Rahul Gandhi has no right to call any PM of India, not even Modi, a 'dalal'
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's first response as far as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is concerned is to attack. However, his use of the word "dalali" in his recent high-voltage attack on the PM was not just unfortunate and ill-advised, it could come back to haunt the Congress party and its VP in the days ahead.
His choice of words, at a farmers rally in Delhi, has not only changed the focus away from his "kisan yatra", but also provided his opponents with a huge stick to beat the Congress with.
He appeared to have struck the right note initially by coming out in support of the PM and the armed forces in the aftermath of the surgical strikes on September 29. Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the first to issue a statement lauding the government and the Indian Army.
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| Rahul Gandhi needs to take a needs to take a leaf out of his mother's book and work on his speeches. (PTI photo) |
Rahul, too, followed suit a day later, and in doing so placed the Congress in sync with the popular mood in the country, enabling its spokespersons to claim that the party of India's freedom struggle was living up to its credentials of putting national interest above partisan political interests.
The restraint, however, proved to be short-lived. Barely had the furore over Sanjay Nirupam's horrendous "farzi" remark begun to subside, the Congress vice-president chose to accuse the PM of playing politics over the "strike" and indulging in "dalali".
His political managers now claim that Rahul did not mean "dalali" in the literal sense.
Be that as it may, or whether it's the Congress vice-president's lack of complete command over the Hindi language, it jarred the sensibilities and appears to be a self-goal, in football parlance, that could be extremely costly for the Congress party to recover from.
The Congress scion needs to take a leaf out of his mother's book and work on his speeches. While it's good to speak impromptu, it will take nothing away if he takes the help of his notes. He also needs to reign in his impulse.
Like the Indian armed forces, he needs to choose the time, place and the words of his attack on his opponents. After he has had the time to reflect quietly, he will realise that a no-holds-barred attack on the PM at a time like this was uncalled for, and not in sync with the national mood.
Moreover, Narendra Modi is not just Rahul Gandhi's political opponent, he is also the prime minsiter of India and no PM of India deserves to be called a "dalal".