Power is responsibility; that’s the moral imperative. Power is crime when it breeds lies, conspiracy and vendetta.
The ploy to frame Congress leader Rahul Gandhi under Section 109 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which implies attempt to murder, tells the nation how irresponsible the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Narendra Modi government can be.
Gandhi is also the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and a four-time member of parliament (MP) and the incident happened in day light before the eyes of the world just outside the entrance of the Sansad Bhawan which would have been recorded by CCTV cameras.
Even the police found the charge levelled by the BJP MPs difficult to digest and registered the FIR for lesser crimes like use of criminal force, intimidation and causing hurt instead of including Section 109. But Gandhi, whose exceptional struggle among the people earned him an image of a leader who fights for justice, social harmony and love, was branded by BJP MPs as a “gunda” who resorts to criminal use of physical force to inflict injuries and indignity upon men and women inside the sacred space of the parliament complex.
Also read: In Parliament, BJP Shows That it Can Bury Any Issue With Violence
The presiding officers could have promptly released the CCTV footage of the incident and the ruling party members could have waited for credible proof before levelling such grievous charges that can destroy Gandhi’s career and even get him sent to jail.
Why was the official footage not released almost 24 hours after the incident to stop the speculation innuendoes? As if making wild allegations against the LoP outside parliament was not bad enough, ministers and MPs made accusations against Gandhi on the floor of the House without the presiding officer striking a note of caution.
The claims made by parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju in the Rajya Sabha yesterday contradict the statements given by the victims themselves, exposing the extent to which the Modi government can go to harass and defame its opponents.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju. Screengrab of video from X/@KirenRijiju
Rijiju said, “Neta pratipaksh nein jo aaj karnama kiya, hamara lady saansad ko dhakel ke physically jo charge kiya, aur Lok Sabha ke do aur saansadon ko Shri Rahul Gandhi nein itna zor se dhakka mara khoon nikla hospitalised ho gaya. Ye jo Congress party ka behaviour hai itna sharmanak hai, hum vishwash bhi nahin kar sakte hain. Hamare paas sankhya hai. Ham darne walla nahin hain. Lekin hathapai karke hum ek doosre ko maara-maari karke sansad ko is neeche star tak girana nahin chahte…
Ye sansad koi kushti ka akhara nahin hai. Yahan kisi ek doosre MP ko is tarah haath nahin utha sakte. Sabhapati mahoday, jo shriman Rahul Gandhi nein jis tareeke se do saansadon ko mara hai, hamara saansad bahut aakroshit hai. Humlog bhi agar usi tarah haath uthate to kya haalat hota sir (The deeds of the Leader of Opposition, he pushed our lady member, charged her physically, and pushed two other MPs so forcefully that they bled and got admitted to a hospital. The behaviour of the Congress is so shameful that we can’t even believe it. We have the numbers and we are not the one to get frightened. But we don’t want to bring parliament to that low level where members use physical force and beat up each other. Parliament is not a wrestling arena. MPs can’t use physical force against fellow members. Chairman Sir, the way Mr Rahul Gandhi beat up two MPs, our MPs are livid. What would have happened if we too responded by using physical force).”
Similarly, BJP president J.P. Nadda described the treatment to BJP member Phangnon Konyak as “physical and mental torture.”
If Gandhi indeed got violent and pushed and beat up fellow MPs and “physically tortured” a woman member, there is no need for debate. The video evidence should be made public and he should be prosecuted. But the victims – Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput – who are admitted in the hospital after suffering injuries, themselves presented a different picture. Sarangi said, “Rahul pushed an MP who fell on me”. Rajput said, “Rahul was in the front and the push was coming from behind.”
BJP MP Phangnon Konyak. Photo: Screengrab of Youtube Video/Sansad TV
Neither of them alleged Gandhi himself used force to put them down. The MP from Nagaland, Konyak, in her written complain to the Rajya Sabha chairperson spoke about Gandhi coming “very close physical proximity” and “misbehaved with a loud voice”. The contradictions are clear.
While the CCTV footage will establish the truth, it is apparent the ministers are exaggerating and making up serious offences. Rijiju’s claim – lady member ko dhakka diya (was pushed) and do saansad ko mara (hit two MPs) – has an entirely different connotation.
Gandhi should be disqualified if he indeed assaulted a woman and two male MPs. If these are false charges, the minister should be sacked and barred from holding any public office in future. To agitate and exaggerate are in the nature of Opposition politics. These are the attributes of protest. But the government has to act responsibly. The Opposition doesn’t control police but ministers’ statements influence law enforcing agencies. A minister making false statement must be held accountable.
Some irrefutable facts available in public domain question the unilateral narrative of Congress-induced violence. Congress members, along with some other Opposition parties, were holding peaceful protests at the same place for many days. The trouble happened when the unusual step of the ruling party members using the same space for protests was taken. The visuals show the Congress members were blocked by BJP members as they tried to enter parliament.
The BJP members were holding placards with large sticks while the Congress members were only displaying B.R. Ambedkar’s photograph. Congress members responded by shouting “Jai Bhim” when their way was blocked. Many male BJP members were in close physical proximity to Congress female members, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, yet they didn’t cry foul about their dignity being violated.
Also read: Amit Shah’s Rajya Sabha Speech Didn’t Just ‘Insult’ Ambedkar, It Also Peddled Lies About Him
Some members, particularly independent MP Pappu Yadav, said Gandhi was not present at the actual site where the two MPs fell and got injured. Visuals also show that Gandhi went to the injured MP Sarangi but was humiliated by BJP members. Though the tragedy of two MPs getting injured is a terrible spectacle coming out of the parliament, there is little evidence so far to lay the entire blame on the LoP.
The government which is in possession of evidence didn’t need to speak. Hollow rhetoric has little value against visual evidence. But the government clearly intended to punish Gandhi without a trial. They know defaming a leader, destroying his positive image, has murderous impact on a politician.
The nation has seen how Kanhaiya Kumar was branded the leader of “tukde-tukde gang” by the BJP and the Modi government on the basis of an incendiary slogan on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus. Kanhaiya clearly didn’t use any such slogan, and the government has failed to prove who raised the “Bharat tere tukde honge (India will break into pieces)” slogan. Kanhaiya, whose politics revolves around constitutionalism, was arrested on charges of sedition in February 2016 and nothing has been established till today.
A government that can make false charges and exaggerated claims on an issue that was a public spectacle like the protest on parliament premises will naturally create suspicions about its intent and actions in cases which are beyond the reach of the people’s eyes. Eminent personalities – lawyers, journalists, professors and activists – have been framed on charges of conspiring assassination attempts on the prime minister and indulging in anti-national activities. By portraying Gandhi as a violent “gunda” in this case, the Modi government and the BJP have not bolstered their credentials.
The government and the Opposition need to have at least a systemic relationship for the democracy to work. The Modi government has demonstrated extreme hatred and antipathy towards the Nehru-Gandhi family since the very beginning of its tenure in 2014, pursuing a pernicious “Congress-mukt Bharat” agenda.
They have broken Opposition parties, pulled down their governments and used central agencies to harass them before elections. The content and tenor of Modi’s speeches both in parliament and outside have been acerbic, focused solely on maligning the Nehru-Gandhi clan.
Gandhi’s grit and refusal to compromise intensified the government’s belligerence and its relationship with the Opposition never got repaired. While many BJP leaders prefer normal politics, the pathological hatred nurtured by Modi and Amit Shah towards the Gandhi family injected an abnormal antagonism into India’s polity, according a dangerous, gang warfare like texture to political competition. This is taking India to a destructive path.
Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.
