Rahul Gandhi ignorant lout or something more sinister ?

Dr. Vijaya Rajiva

The recent flurry of discussions over the question of the wikileaks highlights something the citizens of the country should ponder over. Can a leader who thinks that the so called ‘Hindu terror’ (phrase coined by the Congress) is  more dangerous than Lashkar e Toiba be trusted to lead the nation? Senior journalists have called it lack of judgment. Even the BJP has been relatively benign in stating that Rahul Gandhi needs to grow up and be attuned to the Indian reality. The stray incidents of violence by one or two fringe groups cannot simply be even compared to the massive terror attacks perpetrated in India by the Lashkar and which they proudly acknowledge is their goal. And as the BJP pointed out Rahul’s statement can only give comfort and aid to the country’s enemies.

The present writer believes that there is a psychological void in Rahul that he cannot easily overcome ( he is not simply an ignorant lout or some sinister plotter). This is related to the fact that he is still within the ambit of European Catholicism. Indian Catholics readily empathise with the Hindu ethos, although they worship in their own churches. They are converts from the original indigenous faith of Hinduism, which they continue to respect. And they continue to be as Indian as anybody else.

European Christianity was born in 325 A.D. with the Nicene Council and since then has been closely linked to conquest and dominion.  Try as she migh Sonia Gandhi seems  to be unable or unwilling inwardly to  shed this heritage and she seems to have scant respect for Hindus as Hindus and for Hinduism. Certainly she can be close to individual Hindus who are willing allies and friends but can she truly  empathise with Bharat and the Hindu ethos ?

Rahul and his sister sport the tilak during election time. Sonia’s political aide Ahmed and some canny Congressmen advised her during election time to visit the sacred Hindu temple at Tirupathi to fool the Hindu voter. This was reported by a journalist who obviously was proud of this ploy. But can she place her hand on her heart and say that she respects the Tirupathi temple or all that it stands for ? During her stewardship of the Congress Party, the hostility shown by governmental authorities towards that sacred Hindu centre and indeed to all Hindu places of worship and to Hindu institutions and leaders, reveals a clear pattern.

This has  been written about. Rahul and his sister continue to   hold on to their inherited European component of Christianity. With this inner zombyism in his psychic make up Rahul can only wear a mask. Every now and then this mask slips; it did when he thought he was having only a private conversation with the American ambassador Timothy Roemer.

Alas, he did not count on the wikileaks !

 But Bharat and its citizens must wake up and accept the fact that the Gandhi name or even the Nehru name can no longer ensure an automatic seat in India’s political life. Surely the country did not wage a long freedom struggle against British colonialism only to fall victim to a new agenda ?

(The writer is a Political Philosopher who taught at a Canadian university)

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