Has Rahul Gandhi become a part of enemies of the nation?

New Delhi/Washington: Only Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar can say whether it was the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, in his mind when he condemned “one in a Constitutional position becoming part of enemies of the nation”.

Dhankar, who was addressing participants of the third batch of the Rajya Sabha Internship Programme at Parliament House in New Delhi today,  did not name any person in particular, but his statement was made a day after Rahul’s outbursts against the Bharatiya Janata Party government in American media. At the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on September 11, 2024, the Congress Party leader accused the ruling dispensation of “weakening our biggest asset…, India’s biggest strategic asset… which is our democracy, which is just not India’s asset; it is the world’s asset because it’s so big. It’s a global public good, it’s being attacked in India”.

On a question that does the election results give him more hope for democracy in India, Rahul said, “It does… look, but it’s not good enough to say that the Indian voter is resilient and knowledgeable because the Indian voter is informed by a whole set of structures… right? So, if we don’t have a level playing field… the voter might be very knowledgeable and resilient, it doesn’t really matter. We fought an election with our bank accounts frozen… right? Now, I don’t know any democracy where that’s happened… maybe that type of thing happens in Syria or used to happen in Iraq… but we literally sat during our election and spoke to our treasurer and he says – well, we have no money”.

Rahul went on to say that he had 20-plus court cases against him. “I am the only person in Indian history to get a prison sentence for deformation…,” he claimed. He added, “We have a Chief Minister who is in jail right now. So, I mean one way of saying it is – yes, the Indian voter is very resilient and… you know… he stands like a rock; absolutely, he does… but the Indian voter requires an architecture to work on, which is not there”.

He, however, asserted that the fight for democracy in India “is an Indian fight. It has… with all due respect, it has nothing to do with anybody else. It’s our problem and we will take care of it. We will fight and we will make sure that the democracy is secure”.

Dhankar, while highlighting that every Indian outside the country has to be an ambassador of this nation, said, “How painful that one who holds a Constitutional position is doing just the reverse of it! Nothing can be more condemnable, despicable and intolerable than that you become part of enemies of the nation!”.

He further stressed, “If we are true Bhartiyas, if we believe in our nation, we will never side with the enemies of the nation. We will all stand spinally for the nation.”

Dhankar also touched upon the issue of reservation, of which Rahul was critical at his media show in Washington yesterday. During his address. Rahul said, “Somebody misquoted me yesterday, saying that I am against reservations… I have been saying again and again and again – we are going to increase reservations beyond 50%, and I am not against reservation“. Dhankar today remarked,  “Reservation is embedded in our Constitution. It is there by way of affirmative action. It is a vibrant facet of our Constitution. Some people go out and make light of it”.

The Vice President expressed “pain and disappointment” that “some people” in key positions are ignorant about the Constitution. “They have no idea of Bharat; they have no idea of our national interest. They do not understand that this country has a civilization depth of 5000 years”, he remarked.

Appealing to the “young minds and citizens” to work together to neutralize divisiveness, Dhankar said, “Some loose cannons powered by enemies of India, fuelled in every sense of the term by interests that want to create unrest in the country, bring about divisiveness, they have to be neutralized by young minds and by all citizens working in togetherness.”

Cautioning against the silence of citizens on such critical occasions, he warned, “We are participating in such misdemeanours by remaining silent. Each one of you must speak out. We will not let our dedication to nationalism diminish in any way. Our resolve is that nationalism must remain supreme, above family, above self, above politics”.

The Vice-President further asserted, “Political parties can do politics within the ambit of the law, within the ambit of the Constitution. How they do so does not concern me. They may criticize the government, but they cannot undermine the nation, that too in collaboration with the enemies. This is not a single incident.”