The concept of a divided nation engulfed by a maelstrom of hate is an illusion and nothing more.
On 24 December as the year 2022 wound to a close, Rahul Gandhi’s much hyped and seemingly altruistic Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) lumbered into Delhi, where he promptly unleashed a vicious tirade against the government. As per the Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi, the nation is in dire straits, pushed to the precipice by the supposedly hate ideology of the BJP and its incompetent policies; its institutions are crumbling, free speech is in danger and the country stands fragmented as a result of discordant divisiveness.
Hence, the need for Bharat Jodo Yatra. Rahul Gandhi is the Congress’ knight in shining armour riding out to save the nation with his message of love and unity. But is the Congress Party really the unifying force that it claims to be? Is it a paragon of secular values that it propounds? And are its democratic credentials impeccable? The answer is in the negative. This is a mere charade; a desperate bid to remain relevant.
An objective examination of the track record of the Congress reveals a tale of moral turpitude at odds with the holier than thou image that the party projects. Behind the badge of secularism that it flaunts is an unscrupulous organization with a sense of entitlement; a party that will do anything to assuage its ego and to retain power. Pogroms, facilitating illegal migration and retaining antithetical laws like Article 370 and destroying democracy are all fair game.
The anti-Sikh carnage of 1984 is a classic example of the Congress’ hypocrisy and a pogrom. The Congress instigated, planned and executed a one-sided, organized massacre of over 3,000 Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination. It was not a Hindu-Sikh riot. The Nanavati Commission confirmed the involvement of the Congress: “The systematic manner in which the Sikhs were thus killed indicate that the attacks on them were organized. Whatever acts were done, were done by the local Congress (I) leaders and workers, and they appear to have done so for their personal political reasons.” (Nanavati Report, Part iv.)
A deliberate delay in deploying the Army and Rajiv Gandhi’s famous statement, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes” further expose the Congress party’s chicanery and insensitivity.
Another less known pogrom also points to Congress involvement. Post Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination by Nathuram Godse (a Brahmin), Maharashtra was rocked by violence that had Congress goons running amok torching Brahmin homes and killing Brahmins. While there are no official figures, some claim that thousands of Brahmins lost their lives. In Maharashtrian Brahmin circles these killings are still referred to as “jalapol”—Marathi for “arson”. This is one of the “worst kept secrets of modern India”. The historian Vikram Sampath refers to this in a recent interview: “Today’s generation would not know that this even happened. While writing ‘Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past’, several people, whose ancestors witnessed the pogrom or were affected by it, came forward to share their stories.”
Post-Independence, the Congress’ “vote bank” politics facilitated illegal immigration into Assam, provoking local dissension and a dangerous instability. In 1979, the simmering discontent burst out into the open in the form of the Assam movement. The agitation lasted for six years and saw daily protests and unimaginable violence. The widespread opposition to the CAA-NRC in 2020 that had the blessing of the Congress, was essentially an attempt to safeguard the gains of illegal immigration and sustain the divisiveness of Assam so that political interests could prevail.
Qualms about Narendra Modi’s autocratic and anti-democratic demeanour are more fiction than fact. In 2002, when he was subject to overwhelming criticism for his handling of the Gujarat riots, he resigned prematurely, recommended dissolution of the assembly and sought a vote of trust from the public—a democratic gesture par excellence. The BJP has always respected the democratic process. In late 1999, the BJP lost the floor test in the Lok Sabha by a single vote in a house of 540; a dubious vote cast by a Congress member (Giridhar Gamang), who had ceased for all intents and purposes to be a member of the Lok Sabha after being elected to the state legislature. Yet, without a murmur of protest, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (the then BJP prime minister) respected the will of the Lok Sabha and resigned in the larger interest of democracy.
Contrast this with what the Congress PM the late Indira Gandhi did. In 1975, when the Allahabad High Court invalidated her election, she chose to suspend the Constitution and imposed a state of Emergency.
Article 370 was a statute that fed into the secessionist agenda in Kashmir. Yet the Congress Party was content to maintain the status quo; it lacked the will and courage to confront a decree that challenged India’s unity; the BJP accomplished this task in 2019.
India is more united today than it has ever been since Independence; there is no symbolic barrier between Kashmir and India; there is a sense of stability in Assam in contrast to the turmoil of the 1980s. And the umpteen number of massive protests (farmers’ stir, CAA agitation) is ample proof that democracy is alive and kicking under the Modi regime.
The concept of a divided nation engulfed by a maelstrom of hate is an illusion; a spectre skilfully engendered by deliberate violent street protests, by distorting normally found criminal aberrations of society as hate crimes and by stoking the subliminal paranoia of minorities. It is a figment of imagination confined to the warped minds of negativists.
It is preposterous that a party that has thrived on disunity, imposed a state of emergency, engineered hateful pogroms and one that does not hesitate to embarrass the government during tense confrontations with hostile neighbours, is attempting to sell a message of love, unity and free speech.