By Sushil Kutty
It’s Kurukshetra. And Mahabharata. Bharat Jodo yatri Rahul Gandhi alleges the RSS are “21st Century Kauravas in khaki half pants”. And RSS Chief Mohan Mohan Bhagwat says Hindus are not finished with the “1000-year war with foreign invaders, foreign aggressions, foreign influences and foreign conspiracies.” The 21st century war is political, with Rahul Gandhi positioning the RSS/BJP as the Kauravas, and leaving it to the people’s imagination as to who’s the Pandava?
A couple of days ago, Rahul Gandhi likened himself to Arjuna when asked what he expected from the BJY? Rahul asked “did you” ask Arjuna what he expected from shooting the fish straight in the eye?
So, is Rahul Gandhi 21st century Arjuna? Salman Khurshid had called Rahul Gandhi “Lord Ram”. The impression one gets is the Congress is forcing the BJP to defend its Hindu vote-bank, which must be in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ that sought to lure the Muslims away from secular parties
Modi had after his 2019 victory increasingly taken for granted his Hindu vote-bank and this was irking a big chunk of Hindus who were in the thrall of Modi for returning to them their lost 1000-year-old aggression. By positioning himself as a bigger Hindu, Rahul Gandhi has rattled the Sangh Parivar who were cozy in their comfort zone.
Rahul Gandhi’s presser-a-day has brought the “21st Century Kauravas in khaki half pants” out of their hideouts. Being many times more ideologically committed than the BJP, the RSS has taken up “Hindus” more aggressively, asking Muslims to give up notions of “supremacy” now that the Hindu has “finally awakened”.
The problem is Rahul Gandhi and the Congress are cutting through a backlog of several more thousands of years than the RSS’s 1000 years, forcing the hand of the RSS to speak for the ideologically-shrunk BJP, which had lost its Hindutva-edge in the years since 2014.
Narendra Modi’s urge to be crowned ‘Vishwaguru’ at the expense of Hindutva has dulled his appeal among hardliner-Hindus. And now there are other “Hindu” politicians with growing popular appeal among Hindus. The “2st Century Kauravas in khakhi half pants” can see the danger if the BJP loses even a portion of its Hindu vote-bank to the Congress, or the AAP.
If a section of the floating Hindu vote-bank abandoned Modi, there would be hell to pay for the BJP post-2024. RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat cannot risk minimizing the threat. The 1000-year war will be comprehensively lost if the BJP’s Hindu vote-bank is up for grabs.
If Bhagwat is given his say, Hindus were now at the top of their game. Of course, with help from the RSS. “You see, Hindu society has been at war for over 1,000 years… Sangh has offered its support to this cause… And it is because of all these that the Hindu society has awakened. It is but natural for those at war to be aggressive.”
But Rahul Gandhi is also Hindu. At Ambala, which is the land of the Mahabharata, he asked, “Who were the Kauravas? I will first tell you about the 21st century Kauravas, they wear khakhi half-pants, they carry lathi in hand and hold shakhas… India’s 2-3 billionaires are standing with the Kauravas.”
The BJP/RSS war with the Congress for the Hindu heart and vote has gone Hindu. “Did the Pandavas do demonetisation, implement the wrong GST? Would they have ever done so? Never. Why? Because they were tapasvis…. Narendra Modi did sign on these decisions, but the power of India’s 2-3 billionaires were behind it, whether you agree or not.”`
According to Rahul, there are the “tapasvis” and arrayed against them the “crowded organization”. And with the tapasvis people of all religions. “Like this (Bharat Jodo) Yatra, nobody asks anyone from where he comes, it is a shop of love in the market of hate”.
For the RSS, however, only the Hindus matter. After a gap of a 1000 years living in the shadows of “foreign invaders”, the Hindu is ready to challenge the entrenched sense of supremacy in the Muslims. In an expansive mood, Bhagwat said Muslims need not worry about the newfound Hindu aggression because there pervades in Hindustan the spirit of live and let live.
Bhagwat is the simpleton who talks in riddles and leaves listeners wondering whether he’s for real. He says, and is convinced, which is dangerous, that Hindus are aggressive because they have been at war for “over 1,000 years and (have) finally awakened” with the Sangh’s support
When Bhagwat says “Hindu society” is fighting not against an “enemy outside”, but against an “enemy within”, it is double the danger. Who is the enemy within? Bhagwat’s “enemy within” and his spelling it out as “war to defend Hindu society, Hindu dharma and Hindu culture” makes it extremely dangerous.
Bhagwat talked of “people are likely to get overzealous”, and that “provocative statements will be uttered”. It appears beyond doubt that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has forced the RSS hand to come out into the open and is painting a very grim picture of what is in store if the Muslims did not “abandon their claim of supremacy”.
In one sentence, the Muslim has been told he enjoys a special status in “Hindustan” – “stick to your faith; if you want to return to the faith of your ancestors, that’s okay; it is entirely your choice. Islam has nothing to fear. But at the same time, abandon your boisterous rhetoric of supremacy…”
The 2024 general elections are very important. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and Congress party claiming its share of the Hindu vote-bank has upset the Hindu right’s long-term plans and the warning did not take long in coming. (IPA Service)
