Congress and its foot in the mouth disease

Digvijaya Singh is a real liability to the Congress. Because of his utterances the Congress is going to lose a chunk of votes. He contradicts himself and at times puts his foot in his mouth. When it becomes inconvenient to the Congress then it has one simple solution to distance itself from what he says-then it becomes his personal  remark or statement. Now this cannot be because Digvijaya Singh is one of the General Secretaries of the Congress. So when he uses the plural like ‘we’ and ‘us’ then it means the Congress.Otherwise he has to preamble his statements and declare that what he says is in his personal capacity if he has one. Just see what he stated a couple of days ago, ‘For us secularism means one religion, one country and one culture but we do not know what exactly is the BJP’s definition of it’ By this Diggy has clearly positioned himself as the General Secretary to utter this. So for the Congress secularism means one religion.

May I ask which religion? For that matter secularism as I understand has no religion or encompasses all religions. But to say that secularism means one religion Diggy must clarify which religion he meant. He proceeds to state that it also means one country and one culture. I thought that there is no one culture in India. It is a multicultural country. Again he should clarify which culture he refers to. So if he says that ‘for us secularism is one religion,one culture and one country’ then it is fascism.The very next day Digvijaya Singh takes all the trouble to project himself as a devote Hindu and goes at length to describe all the rites and rituals he practices. Why this sudden enlightenment. Was it the fear of losing the Hindu votes while he having been always heading appeasement policy and going soft on the terrorists? He even wants us to be his guest and check. There is no need because we know what Digvijaya stands for and what he is. He has to understand himself and be fair and square to himself and his conscience.
I would agree with Dr Subramaniam Swamy that Modi has made performing monkeys out of the Congress spokespersons… ‘They swing from channel to channel screaming’ .Well I hope Dr Swamy checked that no community especially minority community denotes ‘monkeys.’ Screaming is the specialty of the Congress’ loudmouthed and in the process they not only bluster and blabber but also fail miserable to focus on the point. They take umbrage on the usage of ‘burqa’. As though it is an offence. It only denotes to a veil which one uses to hid one’s face. That a community uses it does not make it derogatory.

The point is the Congress has lost its legitimacy to govern.It does not have any substance to argue or put forth its case hence it grabs at these insignificant points-make them sound significant and gives it a communal coloring. It is seeped in communalism and hence sees only that. If Modi‘s rally collects Rs 5 per person to attend It is a good venture and a good index to know how many are really keen in listening to him. On the other hand the Congress mobilizes its crowds by giving them free bus rides-per head an amount to gather a crowd. So it they demand even one rupee for Sonia and Rahul’s rallies the grounds will be empty. This it knows very well. Because the Congress is fully aware of the huge amounts it spends to get the crowd. Knowing this well it again grabs on this Rs 5 collection and Manish Tiwari with a smirk on his face tells us that Cinema ticket even for box office flops is Rs 500. Ticket to hear a Chief Minister Rs 5.Market discovers true value he says. Should we not congratulate Tiwari for his genius? This kind of scoring petty brownie points is all that the Congress spokespersons can do. I challenge the Congress to restrict its crowd mobilizing by even allowing persons with a 50 paisa to listen to Mrs Sonia’s draft reading and Rahul Gandhi’s foot in the mouth statements. The Congressmen would have to themselves buy the tokens and distribute.The grounds will be still empty. That is the state of affairs for this Congress which is insensitive to the country and her people. So Digvijaya will have to prove his being a true Hindu and Manish Tiwari must prove that even for one rupee token there will be crowds to listen to Mrs Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

When that  is the real state of affairs why are they picking at these insignificant issues because they want to hide from the real issues of complete failure-nothing to boast of or put forth as their achievements. The Scams the Himalayan corruptions, the slide down of the rupee, the economy in shambles under the great economist of a PM-the inability to contain terrorism, the inability to talk tough to China and regain our territory, the utter failure in the Kashmir Valley, the rehabilitation scheme under which terrorists have been rehabilitated and brought into Kashmir-these and more .The price line and inflation has hit all time levels. Even the middle class and all sections of the people except the Reliances,Mittals and the political netas have not been affected Who is bothered about these.Can the Congress justify its governance/non governance?It is not only that the Congressmen and women swing from channel to channel they also have become suddenly active with their pens.

