Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The campaign for the assembly elections in Rajasthan on Tuesday turned into abuses and blatant personal attacks. Congress once again made personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi called Modi a pickpocket. PM’s full form is Panauti Modi. Mallikarjun Kharge called Modi the chief of liars. Jairam Ramesh explained the meaning of Modi as ‘Master of Drama in India’. Till now the leaders of Congress and BJP were making sharp attacks on each other in Rajasthan, criticizing each other’s policies, putting their respective guarantees and promises in front of the public, criticism was being made on issues. No one had made personal attacks on each other but on Tuesday Rahul Gandhi started this too. On Tuesday, three rallies of Modi were held in Rajasthan, two public meetings of Yogi, two rallies of Amit Shah were held, JP Nadda and other big leaders of BJP also campaigned. No one used such abusive words for Congress leaders but Rahul Gandhi got carried away while talking about the guarantee of Congress. Congress released its manifesto for Rajasthan on Tuesday, which included giving gas cylinders to the poor for Rs 400, providing free treatment in hospitals up to Rs 50 lakh instead of Rs 25 lakh, providing free education in all schools up to higher secondary level, Swaminathan Commission’s decision. Under the recommendations, many promises have been made like giving minimum support price to farmers, giving free laptops to all the students taking admission in government colleges. But Modi said that now no matter what Congress does, no magic will work, the magician will have to go. Modi said that the public is watching, bundles of money are coming out of lockers, gold is coming out, if BJP government is formed then those who are involved in scams will be sent to jail. Rahul Gandhi felt so bad about this statement of Modi that he started abusing Modi. In the Barmer rally, Rahul first called Modi a pickpocket and a panauti. Rahul said that PM means ‘Panauti Modi’. Rahul blamed Modi for Team India’s defeat in the World Cup final. Said that our cricketers were playing well and could have won the World Cup but Panauti came and made them lose. Rahul did not stop just at this. Earlier he compared Modi and Adani to pickpockets. Said that Modi and Adani work like a pair of pickpockets. One diverts people’s attention from real issues to Hindu Muslims, the other picks the country’s pockets and puts all the wealth in its own coffers. Not only this, a meme was also shared on Congress’s Twitter handle calling Modi a panauti. In this meme, a scene from a film was taken and Rahul Gandhi’s speech was shown along with a video of Modi watching the match in the stadium. It is not that BJP’s campaign managers had no idea that such a trend would be started against Modi. Earlier, when Chandrayaan-2 mission had failed, a slanderous trend was started against Modi by saying that he was present at ISRO headquarters, but Modi was not worried by this. Reached Ahmedabad to watch the World Cup final. Even when India lost, Modi played the role of the head of the country. He went to the dressing room of Team India and encouraged the players. When Rahul called Modi a trick, BJP called it a proof of Rahul Gandhi’s foolishness. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Rahul Gandhi has lost his mental balance and is frightened by the fear of defeat, hence he is abusing the post of Prime Minister. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that if Rahul Gandhi does not apologize for his statement, BJP will make it a big issue.
What Rahul said is wrong in every way, from the political point of view, from the point of view of decorum of language, and from the mathematics of election campaign. It is not right in any way to call the Prime Minister a Panauti. No one can justify this. Nowadays, all the big leaders of Congress attack Modi during the election campaign but pay little attention to the decorum of words. Then why did Rahul Gandhi do this? There is a need to understand this. In fact, Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly saying for the last several years that he is the only leader who is not afraid of Modi, he is the only brave leader who fights against Modi, in the meetings with the Congress leaders, he has repeatedly spoken to the party leaders. Have scolded him for not attacking Modi directly. When Ghulam Nabi Azad was in Congress, he had also said this. Then the members of G-23 had written a letter to the Congress President complaining about similar things of Rahul Gandhi but Rahul did not agree. After that, Rahul continuously attacks Modi personally so that he can show that he is the only courageous leader who can say anything against Modi without fear. But in this round Rahul scores an own goal. On Tuesday, Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh also scored similar self goals against Modi. Kharge called Modi the leader of liars. Mallikarjun Kharge had come to release the manifesto of Congress. Modi quotes Kharge’s statement in his rallies and says that senior Congress leaders are also abusing his late father. Clarifying on this, Kharge said that he had lost his mother and all his siblings at the age of seven, and he understands the pain of losing family members. Leave alone Modi, he never said anything against anyone’s family, but Modi lies again and again because he is the master of liars.
Congress leaders do not learn from past experiences. Let me remind you of history. During the Gujarat assembly elections in 2007, Sonia Gandhi called Modi a merchant of death. Congress lost badly. During the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, Rahul Gandhi called Modi a blood broker. Mani Shankar Aiyar called the tea seller a cheap person. Congress lost badly. Modi became the Prime Minister, a government with full majority was formed. During Karnataka elections in 2017, Mani Shankar called Modi despicable. Then Congress lost and BJP government was formed. During the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, at a rally in Karnataka, Rahul raised the slogan ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’, then said, ‘Why do all thieves have the surname Modi’. For this he was punished in Gujarat court but Congress was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. Modi won with more majority than before. At the time of Gujarat elections in 2022, Kharge described Modi as Ravana. Congress lost again. Even after so many examples, Congress leaders are not understanding that people can tolerate everything else but people do not like abusive language against Prime Minister Modi. Till now the Congress campaign was going well in Rajasthan. Ashok Gehlot himself was in command. Priyanka Gandhi’s rallies were taking place. There was no wrongdoing anywhere but Rahul Gandhi arrived and created a mess. Now local Congress leaders are worried that Rahul Gandhi’s campaign may prove to be a boon for BJP. Perhaps that is why BJP leaders say that as long as Rahul Gandhi is in Congress, they do not need to worry because half the work of BJP is done by Rahul Gandhi. Only three rallies of Rahul were held in Rajasthan on Tuesday. There was no rally of any other Congress leader. Everyone expected that the news guaranteed by Congress would be big, it would have a big impact but Rahul Gandhi changed the atmosphere. Among the five states where assembly elections are being held, BJP has the highest hopes from Rajasthan. There is a Congress government here for the last five years, there are internal disputes within the Congress, whether it is the allegation of paper leak or Lal Diary, these allegations have been made by the Congress leaders against Ashok Gehlot. That is why they are useful to BJP. On the other hand, the murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur and the riots in Rajasthan have become a good spice for the rallies of Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath. While busy, Yogi also talks about law and order. All these issues are directly related to the public. However, Ashok Gehlot has tried to answer these through his guarantees. From the beginning, Ashok Gehlot has been trying to fight Rajasthan elections on local issues, but Rahul Gandhi gave a big opportunity to BJP by directly attacking Modi. The magician’s plan failed. (Rajat Sharma)
Watch: ‘Aaj Ki Baat, Rajat Sharma Sath’ full episode of November 21, 2023
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