Congress president Rahul Gandhi, perhaps taking a leaf out of the popular Sanjay Dutt-starrer Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., took Prime Minister Narendra Modi by surprise when walked up to the latter to give him a 'jaado ki jhappi' (magical hug) in the Lok Sabha on Friday. However, the opposition leader preceded the 'Gandhigiri' moment with an all-out attack on Modi, virtually launching his party's campaign for the upcoming election season.
In the approximately one-hour-long speech, the effort was to hold PM Modi accountable on the promises that he had made in the run-up to the previous Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi dubbed Modi's style of politics 'jumla strike', saying this political weapon “first generates a great sense of excitement and happiness, and in the end, there is a feeling of shock.” The Congress president evidently looked to turn the focus on the failures of the Modi regime, thereby trying to set the tone for the coming round of elections, the biggest of them being the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to be held in May, 2019.
With the outcome of the no-confidence motion being a foregone conclusion since the government is comfortably placed in terms of numbers, the attempt by the Congress and the other opposition parties was to expose the Modi regime's failures.
Rahul Gandhi emphasised on the perceived failures of the Modi government on two most important fronts of employment generation and agrarian distress. “The government has waived loans amounting to Rs 2.5 lakh crore of the richest 20-25 industrialists. However, when our farmers seek a loan waiver, the finance minister says no, no, no,” he said, harking back to his “suit boot ki sarkar” attack on Modi.
He accused the government of destroying job opportunities through their decisions of demonetisation and 'faulty implementation' of Goods and Services Tax, even as he attacked the ruling dispensation of failing to live up to its promise of providing two crore jobs per year.
The fiercest attack on the prime minister was on the issue of corruption, with Rahul Gandhi accusing BJP president Amit Shah's son of gaining in business due to proximity to power. He also claimed that the government tweaked the Rafale deal with France to benefit certain businessmen, who he claimed was close to Modi.
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“I met the French president, and he said to me that there is no such pact between the Indian and the French governments,” Rahul Gandhi said referring to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that the price at which Rafale aircraft were bought could not be disclosed because of a secrecy agreement between the two countries.
The treasury benches erupted in protest as he accused Sitharaman of having lied to the nation and said that a business house close to the prime minister had benefited from a contract worth Rs 45,000 crore at the cost of the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
In an effort to project Modi as anti-poor and establish him as a practitioner of crony capitalism, Rahul Gandhi spoke about the “relationship the prime minister has with certain businessmen.” “Everyone can see the amount of money that is going into marketing the prime minister,” he said.
“The entire country has seen the truth, that you are not a chowkidar (watchman), you are a bhagidar (beneficiary),” he said, alluding to Modi's pledge that he was the 'chowkidar' of the nation, who would not allow any corruption.
Rahul Gandhi's speech was eventful with loud protests and snide remarks from the treasury benches. There was also a five-minute adjournment as the entire BJP contingent went up on its feet to protest Rahul Gandhi's attacks on Modi. The speech was targeted exclusively at Modi as Rahul Gandhi claimed that the prime minister, who was smiling earlier, had begun looking nervous and avoided looking him in the eye.
The Congress president responded to the BJP protests by bringing in some theatrics into the proceedings, waving to the BJP MPs and saying, “daro mat” (don't be afraid). When the protests continued, he said, “Listen to me. This is very interesting. You will enjoy this bit,” and went on to say that Modi and Shah were afraid of losing power since that would send other processes into action.
In an apparent reply to the BJP's barbs on the Congress being a 'Muslim party', Rahul Gandhi, in tune with the soft Hindutva line his party is following, said, “Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have taught me what it means to be a Congress person, the meaning of being a Hindustani, and what it means to be real Hindu.”
And in the end, he took everyone by surprise as he walked around to Modi and hugged him. Apparently taken aback, Modi did not reciprocate initially. However, he called Rahul Gandhi back and hugged him.