The Speech Rahul Gandhi Will Not Make

Fellow Congress brother and sisters,

We meet at a time when the world is groaning under the whimsicality and megalomania of one man who is abusing his democratic mandate to dismantle established global and American institutions. President Donald Trump is bad news for democracy everywhere.

We in India have been experiencing the same naked display of illiberal impulses and authoritarian proclivities. Democracy is under siege in India.

This is the stark reality. And, as the oldest political party in the country it is our sacred duty to confront and defeat the BJP and its assault on our constitutional order. It is our moral obligation to rescue democracy from the clutches of despotism.

Friends, let us be very clear about our adversary. I read in the newspapers that the BJP’s master-organization is celebrating hundred years of its existence. And, why did the RSS come into existence?

The answer is clear: To oppose the Indian National Congress that was founded in 1885 by fiercely nationalist Indian men and women, determined to get rid of the British colonial rule and equally committed to setting up a free and democratic India. Under Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian National Congress became the authentic voice of nationalist India. Inspired by the Mahatma’s moral leadership and guided by his strategy of non-violence, the Indian National Congress mobilized millions and millions of ordinary Indians.

It was therefore natural that the Muslim League, on the one hand, and the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, on the other, became the instruments of vested interests, trying to slow down the momentum of national struggle waged by the INC. But the Indian National Congress had the Mahatma and the masses with it. Undaunted by the betrayal of communal forces of different colours and by the oppression of the colonial authority, the Indian National Congress continued its struggle for national emancipation. It was a glorious day when Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Tiranga at the Red Fort in August 1947.

It is our glorious history, our glorious legacy of which we should always remain very, very proud. Thousands and thousands of Congress workers made numerous sacrifices in the cause of national independence. We should never forget this glorious history of struggle and sacrifices.

Nor should we forget that within months of India becoming a free country, a man called Nathuram Godse killed the most noble Mahatma. The killer Godse personified an ideology of hatred, bigotry, and violence. The Godse crowd, which had studiously kept away from the joyous journey of our national struggle, had thought that once they removed the Mahatma from the equation, the Mahasabite and their ilk would simply take over the newly independent India.

But these forces of sectarian bigotry had not reckoned with the Mahatma’s impact on his two principal disciples – Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The two joined hands to defeat the unholy attempts of the Mahasabha, the RSS and other reactionary forces to create confusion and disorder. Then, under the wise stewardship of Babasaheb Ambedkar, all nationalist and patriotic forces got together and fashioned a new constitutional order. India would be a republic; India would be a democracy; India would be a secular polity; and, India would be a just arrangement, with equal space under the Sun and equal partnership in national destiny.

The Indian National Congress became the political instrument for national consolidation and rejuvenation. Under Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, the Indian National Congress undertook the difficult task of operationalising a federal democracy, in a global environment of a fierce Cold War. In this long journey many mistakes were made, many misjudgements were made. We are self-confident enough, experienced enough to acknowledge our past short-comings.

And, no doubt, that the world marvelled as a modern democracy took roots in this ancient land of inequalities, hierarchies, disparities, and feudal feuds.

In all this difficult but thrilling national journey of growth and prosperity, the RSS, and its frontal organisations like the Jan Sangh and then the BJP had very little to contribute – except to keep injecting irrational fears in the majority community about the minorities. The BJP and the RSS lost no opportunity to revive memories of the feudal times to try to trap the Hindus in perpetual animosities towards the Muslims and other communities.

That remains their only game. Till this day. And, these Commissars of Resentment continue to constitute a clear and present danger to Baba Saheb’s Republic. And, that means that the paramount task before all democratic, progressive, secular, liberal forces is to save the Republic.

At this point, I want to inject a personal note.

I want to declare categorically that I am committed to devote all my energies and all my strength to this fight against forces of communalism, sectarianism, and authoritarianism.

I am all too conscious that many of you believe firmly and sincerely that as a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family I should be a natural claimant to the office of the Prime Minister of India.

Many of you think that because my grandmother and my father were killed by anti-national, anti-India forces because they stood for India, the office of the prime minister is owed to me. I do not believe it. Their sacrifice, their martyrdom should not be besmirched with petty calculations.

Please allow me to clarify and to state categorically that I am not an aspirant for the office of Prime Minister. Neither I nor any member of my family is an aspirant to that august office.

I believe there are other ways to serve the nation and to serve the memory of the sacrifice of my father and my grandmother. I choose the path of struggle and service. My experience during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and my interactions since with our citizens in various professions and trades which keep the economy going, has convinced me that serious attention has to be paid to deepening inequalities in the economy. Overwhelming sections of our society are on the edge, struggling to cope with helplessness and hopelessness. Our ruling elites have turned their collective back on the society. Our politics has become subservient to money-bags. Our electoral system has lost its credibility. Our institutions have been systematically strangulated. Our national genius for creativity stands blunted.

Our sense of national purpose remains mortgaged to one man’s delusions of grandeur.

Most humbly, I urge you to recognise clearly and unambiguously the threat to our Republic. Most earnestly I urge each one of you to devote your time, resources, and energies to join me in refashioning the Indian National Congress as a potent instrument for national recovery. That means, we will have to forget about petty quarrels over this or that office. These quarrels have weakened the organisation and once the Indian National Congress got weakened, the communal forces have moved on to the centre-stage. None of us is bigger than the organisation. Time to pursue personal agendas, to seek personal glory, to nurse personal egos, to protect personal turfs, – that time is over.

I also want to address myself to our friends and putative allies. Either we learn to swim together or we sink together. Period. Also, by now, it is loud and clear that those who think they are clever enough to want to have a working relationship with the BJP/RSS ideologues, it is time for them to rethink their dalliances. Odisha should be an eye-opener.

And, those who think they can help the BJP in its undeclared war on the minorities and yet retain their secular image are in for a rude awakening at the hand of the concerned and vigilant voters. We in the Indian National Congress are no longer interested in giving Shri Nitish Kumar ji, Shri Chandra Babu Naidu and others any benefit of the doubt as to where they stand in the mortal struggle in saving the Republic and our Constitutional scheme.

Dear Fellow Congressmen and Congresswomen, I conclude with seeking your blessings in my humble endeavour to make the Indian National Congress, once again, an instrument of service and struggle and sacrifice. Let us be worthy of the Mahatma and his martyrdom.

Long live the Indian National Congress. Long Live the Constitution of India. Long Live India. Jai Hind.

Harish Khare was editor of The Tribune.

This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.