| Published on 05-05-2007 In National |
| Viewed 1335 times |
| Well, well, please don't yell |
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Written by
Cho Ramaswamy |
Whenever Rahul Gandhi opens his mouth, pearls of wisdom pop out. The following are three such proclamations.
"If somebody in our family decides to do something, it always gets done. Be it acquiring freedom [from the British], secession of a part of Pakistan or taking India to the 21 st century, personalities from my family have acted decisively," he has been quoted as saying.
Opposition parties have chosen to criticise such wise pronouncements. To whom does one bemoan the senselessness of [Rahul's] detractors?
'Doesn't he know about the countless sacrifices for ridding the colonial yoke? Isn't he aware of the fact that innumerable freedom fighters have lost everything owned by them – including their lives – in the quest for freedom?' Such queries are being raised by those who are inane in nature.
Rahul Gandhi didn't care a tuppence about leaders like Sardar Patel, Rajaji, Kamaraj, Satyamurthy, Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Rajendra Prasad, Abul Kalam Azad etc. But then, the young man didn't deem fit to recall the services of Mahatma Gandhi himself so the others are mere piffle.
Isn't the verbal assault of Rahul on the count of his having overlooked the selflessness of innumerable martyrs, without heeding basic facts an act of insanity?
When Rahul's ancestors decided that they would get India her freedom, the commodity was being hawked on the pavements by the British colonialists. Sensing a good deal, Rahul's forefathers purchased it [and willed it to us]. I can only pity those who have chosen to publicly criticise him due to the absence of this rudimentary bit of commonsense.
Rahul's next claim covers Pakistan.
'Pakistan indulged in genocide [after the 1971] electoral victory [of the Awami League] and attempted to overturn the verdict. A freedom struggle followed. Bangladesh wished to secede. Several million refugees crossed the border and reached India due to their innate fear of Pakistan's [marauding army]. Since it was too big an issue, India decided to heed the calls of the freedom fighters of Bangladesh – [Mukti Bahini] – and helped the fledgling nation. Eventually the strife resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.' India's stand on our eastern neighbour is more or less on these lines.
"India premeditatedly interfered with its internal matters. Rahul Gandhi himself has admitted that. What further evidence is required to demonstrate that India has evil designs on its neighbours," is the refrain of Islamabad.
But Pakistan too has glossed over a basic fact. Due to his innate magnanimity, Rahul has refrained from pointing out a facet of Indo-Pak relations. Indira Gandhi had released nearly 1,00,000 prisoners of war from Pakistan swallowing the bait of peace on the Kashmir issue offered by the losing nation [during the 1971 war]. Hasn't Rahul generously overlooked this perfidy and helped Pakistan out of the goodness of his heart?
That leaves the other gem that emanated from Rahul's mouth – the claim about the 21st century and all that palaver. I must insist on telling our leftists and nationalists that they ought not to lament about this one by linking it with liberalisation, globalisation, new economy with the travails of the poor. Isn't it a fact that [our 'first family'] decided that our march towards the 21 st century ought to be taken in halting steps because we are yet to completely jettison the Soviet style socialist economy and on that count are behind the Chinese by several lengths? Nationalists and leftists should be heartened by this aspect of our progress alone.
There is no currency in blaming Rahul Gandhi for his utterances because he has omitted several landmarks achieved by his family because of his inborn humility.
Let us take a look at those items:
[a] For instance, he didn't say that it was indeed his family has rendered the life our armed forces in Kashmir a misery.
[b] He hasn't crowed about the fact that it was his grandfather who took the Kashmir issue to the UN and turned it into a never-ending strife.
[c] We should also note that Rahul hasn't extolled the virtues of his family which said Indians and Chinese are [blood] brothers and ended up losing a war to communists from the north besides ceding a huge amount of territory to them.
[d] After all, he hasn't proudly claimed that our economy was virtually turned into an international basket case by following the Soviet model under his family's directions.
[e] He hasn't trumpeted the fact that it was indeed his family that shredded the national symbol called the Congress and paved the way for its being permanently placed in such an 'advantageous' position that it has ruled out the possibility of ever coming to power in all several states where it was a power to reckon with.
[f] He hasn't thumped his chest in pride by recalling that it was indeed one of his family members who promulgated the emergency after the courts ruled that [Mrs. Gandhi (senior)] won an election by foul means and set it aside.
[g] He hasn't fondly remembered the virtue of his family which said that corruption is a global issue when asked about steps to curb it in India.
[h] He hasn't pointed out the achievement of his family in freeing [Ottavio] Quattrocchi from the clutches of Indian law, unfreezing his assets from [a London] bank and ruling the possibility of the Italian businessman's facing prosecution in our courts.
[i] The embodiment of humility that he is, Rahul Gandhi not only ignored criticism when he opined that the Babri Mosque wouldn't have been demolished had his family been in power but also chivalrously avoided claiming acclaim for his family members having been instrumental in breaking open its lock, aiding the worship of bricks meant for building a temple in the disputed site and ensuring that the wound continued to fester.
While there are other countless landmarks of achievements of his family, Rahul Gandhi has opted for the difficult path of being silent on all of them.
Thus, is the opposition properly justified in questioning the propriety of these remarks? Rahul is the scion of a royal family and an heir apparent who will soon be crowned the next monarch. He is merely taking a look at the laity and the lay of the land before being anointed. Can proclamations of family glory during such an exercise be faulted at all?
All those who still haven't seen enough reason, ought to learn from the behaviour of our Prime Minister [Dr Manmohan Singh]. [The Sikh] has aptly praised the simplicity and political sagacity of Rahul Gandhi. Further the PM has predicted that the young Gandhi is the future of UP and the only recourse for its progress. Isn't this a wonderful discovery of latent political talent?
Since the PM himself exemplarily prostrated before the Rahul Gandhi, Congressmen at large shouldn't find it too difficult to follow suit but for the tiny aberrations – Rahul's pithy political proclamations that unendingly emerge out of his mouth and end up as exercises of inserting his foot into it. All would be well, if the well doesn't yell too much. (Translated from Thuglak by TSV Hari) |
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