In slamming Sam, Rahul Gandhi shows statesmanship

Indian politicians either go in mute mode or give very weak response when people want to listen hard words form them.


Siddheshwar ShuklaSiddheshwar Shukla | Sonepat | Updated: 14-05-2019 08:19 IST | Created: 13-05-2019 19:31 IST
In slamming Sam, Rahul Gandhi shows statesmanship
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In a political rally in Punjab, the Congress president Rahul Gandhi has shown exemplary courage and statesmanship that is rare in Indian politics. The words and tones that were chosen by Gandhi to slam his own political mentor are enough to indicate that the Rahul of 2019 is different who can handle his political adversaries and also the spoilers within the camp. 

“Pitroda ji what you had said was completely wrong and you should be ashamed of yourself. You should seek a public apology,” said Rahul Gandhi addressing a political rally at Khanna in Fatehgarh Sahib parliamentary constituency of Punjab on Monday. He categorically mentioned that he had said to Pitroda on phone and also saying the same publically. The words and tone chosen by Congress president in slamming his political mentor show the likes of an exemplary politician. In fact, through Pitroda, he gave a message down to the cadres to be apologetic on Sikh massacre of 1984. Gandhi’s speech at Khanna was not a standalone but the strongest statement on this issue since the recent controversy surfaced after Pitroda’s ‘Hua to Hua’ remark on 84 Sikh massacre in a television interview. In his very first reaction, the Congress president said ‘1984 is a terrible tragedy and Sam Pitroda was out of the line’. He also ruled out debate on this issue. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders aggressively raised the issue the Congress politicians also started raising the issue of Gujarat riots in 2002. This allegation and counter-allegations have taken up ugly form in television debates since a couple of days.

It was in 2009, Congress’ top leadership first decided to distance from those alleged to be involved in 84 riots. The issue was raised vociferously after Congress decided to field Jagdish Tytler from North East Delhi parliamentary constituency in 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Tyler was allegedly involved in a conspiracy to attack Sikhs in some areas of Delhi. Congress decided to withdraw his ticket. Sikh activists then demanded the withdrawal of nomination for three-time Congress MP Sajjan Kumar as well. Kumar had won from West Delhi seat with the greatest margin of over 8 lakh votes in 2004 but the Congress leadership consented to the demands and withdrew his nomination as well. However, his younger brother Ramesh Kumar was given ticket who won the election in 2009.

The political intellectuals like Sam Pitroda are probably living in the pre-2009 era when there was almost no evidence on record against those involved in 84 Sikh riots. Today, the situation is entirely different. Sajjan Kumar was awarded life imprisonment on December 17, 2018, by Delhi High Court is presently in jail. Furthermore, a local leader has been awarded capital punishment while another serving life term in separate cases of killing Sikhs.  

Rahul Gandhi’s position on this issue would surely help him bringing back the election campaign on agenda based politics. Although, there is no denying of the fact that the ruling BJP would try to harvest the controversy created by Pitroda. Through this statement Rahul Gandhi has tried to ensure two things – firstly Congress cadres are not strayed or trapped in the controversy of 1984 riots; and secondly, the secular image of Congress is not dented at international level.

In fact, this kind of statesmanship is missing from Indian politics. Besides, the silence of regional politicians there has been several occasions when even the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seen wearing silence on the issues when people of the country want to listen from his mouth.

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