The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is a great orator of his time who perfected the art of convincing the listeners and we witnessed the impact of his campaign speeches in 2014 when the BJP swept the polls and obtained absolute majority in the LoK Sabha elections after a gap of three decades. However, during election season, his speeches carry all the poll material to gain votes and damage the rival parties lock, stock, and barrel. Facts are completely clouded by the fictitious and baseless charges against other parties in the fray. The Prime Minister is wonderfully at ease in making such harangues. Now when the Congress Vice President is being elevated to the top post, the senior Congress leader Mani Shanker Aiyer in his ill-timed and ill-judged example of a contrast said that in the past kings were replaced by their heirs like Aurangzeb ascended the throne when his father Shah Jahan quit his throne but now in a democracy elections are held for the party post. This remark of the Congress leader, which itself has a twist of history, has come handy for the Prime Minister who likened Rahul Gandhi to Aurangzeb. Speaking at an election rally on December 4 in Valsad in Gujarat he congratulated the Congress for Aurangzeb raj.
The Prime Minister wanted to ridicule the process of electing the president of the Congress. The simile to compare the democratic process with the succession of a kingdom is nothing but misleading and misguiding the people. It is more or less consensus among the rank and file of the Congress party. It is a formality but the party is conducting the election. It is in contrast to the election of the BJP president Amit Shah. Senior leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others were ignored then and a choice of the Prime Minister – Amit Shah was elected. It was a dictatorial fiat of the Prime Minister and a mockery of democracy. It was not the method of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who fought and got the throne following the tradition of his time. But naming a person and installing him unopposed was the style of dictators like Hitler or Mussolini or in the distant past Changhese Khan whose word was the order of the day. These dictators followed their tradition and no one should blame them. But if someone in the name of democracy, adopted the way of dictators, he should be singled out for criticism and castigation and rightly so.
Against this backdrop, is it proper for the Prime Minister to speak of Aurangzeb who ruled the biggest India including Afghanistan? The English rulers who followed the policy of divide and rule distorted the history of the Mughal ruler and today those who want to create a gulf between Hindus and Muslims and preach the philosophy of hatred are still the slaves of British thinking. Only PM Modi will explain how the Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi will be an Aurangzeb raj.
The recent example of the dictates of the Prime Minister is the selection of Yogi Adityanath, the dark horse who was not in the race was chosen by the Prime Minister and was silently and meekly okayed by the Legislative party of the UP assembly. How far is it justified that acting like a dictator himself, the Prime Minister is mocking at the election meant for choosing the Congress president.
Then criticizing the dynasty of Gandhi family which is ruling the country for decades together is nothing but insulting the mandate of the people who elected the Prime Ministers right from Pandit Jawaharlal to Rajiv Gandhi. Now time will say how the people will welcome Rahul Gandhi as president of the Congress. At present on the eve of Gujarat elections , it seems even the Prime Minister has become the victim of Rahul phobia. Is it becoming of the Prime Minister to present himself as the model leader or his party leaders and the managed media to go gaga and sing his paeans day in and day out?
