Rahul Gandhi leads Opposition attack on BJP in Lok Sabha; PM Modi rebuts him

NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s speech attacking leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying they were not Hindus in the true sense rocked the Lok Sabha on Monday, leading to furious protests by BJP lawmakers including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who intervened to counter the leader’s charges.

PM Modi took strong exception to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that those who call themselves Hindus had engaged in “violence and hate” and said, “To call the entire Hindu society as violent is a very serious issue.”

Gandhi, who was making his first speech in the Lok Sabha after being appointed as LoP, insisted that he was speaking about the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS), and not the entire Hindu society.

Gandhi’s frontal attack on the BJP during the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address also criticised the central government for the Agniveer scheme and not ensuring that farmers got a good price for their crop, leading Union defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union home minister Amit Shah and agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to counter the Congress leader’s statements and demanding his apology.

Gandhi did not budge. “For the last ten years, there has been a systematic, full-scale assault on the Constitution, on the idea of India and also on those millions of people who resisted the idea of the concentration of power and wealth of the country and aggression on poor, minorities, tribals. They were crushed. I was attacked by an order of this government and the PM. 20 plus cases have been filed against me. ED interrogated me for 55 hours. I have been given a two-year jail sentence. My house has been taken away. There has been a relentless attack on media,” Gandhi said in his first speech in the 18th Lok Sabha.

“When you are under attack, you need ideas to defend you. To defend the idea of India, I found inspiration from Lord Shiva. I got the protection of Shiv ji,” Gandhi said, holding up a poster featuring Lord Shiva.

Gandhi claimed God Shiva’s image manifests the idea of non-violence and that no one should fear and went on to say that in India's history, there are three foundational ideas including India is a country of non-violence and without any fear. He added it is clearly written that people have to fight for truth.

“You spread fear. The opposition’s response was Bharat Jodo Yatra. You have scared women through price rise. I met a family of an Agniveer. I call him a martyr. But Modi calls him Agniveer. There is no pension for him, there is no status of a martyr. Agniveer is a use-and-throw mazdoor. You are creating differences between soldiers.”

Defence minister Rajnath Singh strongly refuted Gandhi’s claims and said, “LoP shouldn’t mislead the house by giving wrong speeches. If an Agniveer dies during war or at border, his family gets ₹1 crore.” Home minister Amit Shah also rose to stress the point. “He should give the factual position… Otherwise, he should apologize.”

Gandhi refused. “I have spoken. Rajnath Singh has stated his position. The people of the country know what is the truth. His speech or my speech would not make any difference. The country knows Agniveer is not the scheme of the army… it is a scheme of the PM.

Rajnath again stood up to refute Gandhi’s claim, “158 organizations were consulted before this scheme was launched. It is a well-planned scheme. Such schemes are there in different countries including UK and US… His remarks should be expunged.”

Gandhi brushed aside the protests, reiterating that when the Opposition alliance comes to power in the future, the Agniveer scheme would be scrapped.

He also attacked the BJP over J&K and Manipur. “For the first time in history, you have taken away a state.. you have thrown Manipur into chaos. The PM didn’t go to Manipur even once. It seems as if Manipur is not a state for PM and HM. It looks as if there is no civil war in Manipur.”

Gandhi also took a swipe at Modi, saying the prime minister had said that he has a direct connection with the God” which probably told him to take decisions such as demonetisation and implement a flawed GST.

“MSMEs have been destroyed. Job creation’s backbone is broken due to demonetisation… It was done for Adani, Ambani ji. IT department harasses small entrepreneurs. Even in Gujarat, small traders said, it was done for billionaires. Narendra Modi works for billionaires.”

“To scare farmers, you have destroyed the land law which we made. Then you brought three laws. The PM said it will benefit farmers. the truth is that it was to benefit Adani, Ambani. Farmers opposed and you called them terrorists,” Gandhi said amid an uproar.

Gandhi added that “NEET students spend years to prepare for exams. And the truth is NEET students don’t believe in the exams and it is designed for rich people and not for meritorious people. This creates a quota for rich people. The students study but don’t know if the exams will be leaked or not.”

Turning to speaker Om Birla, Gandhi recalled the moments shortly after he was re-elected as presiding officer of the House. “When you were going to that chair, I walked with you there. You are the final arbitrator in Lok Sabha and all these things define our democracy. There are two people: Speaker of the Indian Union and Mr. Om Birla. I saw you were straight when you shook my hands. But you bent to shake Modi’s hands.”

Birla defended his gesture and said, “My culture and traditions tell me to show respect to people who are senior to me. Also, the Prime Minister is the Leader of the House.” Gandhi said he accepted Birla’s stand but also told him “You are the tallest leader in this House. You should never bow before anyone.”