Opinion | Rahul describing Modi as ‘coward’ is not only distasteful, it is shameful
While expressing his anger, Rahul forgot that Modi is not an individual, he is the Prime Minister, who represents India in world forums, and he has been entrusted with the onerous responsibility to lead the nation by the people of India. Narendra Modi is not the leader of a party, he is the head of government, who represents 135 crore Indians.
Today I want to say, with sadness, to what depths Rahul Gandhi has descended while criticizing our Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of disengagement of troops in Ladakh. Rahul crossed the limits of decency and respect for nation’s honour by using words which were insulting and demeaning. Anybody who has watched Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on Friday would have felt bad when he used words like ‘gaddaar’ (traitor) and ‘kaayar’(coward) for our PM.
While expressing his anger, Rahul forgot that Modi is not an individual, he is the Prime Minister, who represents India in world forums, and he has been entrusted with the onerous responsibility to lead the nation by the people of India. Narendra Modi is not the leader of a party, he is the head of government, who represents 135 crore Indians. Nobody can accept Rahul trying to sing China’s tune and calling our PM a ‘coward’. No Indian can tolerate when he says that the Chinese army was clever in occupying territory and our armed forces are weak. To say that Modi does not have the courage and is afraid of China, is a white lie.
What does Rahul want to convey? Is Modi a coward because he ordered air strike and surgical strikes inside Pakistan? Is Modi a traitor because he did what other leaders refused to do – ‘ghar me ghus kar maara’ (entered the enemy’s territory and struck)? And is Rahul Gandhi a great patriot because he had demanded evidence about our air strike and surgical strikes? Should this be the language of political discourse?
Is it correct for him to say that Modi is a coward because he made the Chinese troops withdraw? Is Rahul Gandhi a great warrior because he met the Chinese ambassador in Delhi secretly and spoke in favour of China? Is Modi a weak leader because he put economic and diplomatic pressures on China and forced it to withdraw its troops? Are those leaders brave who are questioning Modi on the Ladakh standoff? A leader like Modi, who gave a free hand to armed forces to take whatever decision they liked to deter the enemy, is in Rahul’s eyes a leader who is afraid of taking China’s name. Will you call the leader valiant, who resorted to half-truths and half-lies, denigrated our own army and indirectly praised the enemy’s army?
The way in which Rahul Gandhi used demeaning words to denigrate our Prime Minister was a shameful act. On Friday, Rahul said, “Modi bowed his head before China”, “Modi gave away our sacred land to the Chinese”, “The PM is a coward who can’t stand erect in front of the Chinese”, “What he has done was nothing but spitting on the martyrdom of our brave jawans”, “Modi has betrayed our jawans who became martyrs”, ”Narendra Modi has handed over a portion of our Bharat Mata to the Chinese”, and so on.
What type of language is this? Is this a dignified language? One can make hundreds of allegations against Modi, but none can raise a finger at Modi’s patriotism. The man who ordered the army and air force to strike deep inside enemy territory, and struck terror in the hearts of enemies, can never compromise India’s sovereignty, leave alone being dubbed a traitor.
Does Rahul remember what his party’s Defence Minister A K Antony said in Parliament in 2013? Antony had said, “China’s capacity of infrastructure building is much advanced compared to India.. India’s policy since Independence was to have an undeveloped border which was more safe (sic) than a developed border.” So, should we assume, in Rahul’s view, that his Defence Minister Antony was brave, and Modi a coward because he went to Ladakh and while addressing army jawans, warned China not to transgress limits? Is it necessary to remind Rahul that the forcible occupation by China of thousands of square kilometres of Indian territory was during the rule of his great grandfather?
Today I want to remind Rahul how it is our sacred duty to protect our Prime Minister’s image if an enemy makes offensive remarks against our leader.
On August 29, 2013, Narendra Modi, addressing a huge rally in Delhi, lashed out at the then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for calling our then PM Dr Manmohan Singh “dehati aurat” (illiterate woman). He said Nawaz Sharif insulted our Prime Minister by using such words. This is a shining example of statesmanship. Modi was then the chief minister of Gujarat, and his party BJP was in the opposition. This is a clear example of patriotism, and one needs courage to become a patriot.
