{"id":4257,"date":"2023-03-26T17:41:38","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T11:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/?p=4257"},"modified":"2023-03-26T17:41:38","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T11:56:38","slug":"where-pappugiri-fails-to-win-the-day-for-rahul-gandhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/where-pappugiri-fails-to-win-the-day-for-rahul-gandhi.html","title":{"rendered":"Where ‘Pappugiri ‘ fails to win the day for Rahul Gandhi."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Rahul Gandhi as a ‘ Pappu’ purportedly appears to have turned the table on BJP, as a section of people apparently come to believe, with his disqualification as a member of Lok Sabha.. Will it revive the moribund Congress Party and bring about the unity in opposition, remains the moot question? However, the fact remains that, Rahul Gandhi, after ‘Bharat Jodo’ appears far more confident than his earlier avatar and, therefore, his expulsion from Lok Sabha is viewed, by and large, as the government getting rid of the uncomfortable questions raised in the parliament. Will it pave the new wave of support for Rahul Gandhi in the republic, the ground reality suggests otherwise?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Vivekanand Jha Ranchi<\/strong>: As I watched the press Conferences of two political stalwarts: first, it was Ravi Shankar Prasad in Patna, and later, Rahul Gandhi’s response to his disqualification, I must say without malice to anyone, that Ravi Shankar Prasad appeared to me as verbosity personified, with repeating cliche like his parroting of not so convincing accusations against Rahul Gandhi. However, Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking to gain traction with Modi, after his ignominious exit from the Cabinet, is self-manifest to one and all. Second, when I heard Rahul Gandhi, I must say, despite not being–even remotely, a Rahul Gandhi’s supporter, far less his admirer,–I was highly impressed, as the questions he sought the clarifications upon, Unequivocally bothers the nation: The deep rooted relations between Modi and Adani, and where from that huge amount of rupees twenty thousand crores has suddenly cropped up in the hands of the shell companies of Adani conglomerate? Indeed the nation would like to know that, why when investigative agencies are set upon almost all the opposition leaders, not even the single raid, even for the sake of symbolism and tokenism, was conducted against the Adani conglomerate, which had unleashed such a blatant infamy and opprobrium upon the nation’s overall credibility in the corporate governance.<\/p>\n

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Will Rahul’s disqualification lead to the unity of opposition?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having said so, Rahul Gandhi’s condemnation of so called degeneration of Indian democracy in London, and seeking the intervention of Western power for course correction, was simply traitorous, especially contrasting with his grandmother’s refusal to speak a single word against the Shah Commission or the then Janata Party government of the day, which she considered as doing good to the nation. Indira’s refusal to criticise the then government which purportedly had gone for witch hunting against her, won her laurels, whereas Rahul Gandhi’s disparaging remarks against the democracy of his own country, unequivocally appears in bad taste. However, the nation is perturbed today; in fact, baffled beyond words could describe that, if Laloo Yadav, despite being suffering from severe ailments, is being subjected to random charges of corruption, why not a single investigative agency is being set upon to investigate Adani group for its Himalayan omissions and commissions? Is BJP seeking to break the alliance between Nitish and Laloo yet again, is the million dollar’s question today? Is the Modi government seeking to rid Indian democracy of the last vestiges of its opposition, is the question which is haunting the nation, in the context of the hasty expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha?<\/p>\n

But the best thing of Rahul Gandhi is this: he has attained the political maturity of his father at the tag end of his life. Rajiv Gandhi, before he was assassinated, had evolved himself as a matured leader. Interestingly, the best part of Rahul Gandhi is this: He is no more a pappu; in fact, the millions of rupees investment channelised towards designating Rahul as a ‘ Pappu’, appeared to have boomeranged on BJP today: Rahul through his Pappugiri, has taken the wind out of the sail of BJP, for he might emerge as the pivot of opposition unity. Today, notwithstanding the facts churned out by the battery of spokespersons of BJP, it is Rahul Gandhi who appears to be the martyr for being wrongly targeted for taking on the central government, at least by a large section of people, especially his question on relations between Modi and Adani which, despite the avalanche of refutations and denials, inseparably sticks. Regrettably, Prime Minister, more like a leader of a totalitarian regime, far like the Choukidar of a vigilant democracy, who had sought to take the high moral standing in the past, when he had famously said, ‘ Na khaunga, na khane dunga’, to had not spoken a word on Adani, in his response to the presidential address in the parliament, put to shreds the last vestiges of the sound credentials of parliament as the ‘ temple of democracy’. Significantly, blowing his own trumpet, throughout his speech, only amounted to patting his back, rather than restoring the confidence of the citizens that, the prime minister should come out with the truth pertaining to his relations with Adani, and the total failure of the mechanism of corporate governance in the country.<\/p>\n