This brings me to the article of Kapil Sibal’s  in the OP-ED page IE dated 16th July. ‘Here’s listening to you,Mr Modi’.Now here is it to you Mr Sibal.Lets start with the last and the core of your whole flippant write up.I do not want to digress with puppies and the analogy of car and driver etc.But I do want to remind Mr Sibal that he belongs to the party which mercilessly butchered a minority community. What would a man with the minimum of responsibility  do-I am referring to Rajiv Gandhi.He simply sat back and allowed the pogrom.So belonging to that party and calling Rajiv Gandhi his leader Sibal has lost the right to talk of puppies and justice etc. Where was justice even after 29 years for those who were butchered? What did the Congress leadership do? It rewarded the leaders who instigated and led the pogrom. Now what right has Sibal and the Congress to be so critical on the Gujarat riots? Did it see that quick justice was wrought for the hapless victims? Or at every stage did it not block and delay justice?

Let me go into the secularism. Modi said that secularism for the BJP is ‘Justice for all, Appeasement to none”. This is the basis of our Constitution. Equality –irrespective of caste and creed One cannot have justice when one treats people differently on the basis of one’s religion. “India first should reflect the emotion of every patriot. Modi is right when he emphatically stresses this. Sibal goes in circles-He is fixed at the Gujarat riots as though it was the first and only riot in India. Justice need not be defined only in the context of Gujarat riots.And even if one does it no ways hurts Modi because he did all that he could do and in no way hindered and hampered Justice because he is not in charge of the CBI.On the other hand the Congress is and was and hence hindered and hampered justice in the Sikh pogrom. So what right has Sibal then to describe and define justice in the context of the Gujarat riots.What Modi said is true because in
riots or in peace time Justice to all is the hallmark of a patriot.

Oh yes Modi does understand the distinction between patriotism and nationalism and that is exactly why he proceeds to call himself one because he is a Hindu nationalist. He was born a hindu. He did not add the word ‘because’ as Sibal said.It is Sibal who cannot distinguish the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Sibal is right that one can belong to any religion and be an anti-national. But only a nationalist can be a patriot. But the difference is you will not be able to even get some persons in this country say that. To be a nationalist is to be patriot. Modi did not say that one must be a born Hindu to be a nationalist. He simply stated the truth. That he is a born Hindu and that he is a nationalist. A good Hindu will speak the truth and uphold the truth. This is not pride and standing by this does not make Modi lack humility as Sibal says. Nationalism is pride and devotion to one’s country. Here there is a catch someone born in some
other country cannot easily say this. Also there must be a strong sense of national identity. I cannot be born in Italy or Spain and claim this. Because if my ancestral house is in Spain and I am not born of Indian parentage then my national identity will not be India and Indian.

Coming to patriotism a thin line divides the two. One who is a nationalist is also a patriot because such a person loves and defends his/her country and all that it holds. Can every Indian say this? No, Modi can because that is what he is. Nationalism has a strong sense of identity. You can have this only if you are born an Indian. It cannot be given as a certificate. A patriot loves and supports and defends his/her country. So nationalism and patriotism-the two are the two sides of the same coin. Modi was right and whether he said it in humility or in pride this is truth and I hope every one of us who has this patriotism and nationalism will hold one’s head high and say it with pride. Where does the question of humility come? Mr Sibal thinks that my being coy and shy and not sure of what to say and one is humble.

The point is Modi makes no qualms. He does not mutter and mumble-he calls a spade a spade and is sure of himself. One would like to see these attributes in leaders. Clarity of though-clear vision and in unambiguous terms state what has to be stated. Is this pride or is this clarity of a thought process with a vision? This is the kind of leadership we need for India. Not one dithering and not one who is attached to the remote control or tied to the apron strings of another. Not one who rolls up one’s sleeves and mutters sweet nothings Not one who cannot distinguish between rural and urban and the processes of these.

It is easy to pick at Modi because Modi sends down the shivers. First and last let the Congress redeem itself of the pogrom of the Sikhs. Here in Gujarat it was a riot. In which both Muslims and Hindus were killed. Yes Muslims more in numbers but it was also a backlash of the train carnage of 59 Hindus who were roasted and charred to death.This is not to justify any thing but to remind the Congress and people like Mr Sibal that when you sit in a glass house do not throw stones at others because it is foolishness and madness.and self destructive.