FRAGRANCE OF IDEAS
Politics in India gave rise to a number of prominent political leaders for the last one century. Once India got freedom in 1947, leaders from both the sides, the treasury benches as well as the opposition, occupied their due space in the socio-political spectrum of the country. While the national leaders from the government side impacted the socio-political scenario of the country hugely, the leaders from the opposition also created history of various sorts from time to time.
For a long time after the independence of India, the parliament didn’t have a recognized leader of opposition (LoP) in either of the houses due to the paucity of numbers on the opposition benches. It was made a precedent (in absence of a rule to that effect) to appoint the LoP in the house only when the party he or she belonged to had a minimum of 10% of the total strength of the house. Accordingly, there could be no recognized LoP in the parliament though a galaxy of veteran leaders won elections and occupied the opposition benches in both the houses of parliament.
In 1969, when the Indian National Congress got split into Congress (I) and Congress (O), the group of parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha under the banner of Congress (O) claimed the position of LoP. Accordingly, Ram Subhag Singh was appointed the Leader of Opposition on 17th December, 1969 for the first time by the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha. He occupied this position for almost one year. Thereafter, there was again no LoP in the Lok Sabha up to 1977 and Y.B.Chavan was appointed the LoP in 1977 during the Janta Party government. He was followed by a number of stalwart appointees thereafter.
Seriatim, C.M. Stephen, Y.B.Chavan, Jagjivan Ram, Rajiv Gandhi, L.K. Advani, P.V. Narsimharao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sharad Pawar, Sonia Gandhi, L.K Advani and Sushma Swaraj held the position of LoP in the lower house at various points of time from 1978 to 2014. They played their role as per the norms, procedures and precedence set earlier by their predecessors. Everyone contributed their bit to enrich the parliamentary proceedings, democratic traditions and the political space in the country. Some made great impact even in the countries outside India while discharging their official duties.
It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then LoP, who played a historic role in Geneva as the leader of the Indian official delegation in the UNHRC high profile conference on human rights in 1994. He advocated the Indian position before the world representatives in the most befitting manner on behalf of the Indian government. His role in the capacity of LoP is considered as iconic by the political pundits not only in India but also outside India. He indeed left a bench mark not only as the capable LoP but also as the most revered national leader for the generations to follow.
There are hardly any instances that suggest any sort of uncalled for behavior or anti-India propaganda being conducted by the LoPs on foreign soil while on their visits abroad. Except during the period of Emergency in 1975-77 when the media was muzzled in India and silenced by the oppressive regime of Indira Gandhi, no leader from the opposition ranks raised the internal issues of the country in foreign countries. It is a fact that during the Emergency era, Karpoori Thakur, Kidar Nath Sahni and Dr. Subramanyam Swamy campaigned against the Emergency abroad and brought to limelight the atrocities committed in India by the Central government under the banner of Emergency.
This was only an aberration in the entire modern political history of India up to 2014. It was a period when fundamental rights of the citizens in the country were suspended, leaders of opposition parties, labour unions, student bodies and some social & cultural organizations were put behind the bars without trial and a large number of organizations were banned without any right to appeal. This was politically indeed a very exceptional period and can’t be equated with the normal times in history. The most irritating actions of the government included the suppression of the voice of opposition in the media which compelled some opposition leaders to get into touch with the foreign media abroad to make their voices heard.
Coming back to the original discussion, when elections to the Lok Sabha were held in 2014 and 2019, Congress fell to its historic lowest numbers in the Lok Sabha both the times and couldn’t therefore claim the position of LoP. However, Rahul Gandhi, besides others, as a senior leader of the Congress played the role of an important parliamentarian from the opposition benches in a very typical manner. Instead of raising the public issues in the parliament seriously, he chose to steal the limelight by indulging in various kinds of theatrics in and outside the parliament unbecoming of an important leader. Unfortunately, due to his overtures, he got recognition as a non-serious political personality in the socio-political spectrum of the country.
