that China has grabbed India's land despite categorical denial from the Govt of India, the Indian Army, and the PM himself! Now, who does that help? Psychologically speaking questioning the Indian Army or the Government of India will discourage Indians. It will give an advantage to China and Chinese psyops. Even two days ago he said Modi 'does not understand the threat of China'. Maybe, China does not understand the threat of Modi. Can we look into that? 

Asking questions to the elected government is a right and should be exercised but questioning the government institutions may not play out well in the long term since the erosion of public trust is the start of the unraveling of democracy. 

Western nations have always used the stick of so-called secularism and invented the narrative of Muslim persecution to defame India. Even though the Muslim population has only grown in India while the Hindu population has declined and Muslims have played prominent roles in modern India - from being top space scientists to be one of the most successful cricket captains to being the most successful Hindi movie star. And it's not just the narrative they leverage but they have created an ecosystem of NGOs, think tanks, newspaper publications as well as the 'scholar' tribe to browbeat the Indian government and policymakers to fall in line. The emergence of the Modi-led govt. is the first time since independence that the Government of India is standing up to the bullies from European Union and other western nations. India is the largest functioning democracy in the world. The word 'Largest' actually does not do the justice to stunning grandeur with which Indian democracy functions. There are fault lines and concerns but by far and large, Indians have heartily embraced the concepts of democracy. Yet, to constantly question the very ethos of Indians and India makes you wonder whether Rahul Gandhi is batting for foreign interests here. 

I strongly believe Rahul Gandhi is up to something here. He is a fool to believe that western powers will destabilize India and prop him up as a candidate. In the history of Western atrocities and colonialism, they have never done that. They are unlikely to do that now. The country of India is not that disunited or weak either to just let that happen. Not when the economy is booming and all indicators are pointing positively. That does not mean we should forgive Rahul Gandhi and his unhinged tirades against India. Technically he is merely an MP among 445 others. He has never held a position of responsibility in the Government. Nor has he ever passed any legislation. Rahul has missed most of his attendance in the parliament. Despite all this, his last name means he is still quite dangerous. He may not be able to sway people to vote for his party but he sure can sow doubts in people's minds. Rahul Gandhi, being the scion of once a ruling family, will be quoted across a multitude of mainstream publications in the western world. NYT for example recently published a rant against India on the topic of Kashmir. There will be some damage to India's reputation and India's aspirations. It is quite evident that Rahul is actually on Bharat Badnam Kao Yatra!