BJP is not custodian of Hinduism, says Rahul
Modi, Shah object to LOP’s speech attacking on all Hindus
By : Vineeta Pandey
Update: 2024-07-01 18:18 GMT
NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed a fiery face-off between the Opposition and the Treasury benches during Rahul Gandhi’s hard-hitting maiden speech as the Leader of the Opposition. Speaking during the motion of thanks on the President’s address, Gandhi targeted the government, raising issues of the Agniveer recruitment scheme, inflation, the NEET paper leak, violence in Manipur and the farmers’ grievances, forcing the Treasury benches to constantly clarify and counter. But an unrelenting Rahul Gandhi hammered issues one after the other in his speech of close to two hours that saw several interruptions from the Treasury benches and interjections by Union Cabinet ministers. Gandhi accused the BJP of doing the “politics of hatred” in the name of Hindutva and displayed photographs of symbols and gods of different religions to convey that no religion preaches hatred and violence.
In his aggressive speech, which was at times laced with wit and humour too, Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet ministers several times and did not spare even the Lok Sabha Speaker.
To counter him, the PM had to get up twice to respond and home minister Amit Shah interjected five times. In between, the defence minister, agriculture minister, rural development minister and commerce minister also tried to counter Gandhi’s multi-pronged attack. Shah asked Gandhi to authenticate his claims against the government.
“All religions and all our great men talk about non-violence and fearlessness, but those who call themselves Hindus are engaged in violence, hate and falsehood round the clock… Aap Hindu ho hi nahi (You are not Hindus),” said Gandhi, pointing towards BJP MPs, leading to an uproar from them. The ministers demanded an apology from Gandhi for targeting the Hindu religion.
“All religions and all our great men talk about non-violence and fearlessness, but those who call themselves Hindus are engaged in violence, hate and falsehood round the clock… Aap Hindu ho hi nahi (You are not Hindus),” said Gandhi, pointing towards BJP MPs, leading to an uproar from them. The ministers demanded an apology from Gandhi for targeting the Hindu religion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately got up to say that calling the whole Hindu society violent was a serious matter. Shah sought the Congress leader’s apology to the House and the country for hurting the feelings of crores of people who take pride in identifying themselves as Hindus. However, Gandhi did not stop.
“You are not true Hindus. The BJP doesn’t represent Hindus. Narendra Modi is not the entire Hindu samaj, RSS is not the entire Hindu samaj. You are not the custodians of Hinduism,” continued Gandhi, amid thumping of tables by the Opposition. Later, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who watched him speak from visitors’ gallery along with their mother, Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi, said: “He (Rahul) cannot insult Hindus. He said it very clearly. He talked about the BJP, he talked about BJP leaders.”
Hitting back, Shah mentioned the Emergency and the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots, saying he has no right to talk about non-violence when the Congress had spread “terror” in the country. The Opposition countered him by mentioning the violence in Godhra (Gujarat) and Manipur.
Hitting back, Shah mentioned the Emergency and the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots, saying he has no right to talk about non-violence when the Congress had spread “terror” in the country. The Opposition countered him by mentioning the violence in Godhra (Gujarat) and Manipur.
Taunting the BJP, Gandhi said he was happy that the saffron party was now talking about the Constitution, given the fact that in the last 10 years there has been a full-scale systematic attack on the Constitution and its principles. He added millions have resisted the ideology of the BJP and the attack on the Constitution and alleged that all those who resisted were crushed, jailed, threatened and attacked.
“Not only the Opposition but anyone who resisted the concentration of power and wealth, be it minorities, Dalits, were crushed, jailed, threatened. I myself faced relentless attacks. There were 20-plus cases (against me), (my) house was taken away. I faced 55 hours of interrogation (by ED),” Gandhi said. Despite these challenges, he said he feels proud of the collective effort to protect the Constitution. “It feels nice that BJP people are now repeating 'Jai Samvidhan' after me,” he said.
In a rare move by any MP, Gandhi displayed photographs of Lord Shiva followed by symbols of Islam and photos of Guru Nanak, Jesus Christ, the Buddha and Mahavir to convey that all religions spread love and tolerance and not hatred and violence. Speaker Om Birla tried to stop Gandhi from showing the photographs “saying people worship them”. But the LoP did not stop. At one point he placed all the photographs on the table of the Speaker, but then Gandhi had many more of their copies with him. He pulled them out one after another to make his point.
In a rare move by any MP, Gandhi displayed photographs of Lord Shiva followed by symbols of Islam and photos of Guru Nanak, Jesus Christ, the Buddha and Mahavir to convey that all religions spread love and tolerance and not hatred and violence. Speaker Om Birla tried to stop Gandhi from showing the photographs “saying people worship them”. But the LoP did not stop. At one point he placed all the photographs on the table of the Speaker, but then Gandhi had many more of their copies with him. He pulled them out one after another to make his point.
Gandhi made sarcastic comments on the PM, saying that he has a “direct connection with God” and that “he is not biological”, as claimed by Modi in media interviews during the elections. “PM said Gandhi is dead and a movie revived him”, said Gandhi, while continuing his attack.
Rahul Gandhi also did not spare Speaker Om Birla and had a verbal exchange with him on switching off the mics and not showing him on camera while he was speaking. Gandhi remarked that he saw Birla bow down before the PM. "I noticed something. When I shook your hand, you stood straight and shook my hand. When Modi ji shook your hand, you bowed down and shook his hand,” he said.
Birla said that he was keeping the tradition of bowing to elders. “The Prime Minister is the Leader of House. My culture and traditions say, in personal as well as public life, and on this seat, I should bow to those who are elders and those who are equal should be treated equally, that is what I have learnt,” Birla said.