As news of Rahul Gandhi returning to the helm of affairs in the Congress party gains momentum, the Gandhi turk has been making news for one of his utterances which has roiled the ruling dispensation. While the government faces the ire of the opposition and the public, Gandhi has been quoted saying that in the next six months, the people of this nation will beatup the Indian premier with sticks.
While campaigning at Kokrajhar in the land of the Brahmaputra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the infamous ‘danda’ jibe in a rally to celebrate the Bodo Peace Accord. He said that if a protective shield of mothers and sisters are with him, nothing will happen to him.
Following this Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 6 told the Lok Sabha that for the past 20 years he had been hearing so much abusive language that he has now turned immune or what he calls becoming Gaali proof. While Modi might term himself Gaali proof, his rebuttals on campaign forums and otherwise have been headline worthy. Often strong and acerbic.
Taking on Rahul Gandhi, Modi has used the term Tubelight to take him on headon. Some similar averments in Rajya Sabha made the next day had to be expunged. Expunging the words of the Prime Minister from Parliament working is unusual. While this has happened before as well but for PM Modi is has happened a few times too often.
Modi has taken the ugly discourse to a point when he has termed Sonia Gandhi, a jersey cow, Rahul Gandhi, a hybrid cattle and tubelight; former PM Manmohan Singh has been called Dehati aurat, Night watchman and the very famous 50 crore girlfriend tag for Sunanda Pushkar, late wife of Shashi Tharoor has been part of the much publicized discourse.
When Modi was targeted with the Chowkidar Chor Hai barb then a reverse campaign of Main bhi Chowkidar was launched by PM Modi and his fellow party members which started trending online as well. Interestingly the then Congress President, Rahul Gandhi was dragged to court and he had to apologize.
Knowing the hazards of getting even on social media, Modi just uses the name of Rahul Gandhi once on his Twitter timeline when he wishes him on his birthday. And once breaking tradition when he congratulated Rahul in 2017 for his coronation as the Congress president. As someone who had the longest reign in Gujarat, Modi loosely translated the term crown prince to shehzada taking a jibe at the Gandhi scion. In a rather distatsteful comments lowering the level of Indian politics, Modi had even said back in the day that even dyslexics would do good to explain things to the Gandhi heir.
Since the time BJP geared up to trounce the Congress led UPA the word “Pappu”or dim-witted boy was a means to turn Rahul a whipping boy. This even though, Modi steered clear of using it. Modi would rather use phrases like “Congress ke ek yuva neta hain,” and “Aaj kal bolna seekh rahe hain.”
Not just the Prime Minister but even those who are at par with Narendra Modi politically have continued to breach the critical Lakshman Rekha. Even Amit Shah coined terms like “Kejriwal gang” and “Rahul baba”
The grand old party, Congress has paid back in the same language with names like Maut Ka Saudagar, Neech, Bandar, Bhasmaasur, Ravana, Hitler, Mussolini, among others.
While opponents get derogatory nicknames, the constant use of the word ‘Modi’ by BJP, media critics and opposition alike has fast created an impression that no one but Modi is in the national leadership. In 2013, Congress coined the word ‘feku’ (bluffmaster) for Modi. Since Modi won the election, that had to take back their words.
Experts and political commentators continue to underscore that the more you attack Modi, the more he gains. Much like previous instances, Modi and his team of strategists have proven that any personal jibe coming his way will be used to play the victim and converted into an opportunity to score a political point.
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