Rahul Gandhi should at least think about our thousands of army jawans, who are posted on the frontier in Ladakh, in biting cold, guarding our strategic heights in minus 40 deg Celsius temperature. On one hand, our jawans are facing the enemy braving cold and rough terrain, and on the other, Rahul Gandhi is alleging that our government has surrendered before the Chinese. By saying this, he is pointing fingers at the bravery of our armed forces, whose commanders have reached an agreement with the Chinese on troop disengagement.
During his 13-minute-long press conference, Rahul repeated several times that our territory has been ceded to China. The Defence Ministry rebutted this charge in a strongly worded statement. It said, these are “misinformed and misleading comments… The assertion that Indian territory is up to Finger 4 is false. The territory of India is as depicted by the map of India and includes more than 43,000 sq. km. currently under illegal occupation of China since 1962.”
The Defence Ministry said: “Even the LAC, according to Indian perception, is at Finger 8 and not at Finger 4. That is why India has persistently maintained the right to patrol up to Finger 8, including in the current understanding with China. …It is necessary to set the record straight to counter some misinformed and misleading comments being amplified in the media and social media. ..Those who doubt the achievements made possible by the sacrifices of our military personnel are actually disrespecting them.”
In conclusion, let me say, whatever happened during the last nine months in eastern Ladakh is a matter of pride for our valiant jawans. On questions of territorial integrity, sovereignty and national honour, the entire nation must stand as one, forgetting all political differences. Today a senior Congress leader told me, at least ask Rahul why none in the Opposition raised questions against the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh when Pakistani terrorists attacked and caused mayhem in Mumbai during the 26/11 attacks in 2008? The entire nation, along with the Opposition, at that time stood rock solid behind our then PM.
Let me share an open secret. Soon after the 26/11 attacks, chiefs of our army, air force and navy met the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh and sought permission to teach Pakistan a lesson, by destroying terror hideouts in enemy territory. Our army units were ready, our air force planes were ready with laser guided bombs and missiles, and the armed forces' chiefs requested the PM to give permission to carry out airstrikes within 24 hours. But the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh declined to give permission. This was revealed by none other than the then IAF chief Retired Air Chief Marshal Fali Major in an interview, nine years after the 26/11 attacks.
During the meeting, the IAF chief apprised the then PM that from logistics to weapons and planes, everything was ready to strike terror-training camps in PoK. But he never received a go-ahead from the government. “In the wake of an attack like 26/11, the window of opportunity to strike is 24 hours”, said Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Fali Homi Major, adding that even a small tactical action by the Air Force has a strategic effect. "Surgical strike was an opportunity lost and we didn't make use of it."
This has been substantiated by former US President Barack Obama in his recently released memoir “A Promised Land”, in which he mentions his 2010 visit to India, and writes how Manmohan Singh had resisted calls to retaliate against Pakistan after 26/11 attacks.
Obama wrote “..but his restraint had cost him politically”. Singh had expressed fears to Obama that rising anti-Muslim sentiment had strengthened the BJP.
"He feared that rising anti-Muslim sentiment had strengthened the influence of India's main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In uncertain times, Mr President," the prime minister said, "the call of religious and ethnic solidarity can be intoxicating. And it's not so hard for politicians to exploit that, in India or anywhere else," Obama wrote about the conversation.
At that time, Rahul was one of the most powerful leaders in India, he was a member of Parliament, the government led by Dr Manmohan Singh was being run on dictates from Rahul and his mother Sonia Gandhi. Why didn’t Rahul, at that time, tell his PM to retaliate and do ‘ghar me ghus kar maro’ (enter the enemy territory and strike)? How would he have reacted if anybody at that time had described Dr Singh as ‘a coward’ ?
There is this famous proverb: “Jinke ghar shishey ke hote hain, wey doosron par patthar nahin phenktey” (Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones). Rahul Gandhi must realize this.
WATCH AAJ KI BAAT:
Aaj Ki Baat: Monday to Friday, 9 PM
India’s Number One and the most followed Super Prime Time News Show ‘Aaj Ki Baat – Rajat Sharma Ke Saath was launched just before the 2014 General Elections. Since its inception, the show is redefining India’s super-prime time and is numerically far ahead of its contemporaries.