Adding insult to injury, Rahul Gandhi as one of the prominent opposition leaders indulged in large-scale anti-India propaganda whenever he visited abroad and especially the western countries right from 2014 to 2024. Besides launching an attack on the government of India led by Narendra Modi, he in fact got engaged in an anti-national narrative on the foreign soil and was observed closely associated with anti-India elements in foreign countries. He didn’t mince words in castigating the policies of the Indian government there and also brought huge disrespect and disrepute to the position of India through his speeches, interactions and public postures on foreign soil.
In June 2024, when results of the general elections were declared, the Congress got an increased number of seats (99), well above 10% of the total strength of the house, and thus claimed the position of LoP. The newly elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla, accordingly appointed the Congress nominee Rahul Gandhi to the important position. It was expected that the appointment of Rahul Gandhi in the new constitutional position for the first time would bring some positive change in his overall character, thinking, behaviour and overtures in and outside the parliament. But that didn’t happen and Rahul Gandhi continued with his earlier ‘stance and standards’ and further started giving wild hints that he wasn’t any less than the leader of the house in the parliament.
His irresponsible behaviour in the parliament asking the opposition members to create ruckus in the house, speaking lies on the floor of the house compelling the Speaker to expunge his words from the records, demeaning the position of the chair, exercising walk-outs when the Prime Minister would speak and his continuous refusal to listen to the Speaker’s instructions clearly indicate that he was more interested in anarchy and mayhem than a peaceful resolution of the issues. He is willingly and with design engaging in several varieties of propaganda not only against Modi, BJP, RSS, Hindutva and the constitutionally established institutions of the nation but also against the constitutional decorum and established political, social and cultural values of the nation.
This time during the month of September on his visit to the US, he was again publicly seen with the anti-India forces active abroad, speaking venom against India and the political situation in India. His statements that India is not a nation but a Union of states speaks volumes about his misplaced mindset. Rahul’s constitutional responsibilities as the LoP haven’t brought any change in his overall thinking, actions and reactions. He stands guided by the same anti-India narrative that influenced him during the period 2014-2024.
Though Congress is believed to be the originator of the so-called Khalistani movement in Punjab to dislodge Akali Dal government, the same was decimated to dust by the Congress under PM Narasimha Rao and the regional strap CM Beant Singh during the early nineties of the last century. Rahul Gandhi’s shameful lies about danger to the rights of the Sikh community in wearing ‘pagri and karra’ in India, whether Sikhs could go to the Gurudwara, caste related diatribes against Modi government, fresh ‘occupation’ of Indian territory by China and personal attacks against PM Narendra Modi in US have been vehemently refuted by the government and even castigated by various leaders in the country. What is the most unacceptable thing is when his target of attack is India, overtly or covertly, and even tangentially. That “India was not a fair country” is one of the most disliked, disregarded and obnoxious comments made by him in the US.
He is hardly sensitive to his constitutional position in India and is maintaining his close tie-up with people like Illhan Omar, the US Congresswoman known for her blatantly anti-India position and stance. While attacking Modi for no reason, Rahul is silent on the economic and security mess in which Congress left India in 2014. He is also mum about the economic reforms and rejuvenation the Modi government brought during the period 2014-24. While on the one hand, the Congress claims itself as the biggest political movement to realise freedom from the Britishers, on the other hand their leader in the shape of Rahul Gandhi in the capacity of LoP is busy in the propaganda against the unity and integrity of India.
It seems crystal clear that Rahul Gandhi has taken it as his mission to sow seeds of discord in Indian society by raising issues of caste, creed, region, language and religion. His target appears to disband the age-old bonds of the society so that his party thrives on the disunity factor in order to achieve power. On certain issues, he considers himself ‘entitled’ to speak trash not only against the government and the political parties and leaders but also against the Sanatan and the majority community of the nation. He also considers doing propaganda against his nation abroad as his chosen agenda to mislead people to achieve his dubious political goals.
For all practical purposes, the position of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha has been devalued and converted to the ‘Leader of Propaganda’ by Rahul Gandhi. He seems determined to continue with his agenda as a means to bring down the government by hook or by crook. The government and the whole nation need to ponder on this serious situation created by the Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi who will surely leave no stone unturned to further take ahead his negative propaganda as the de facto Leader of propaganda….!
(The author is a senior BJP and KP leader, human rights defender, author and columnist and can be reached at [email protected])
