Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed the Lok Sabha for the first time as the Leader of the Opposition yesterday (July 1). He spoke in a very aggressive manner and showed that the functioning of the new Lok Sabha will also be aggressive. From his aggressive body language, it was also seen that the party strength in the Parliament has changed. The voice of the opposition has increased in the Parliament and the voice of the people cannot be suppressed by the fear of the majority, Rahul Gandhi repeatedly emphasized in his speech. He repeatedly took aim at Prime Minister Modi in his speech. In this speech which lasted for almost one and a half hours, Rahul Gandhi criticized the working of the Prime Minister, the Central Government and the BJP-RSS to such an extent that even the Union Ministers sitting on the ruling benches repeatedly tried to create obstacles in his speech. Narendra Modi himself stood up once and Amit Shah three or four times and objected to Rahul Gandhi’s statement. However, it could not have much impact on Rahul Gandhi’s speech or its effectiveness.
The scuffle was witnessed in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address. In his speech, Rahul Gandhi strongly criticized the NDA government. Agneepath scheme, NEET exam mess, issue of minimum guarantee, violence in Manipur and even demonetisation decision taken in 2016 by Rahul Gandhi. He lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for creating an atmosphere of fear, violence and hatred in the country over the past decade. He also strongly criticized the increasing sense of insecurity among Muslims and Sikhs as well as minority communities due to these black acts of the government.
The true meaning of religion
The special feature of Rahul Gandhi’s speech is that he explained the true meaning of religion to the BJP and RSS in a very effective manner. For that he took enough time in his speech and arranged by showing pictures of heads of all religions. It is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi has made such a statement regarding religion. Even before this, he has stated that the religion of BJP is aggravating and that it is not the true Hindu religion. He has reiterated the ‘Peaceful and non-violent Hindu’ religion to support BJP’s ‘Hindutva’. “Narendra Modi is not Hindu society, BJP is not Hindu society, RSS is not Hindu society,” he asserted, accusing the BJP of promoting violence and fear across the country in the name of religion. Rahul Gandhi calls himself a devotee of Shiva. In the Lok Sabha yesterday on Monday, he explained the meaning of ‘Abhay Mudra’ shown by the photographs of apostles, religious leaders and great men of various religions like Mahadev, Guru Nanak, Buddha, Mahavir.
He connected the meaning of this abhaya mudra with the declaration of ‘daro mat’ repeated earlier. He also asserted that the ‘Abhay Mudra’ shown by all Gods, Prophets or religious leaders is similar to the Congress election symbol. Therefore, he asserted that we opponents are truly peaceful, non-violent and fearless religious. While he was elaborating on this interpretation of Hinduism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself objected and said, “It is a serious matter to make the entire Hindu community violent.” Effectively countering the Prime Minister’s attack, Rahul Gandhi asserted, “Modi, BJP and RSS are not Hindu Samaj”. Earlier, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah or any senior leader of the ruling party had never even felt the need to stand up and intervene during the opposition’s speech. However, for the first time, the ruling party appeared desperate. Further, Rahul Gandhi also criticized the BJP over the defeat in Ayodhya. Rahul Gandhi said that Ayodhya has given a right message to BJP. Awadhesh Prasad, MP from Ayodhya (Faizabad Lok Sabha Constituency) was sitting next to him. By joining hands with them, Rahul Gandhi also mocked the BJP. Awadhesh Prasad has defeated BJP’s Lallu Singh in Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency.
Harsh criticism of Prime Minister Modi
Rahul Gandhi repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Modi in his speech. He also mocked them in the middle. Prime Minister Modi claimed that he is not biological during the Lok Sabha election campaign. Mocking this claim of Prime Minister Modi, Rahul Gandhi said that the country has got a Prime Minister who has a direct connection with God. We are all mortal humans. However, the Prime Minister considers himself supernatural and an incarnation of God. “God communicates directly with Modi’s soul; But we are all other human beings”, he said. Rahul Gandhi took PM Modi on edge over another similar issue. Modi had claimed during the election campaign that the world came to know about Mahatma Gandhi after the release of the film. Before that, hardly anyone knew him. Taking a dig at this statement, Rahul Gandhi said, “You can see the level of ignorance. Modi says that because of a film, the world understood the father of the country.”
Further, Rahul Gandhi claimed that Prime Minister Modi himself is feared by BJP leaders. “When I arrived in the morning, Rajnath Singh greeted me with a smile. Now Modi ji is sitting in the hall, he does not respond with a smile or look at all. They are sitting with a very serious face. They don’t even say namaste for fear that Modiji will see. The same applies to Nitin Gadkari . Oh, let alone the people of Ayodhya, they are scaring the people of their own party”, said Rahul Gandhi. After Rahul Gandhi’s statement, PM Modi rose again and responded by saying, “Democracy and the Constitution have taught me that I should take the Leader of the Opposition seriously.” After that, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah also tried to register objections by asking for evidence regarding the claims made by Rahul Gandhi on the Agneepath scheme. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also intervened and said that everyone should respect Prime Minister Modi. Rahul Gandhi said, “We respect Modi; We are only narrating the statements he has made”, he said.
This showed that the heated political atmosphere in the Lok Sabha elections has not yet cooled down. The zeal of Rahul Gandhi’s speech was equally aggressive. He caught the government in a quandary over inflation, Manipur, unemployment, demonetisation, Agneepath and paper cuts. Rahul Gandhi also accused the government of ‘use and throw away’ the ‘firefighters’.
