The Lok Sabha saw a rejuvenated Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi taking potshots at the Narendra Modi government, signaling a shift within the Congress camp.
Gandhi, who was clean-shaven instead of sporting the fuzz, spoke with what seemed like unusual vigour, ripping into the Modi government especially over the Union Budget, the Rohith Vemula suicide and the JNU sedition row. He also went on the attack on the issue of black money.
The Bhoot of the Black Money Promise
Rahul Gandhi began his attack with the BJP’s election promise of bringing back black money that was stashed abroad. Rahul said, “Modi ji promised that all those with black money will be sent to jail. But instead they found a way to save these people”.
There is a fair and lovely scheme under which you can pay tax to Arun Jaitley and all your black money will turn white.
Make In India’s Babbar Sher
Rahul Gandhi then moved on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet scheme, Make in India. He alleged that the government had boasted of creating jobs but failed to deliver on that promise too.
Wherever I go, I see Make in India’s logo: Babbar Sher. But I want to ask you something very basic. How many jobs have you successfully created through Make in India?
JNU, Rohith Vemula and Allegations of Deafening Silence
On the unrest in the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the subsequent attacks on JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and the media by goons in lawyers’ cloaks, Rahul asked why the government had not said a word.
Gandhi defended Kanhaiya Kumar and said the jailed student leader hadn’t said a word against the country but still had been jailed by the government.
Why was the prime minister silent when media persons and students were beaten up outside the court? 60 percent of JNU students are Dalit, OBC and backward class people. You will not succeed in clamping down on them because they are poor and backward.
Speaking of silence, the suicide of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula was another issue that Rahul Gandhi attacked the prime minister for.
Gandhi touched on the PM’s inability to engage with Rohith’s family, saying, “I am asked why I visited Vemula’s family, the PM has not spoken to the family even once.”
The Chai with Pakistan That Lacked Vision
Rahul also lashed out at Modi for not listening to anyone, including his External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
He said the UPA government had scored a diplomatic victory over Pakistan and “destroyed their reputation” after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan directly attacked this country in Mumbai. They trained and sent killers into Mumbai. And what does the PM do? He decides to have to go to Pakistan and have a cup of tea with (Pakistan Prime Minister) Nawaz Sharif, without any vision.
He said Modi “did not bother to ask anyone” before making a sudden trip to Lahore.
“He didn’t ask Sushma ji even. He just went there as if only his opinion matters,” the Congress leader said.
We trapped Pakistan into a little diplomatic cage. We convinced the world that they were global terror supporters. How did we do that? Our prime minister took everyone’s advice. The biggest strategic victory against Pakistan has been achieved. What does Modi do? He decides to go have a cup of tea with Nawaz Sharif.
Concluding his speech with thumping desks, he asked the prime minister to listen to his own Cabinet before making such big decisions.
Savarkar vs Gandhi
With reports that the Congress had engaged social media wizard Prashant Kishor, Rahul’s punches seemed to have gained that extra-crucial timing. Ribbing the prime minister, Gandhi said, “Modi never makes mistakes, we make mistakes and learn from them.”
He also took note of the continuing polarisation in the country, the most recent of which being an alleged incendiary speech by Minister of State Katheria in Agra. Gandhi said, “It is Gandhi vs Savarkar, it is ahimsa vs violence.”
The Monument of Failures Called MNREGA
On the budget, Rahul said, “The budget is Modiji’s fair & lovely scheme, black money to become white.”
Underlining the similarities between Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s third Budget and the budgets placed in Parliament by P Chidambaram, his predecessor in the UPA, the Congress president said he thought, given the outlay to the MGNREGA in Budget 2016, that the budget was being presented by Chidambaram.
In the current budget, Jaitley allocated over Rs 38,500 crore to MGNREGA.
Jaitley ji came to me and said there is no better scheme than the MNREGA. I asked him why he has not told his boss this? I know Modi ji is a powerful man but you should try and talk to him about these things.
Not letting go of the opportunity, Gandhi poked fun at the PM’s style of functioning. “PM can’t run the country based on his own opinion. The country is not the PM, and the PM is not the country,” he said.
The Naga Accord: Gone with the Wind
Rahul also referred to the time when the BJP government had signed a peace accord with NSCN(IM)‘s Isak Muivah. He said the Prime Minister had informed the Opposition that the Naga problem had been solved but the accord, Rahul claimed, is now nowhere.
The Congress President panicked when he made the announcement. She called me and asked me to find out if our chief ministers know about it. But I heard that even officials in the Home Ministry did not know. The bigger question is, where is that accord now? Puff. It’s gone with the wind.
(With inputs from Neelima)
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