Aug 7 : Regular hugs hardly make national headlines, but Rahul Gandhi’s trespassed, unexpected and a dubious hug to PM Modi in the packed hall of Loksabha, certainly made big headlines. In fact after very long, the Congress party president got some first page space in print media.
Recently, a journalist friend enlightened me on the art of ‘news value’ assessment. He said “If a dog bites a man, it’s no news. However, if a man bites a dog, it certainly has great news value.” Such was the headline grabbing tactic of Rahul Gandhi. Such was the radical plot at the parliament by Rahul Gandhi, while at a very serious no-confidence motion was underway.
The hug was dubious, as it’s neither genuine nor sincere. It was a false political hug. Congress party leaders should celebrate the radical ‘change’ Rahul as a new president of the party has brought in with this feat. I don’t think people of this nation would.
Was PM Modi surprised ? Yes, of course who wouldn’t ? Who would expect an opposition leader who’s making scathing, baseless corruption allegations on him for over 30 minutes, cross the aisle and hug him to express his love ? It’s not just surprising but bizarre to see the duality of the new Congress party president.
To further expose the political bankruptcy of the primary opposition party and it’s leadership, this dubious feat occurs in the most critical session of the parliament, when a ‘no confidence motion’ is underway.
For millions who wrote off Rahul Gandhi as a reluctant novice, it was a shocker of a visual and had huge entertainment value. Many didn’t even understand what has actually happened in the floor of the apex law making body of India, while those who did just enjoyed the spectacle.
For any serious political analyst, the entire episode exposes the bottom less abyss the Congress party is in today, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. The current political discourse has been reduced to comical parody with these antics, while parliamentary process & business is supposed to be a serious affair of governance & opposition led democratic assertion.
Congress is the primary opposition party of India. That’s a huge responsibility in any democracy, especially so in India, the largest democracy in the world. Having ruled this nation for around 60 years out of 70 since independence, Congress has learnt zero democratic values. In fact, it has ruined the very fabric of democracy to perpetuate it’s dynastic politics.
Rahul Gandhi’s forceful hug on the floor of the parliament is a cheap political trick, which can add only a nuisance value to it’s party and nothing more. It has only lowered the dignity of the parliament and violated the decorum of role of the Prime Minister. By intruding into the personal space of the Prime Minister and forcefully hugging him, Rahul Gandhi has shown utter disregard to house rules, conventions & traditions of the Parliament.
Unfortunately there’s no dearth for cheerleaders for even these undignified acts in India. There are many folks who are celebrating Rahul’s antic as some great accomplishment on social & main stream media. For many, it’s the sheer joy of an underdog scoring a goal, even if it’s unbecoming for the role. For the electronic media it’s a good TV, some were playing it all day.
Rahul Gandhi seems to have hit a dead end already as the President of his party. His aggressive and theatrical new track establishes clearly that Congress and the entire opposition has nothing substatntive to fight BJP and PM Modi with, in the next election. It seems what’s left for them is the ‘Reality TV’ innuendos to get more eye balls & media space.
Rahul Gandhi’s serious but unsubstantiated allegations on the Defence Minister, the empty outrage and histrionics on the floor of the house were simply pre- scripted action takes. His abrupt & unnatural action sequence ending with a premeditated hug has exposed the emptiness of the wild allegations he & his party has made thus far.
Indian voters have to see through these low level jhumlas by Congress party, as they are bound to increase as the elections draw closer.
While Rahul Gandhi seems to have recently got an action director, script writer and a producer, these C-grade movie scripts, ill timed scenes, his unnatural action will certainly lead to disastrous flops for Congress.
Krishna Sagar Rao @BJPKrishnasagar is a Spokesperson for BJP Telangana, is also an Internationally reputed organisational strategist ,leadership coach & Author
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