With the benefits of hindsight, especially in the context of Rahul Gandhi’s expulsion from Lok Sabha, which appears to be hasty and unwarranted as of now, especially when thirty days were given to him by the Session Court of Gujarat to file his appeal against the order of disqualification, in the case of defamation, where he had purportedly sought to defame the people with the surname of ‘ Modi’, smacks of a larger conspiracy to rid the parliament of any tangible criticisms from the opposition, especially when Rahul Gandhi was harping upon Modi– Adani equation. Unequivocally, BJP, willy nilly had given Rahul Gandhi a far higher moral ground now to play his victim card, unless of course the apex court adjudicates against him.<\/p>\n

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Rahul Gandhi seeking to shed his image of ‘ Pappu’ during ‘Bharat jodo’ Mission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moreover, notwithstanding BJP ministers and its leaders singing panegyrics for Modi, the fact Unequivocally remains this: The entire BJP party today is scared of a single man, Narendra Modi and, therefore, none has the guts to oppose him. Yashwant Sinha did it, and he had no takers; the best of experienced leaders in BJP, like Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, stand subjugated and definitively tamed. Thus the behemoth of Modi phenomenon has risen to such an exalted height and higher pedestal that, any uncharitable remarks, far less the censorious and the indicting one, hardly perturbs the messiah of the masses. Whereas India has been progressing, the implausible state of bleak unemployment scenario, the rising cost of living, irrespective of BJP spokesperson would like the nation to believe, will surely be a major issue with the electorate when they will vote in the general election of 2024. Also, the fading space for democracy, is the matter of stupendous concern of the nation, which the expulsion of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha, will add further grist to the mill.<\/p>\n

Significantly, while the BJP might be reveling with an expulsion order served upon the Gandhi scion, with the conviction of winning elections on the basis of majority Hindus indoctrinated to believe that Modi is their messiah, the fundamentals of life such as, ‘ Roti, Kapda aur Makan’ will be the most biting question which will haunt the nation. Moreover, Rahul Gandhi’s expulsion, much like his grand mother’s treatment meted out to her by the then Janata Party of Morarji Bhai Desai, certainly is bound to resonate with the fellow citizens of India. Moreover, even the abrogation of Article 370, apart from being a symbolism, has attained nothing tangible: Kashmiri Hindus continue to languish in different parts of the country, without any firm solution appearing on the horizon. Worse still, the timing of Rahul Gandhi’s expulsion has come at the very crucial juncture: he is being looked upon by a section of people as a martyr for a cause for raising uncomfortable questions on Modi-Adani equation.<\/p>\n

Significantly, All the accusations of his maligning the nation in the foreign territory, even though was getting salliance with the people before his expulsion, from Lok Sabha, invariably lent credence to the fact that BJP was in tearing hurry to get rid of the Gandhi scion; to get rid of the uncomfortable questions that he was raising on behalf of the nation to the Treasury Bench, which found them absolutely vexatious. Better still, the level of confidence Rahul Gandhi has developed today, as it is apparent from his Bharat Jodo mission, when he tries to definitevely succeed in masquerading himself as the crusader for ‘ truth’ in such times when the fear psychosis prevails across the opposition, may result in an unexpected union of the disparate group of opposition, just like it happened when Jaiprakash Narayan sounded bugle against the fascism of Indira Gandhi whose disqualification from Lok Sabha, in the wake of the order from Allahabad High Court, was the precursor for the imposition of emergency as well as her return to power after the brief interregnum of Janata Party rule in the republic. However, Rahul Gandhi is no Indira Gandhi. His wishful thinking can only lead to cul-de-sac unless of course Congress jettisons its demand for the premiership of leading the opposition in Lok Sabha.<\/p>\n

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Rahul Gandhi putting Indian democracy to shreds in London.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In short, Rahul Gandhi’s Pappugiri appears to be reaching a decisive stage: Either swim with the opposition or sink with it. Unknowingly, by expelling Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha, especially after his much laudable ‘ Bharat jodo’ mission, has the BJP appeared to have revived the moribund Congress Party and has also triggered for the opposition unity in the near future, is the moot question that appears in the minds of the fellow citizens, for the continuous emasculation of opposition is akin to the pathetic shrinking of the democratic space ? Should not Rahul Gandhi have been allowed to stay unless the final verdict of Supreme Court would have been delivered? If the secretariat of Lok Sabha would have awaited for the verdict of the apex court, since a petition against the disqualification is already filed in the apex court, perhaps the greater credibility of India’s Parliamentary democracy must have been cemented in the eyes of fellow citizens of the country and the world.<\/p>\n

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Vivekanand Jha, author of Delhi Beckons: RaGa for NaMo, 56 Inches and The Making of Narendra Modi, Unmaking of Jawaharlal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vivekanand Jha
\nAuthor, Academician and a Public Intellectual..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Rahul Gandhi as a ‘ Pappu’ purportedly appears to have turned the table on BJP, as a section of people apparently come to believe, with his disqualification as a member of Lok Sabha.. Will it revive the moribund Congress Party and bring about the unity in opposition, remains the moot question? However, the fact remains […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","category-top-stories-of-madhesh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG-20230326-WA0107.jpg?fit=604%2C415&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paS11m-16F","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/himalini.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}