Criticise Rahul Gandhi for his politics, but not for being a dutiful son
Recently, when Congress president Rahul Gandhi accompanied his mother Sonia Gandhi for medical treatment abroad, almost overnight it became a hot topic of discussion on social media. So much so that the coverage of this news once again opened the floodgates to the frenzied game of political attacks by BJP supporters and trolls.
While Rahul Gandhi’s winding path to the national politics has always been strewn with a mix of professional and personal criticism, this case was clearly different. The insensitivity shown towards an old mother being accompanied by her son is nothing but a display of contemptible spinelessness.
In the past few years, the attack in the media has become increasingly occupied with the private lives of politicians, especially the Gandhi family. And most of the times, it has crossed the thin line between sense and sensibility.
But what most fail to understand is that politicising an ailing woman’s private life is an act which betrays rational discourse. Forget ethics, even our Indian culture doesn’t support this.
All religions and cultures teach us to take care of our parents, especially Hindu religion where it is considered a dharma – an aspect that involves virtues, duties, rights, conduct, and much more.
In a country where parents are viewed as god, where worshipping parents is the ultimate goal of a child – how have we come to a point where a son is ridiculed for accompanying his mother for a medical treatment.
Why just Indian culture, not even in Western cultures, where a high degree of individualisation and independence exists, it is expected of children to take care of their parents.
So, when a politician takes his mother for medical treatment or a check-up, at home or abroad, it shouldn’t raise eyebrows – rather, it is a deed that many of us need to follow in the present times where abusing and abandoning elderly parents has become a rising phenomenon.
The decision to help his mother navigate her way through the turbulent times is evidently personal to Rahul, and nobody is entitled to impinge on that decision. If he is a man who understands the demands of his family and is ready to fulfil them – then who are we to judge him?
How the Indian media’s lenses fail to capture the true picture?
Today many Congress adversaries have shown their disgust over the simple act of a man who couldn’t think of leaving his mother alone when she needs him the most.
On the other hand, when the prime minister of the country lives separate from his nonagenarian mother, we call it an act of selflessness – an act to serve the country without personal ambitions. Well, in my opinion, taking care of your elderly parents in no way deviates you from serving the nation – as long as you have the will to do so.
Alas, the lens fails to capture the true picture, time and again.
When our Prime Minister Modi meets his mother once or twice every year with a coterie of reporters, we rush to celebrate it.
Why is it that his meetings with his mother become a matter of a public spectacle?
The very focus on her during demonetisation drive where she was seen going to a bank to exchange her Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, even though she has six kids who could have done that for her, just ends up looking like a publicity gimmick.
We must hold the same values we hold for Narendra Modi’s mother to Rahul Gandhi’s.
It started in the year 2011 when the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi travelled to the US, reportedly for a cancer surgery. From that time onwards, Rahul has been accompanying his mother many times since for follow-ups and annual check-ups – and it invariably doesn’t seem to go down too well with critics.
Sonia Gandhi does not deserve to face the wrath of BJP trolls for undergoing her medical treatments abroad.
Earlier this year, when Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar left for the US for medical treatment for allegedly an advanced stage of pancreatic cancer, nobody came to the fore to express reservations about his decision.
Why do we reserve duplicitous reactions to members of different parties?
Judge the political by the political
While reflecting on what the nation is gradually becoming, we can’t take away the fact that Rahul Gandhi’s untimely visits abroad have contributed to the grilling that he has had to face while travelling with his mother for her medical check-ups.
I feel that he needs to curtail his foreign visits, especially the ones where he goes abroad to celebrate birthday, New Year, and even festivals. Like on Holi this year he visited Italy to be with his maternal grandmother. Though the gesture may be affectionate, these personal days are very important in a politician’s life, and he should have been here to celebrate such occasions with his party leaders and workers and bonded with them. He must realise that a politician remains in the public eye 24/7. That’s the price one has to pay for being in public life – where nothing about your life remains private, and everything becomes public.
But then again, this in no way justifies the criticism that his US visits for his mother’s medical check-ups have received.
There may be several reasons to rail against Rahul Gandhi. You can hit out at him for his style of politics or his electoral defeats – but not for being a dutiful son.
Likewise, pouring scorn on Priyanka Gandhi for not accompanying her mother for her medical check-ups abroad is a fatuous comment.
This new India that we are entering into – where a son is questioned for caring for his mother, where a daughter is questioned for being unable to travel with her mother, where personal and political activities are measured on the same scale – is unlike the India that we were once proud of.
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