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The new Shiv Bhakt on the block: Why flippant religious bi-polarity has become Congress' identity

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Tuhin A Sinha
Tuhin A SinhaSep 18, 2018 | 18:41

The new Shiv Bhakt on the block: Why flippant religious bi-polarity has become Congress' identity

When "Shiv-Bhakt Rahul Gandhi" rallied across Bhopal last Monday, one couldn’t help but wonder if this was a religious gathering, rather than a political rally. After all, even at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the early 1990s, one can’t recall LK Advani or any senior BJP leader, being pre-fixed as “Ram Bhakt”.

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Congress' new pitch: Shiv Bhakt Rahul. (Photo: ANI)

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There lies the irony!

In its abject desperation to try and ape the BJP, the Congress fails to realise that imitation without common sense only makes it look a poor imposter.

Let me set the record straight here. No, we don’t have a problem with Rahul Gandhi’s temple runs or supposed Kailash Mansarovar Yatra or the Shiv bhakti rallies.  

Rather, it is the antecedents of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress on the issue of religious opportunism that keeps people skeptical.

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Photo: Screengrab

In 2006, PM Manmohan Singh had asserted that minorities should have the first right over India’s natural resources. In 2007, the UPA government filed an affidavit in the SC, asserting that Lord Rama never existed. In 2011, the UPA government tried to bring the Communal Violence (Prevention) Bill, which was in fact the most anti-Hindu bill in history, where the culpability for wrongdoing was assumed to be upon Hindus. Earlier this year, in another reckless antic, the Congress tried to break the Hindu community by holding out the enticement of a separate religion for the Lingayats.

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Playing religious politics, softly. (Photo: PTI)

To add to these, the Congress, in the last 70 years, has been party to sinister plans to alter India’s demography — as a policy, they’ve encouraged illegal migration from Bangladesh. From the mid-1970s, when they realised that they stood to gain more by keeping the Muslim community backward, they championed the bigoted Tipu Sultan as an icon of communal harmony and re-packaged his legacy.

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The legacy of Tipu Sultan is disputed, the Congress claiming he was secular, the BJP saying he wasn't. (Photo: The Hindu)

With such dubious antecedents, it was only natural for the Hindu majority to veer away from the Congress. The Congress’ hasty attempts at projecting Rahul Gandhi as the avowed shiv-bhakt now who took the Kailash Mansarovar yatra (whose details Gandhi seems to have forgotten already) is a hackneyed attempt — which just doesn’t cut ice with the voters.

But forget its past antecedents, the Congress under Rahul Gandhi is tangibly weak. In fact, the National Herald  case pits Rahul Gandhi alongside Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi.

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How worried is Rahul about the National Herald case? (Photo: PTI)

Whether it is the Rafale Deal, where the Congress has been mischievously inconsistent and/or ignorant in its attacks, or the outrageous lies about Arun Jaitley’s "structured meeting" in Parliament with Vijay Mallya or its new found Shiv-bhakti, at the core of all of these antics seems to be the desperate attempt to avoid being grilled on the National Herald case.

The Hindu mindset is generally compassionate, forgiving and embracing. No wonder then that it gave the Congress endless chances for want of a credible alternative. Today, with the credible alternative in power and performing, the Hindu mindset is equally sagacious, evolved and resolute to not let itself be taken in by fake posturing.

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Moreover, given the track record of the Congress party, it is only a matter of time before the party does another about turn. Just wait till the results of the Assembly elections. In another three months, rattled by fresh setbacks, the Congress will adorn the skull cap with greater vengeance.

Last updated: September 20, 2018 | 13:00
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