Rahul Gandhi has made several irresponsible statements that breach conventions and do not augur well for democracy
India is hailed the world over for being a successful and largest democracy. The transition of power on the basis of the mandate of the people has always been peaceful. Indian democracy is now old by one-quarter short of a century. Indian democracy is the largest in the world. India also has a rightful claim on being the oldest democracy, as there had been traditions from Gram Sabha to provinces several centuries ago of vibrant democracy thriving within the country.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi gave a lecture in Cambridge and he made several insinuations about Indian democracy. His umbrage against the Indian democratic process and system is painful. He is indeed an Opposition leader. But his utterances show visceral apathy to the Indian democratic institutions. If the late Pranab Mukherjee had been alive, he would have been saddened at the state of affairs of his former party.
Indian democracy participants for several decades have held the tradition of not taking their sparring and bickering to foreign shores. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when she was touring abroad in the 1970s, had refused to comment when she was asked about the Morarji Desai government’s actions against her. She had said that she would not discuss domestic politics in a foreign land. That was the spirit of Indian democracy. We may fight fiercely within the country, but outside we represent India in true spirit.
Rahul Gandhi chose foreign soil to level allegations of snooping on the government of India. He quoted unnamed intelligence officials to allege that his phone was being tapped. He made the charges of snooping on foreign soil. Such charges have been made in the past as well within the country. But he went to foreign capital to run down the strength of Indian democracy. This calls for a befitting response from all those who have faith in Indian democracy.
Rahul Gandhi may refresh his memory and recall the ugly spat between P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee who were holding the portfolio for Home Affairs and Finance Ministry respectively in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet. Snooping devices were recovered from inside the desk of Pranab Mukherjee. The media headlined the episode for several days. One Cabinet minister was allegedly snooping on his colleague. The matter had gone to Manmohan Singh who brokered peace between the two squabbling ministers. Would Rahul Gandhi enlighten his audience on that episode and allow the people in the country to gain from his insight on why a senior minister of the stature of Pranab Mukherjee was being snooped on? This also warrants an explanation, because P Chidambaram is still a senior Congress leader.
A couple of months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kapil Sibal, who was a senior Congress leader at that time and who had the distinction of having been a Union Minister for Law in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet, had shamed the country by associating with a shady press conference by an anonymous person who remained under the cover but levelled defamatory allegations against the Indian electoral process, elections and the electronic voting machines (EVMs). That anonymous person remained a figure from the dark web. But Sibal gave sanctity to him with his presence. It was clearly made out that the libellous allegations were being made on the blessings of Sibal.
Rahul Gandhi had not condemned Sibal for defaming the Indian democracy. Congress neither expelled him nor sought any explanations from him. Thus, the silence of Congress gave out the impression that the party was also associating with the defamatory allegations of the anonymous person whose whereabouts are still not known. In numbers, Indian democracy is bigger than 90 countries put together in the world.
It would only be Congress that is breaking ranks with the Opposition parties to violate the decades-old tradition of not washing dirty linens on foreign shores. US politics is highly divisive. The country claiming to be the oldest democracy showed the ugly spectacle when the armed forces had to be called to ensure the transition of power after the elections voted out the incumbent president. But the US politicians from the ranks of the Republicans and Democrats never wash their dirty lines on foreign shores. For them, American interests remain supreme when visiting other countries. They would only praise the strength of their institutions.
UK politics is not only sharply divisive but too fragile. The prime ministers don’t last even a year in the UK. The politicians squabble bitterly. But when they are visiting other countries, memories are without incidents of them washing their dirty linens. For them again it’s the British interest that remains supreme.
The Indian politicians also held for decades another unanimity that on matters of national security they would speak in one voice. There cannot be contrasting descriptions and commentaries on issues of terror attacks within the country when speaking within India or abroad. This consensus has been held by all the political parties. But Rahul Gandhi has broken this tradition as well while speaking at Cambridge.
Pulwama terror attack in which several brave personnel of the security forces was an act of war against India by Pakistan. India gave a befitting lesson to Pakistan with successful surgical strikes. India demonstrated that the cost of exporting terrorism will be too high for Pakistan to afford with the surgical strikes. Yet, Rahul Gandhi chose to describe the Pulwama terror attack in his Cambridge lecture as an incident of a ‘car bomb blast’. This is surely baffling. Even a section of Congress leaders must have been in disbelief.
There cannot be any dispute that Jammu and Kashmir was a victim of Pakistan's exported terrorism. But Rahul Gandhi chose to argue that “Jammu and Kashmir is insurgency prone”. There is a world of difference between exported terrorism and insurgency. P Chidambaram, who was a Minister for Home Affairs, can find time to explain the difference between insurgency and terrorism to his party leader.
Rahul Gandhi also claimed that “the Indian Constitution describes India as a Union of States and the country is like Europe, requiring conversations and negotiations among states”. School-going children in India are well versed in the idea of Europe, which has several nations within the continent at war with each other throughout the course of history, with bloodletting still going on at a scale seen only during World War II.
India as a nation is a cultural unit, bound by tradition, history and way of life. What makes Rahul Gandhi think that India is like Europe? Which state in India killed the people of other states on the lines of European countries? In India, the tradition is that the Tamil Culture will be incomplete without Kashi, and Banaras is also incomplete without Rameshwaram. The people in Manipur share similar culture to those who inhabit the western state of Gujarat. In contrast, no historian ever has said that Europe is a nation. Europe is a continent, with nations at war against each other. Even the economic compulsion failed to bring success to the European Union.
It is incumbent upon the opposition parties in India to condemn Rahul Gandhi for his irresponsible statements made on a foreign shore. Aspersions must not be cast on the Indian democracy abroad.
(Author is a political analyst)