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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi a 'failed product'.
Speaking in a program on a private channel, he targeted Rahul Gandhi as well as the Congress and said, "The number of launches of party leaders in a year is not so many in Sriharikota."
Narendra Modi also said that while the world is looking for a 'new order', some people are dreaming of 'disorder' and want to tarnish India's global image.
On Thursday itself, Home Minister Amit Shah also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi. While inaugurating Yamuna related schemes in New Delhi, he took a dig at Rahul Gandhi's foreign tours and said, "I live among the people, so I don't have to go abroad every six months."
This was a 'double attack' on Rahul Gandhi by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on the same day i.e. Thursday. The background of this double attack is the recent protest over the issue of alleged vote theft.
But Abhijeet Deepke and Neha Bora have also been the faces of two major protests this year.
In such a situation, this question is important that why are Modi and Shah targeting only Rahul Gandhi? Is this a part of his 'Congress-free India' campaign and is any signal being given to the Indian diaspora through these statements?
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has been continuously accusing Rahul Gandhi of tarnishing India's image abroad.
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Image source, ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was participating in a private TV program on Thursday.
In his address at this event, he said, "I don't know how long Congress will keep putting the country at stake for the launch of its failed product. This Congress family has become a burden for their party. Congress has to keep only one leader in the limelight and by doing so, Congress is doing injustice to its young MPs."
In his address, Narendra Modi also tried to show that his government is not against any kind of movement.
Modi said, "Honest critics of the government are also suffering because of Congress. This is not good for democracy. Even those who want to express their views in a democratic manner are being drowned by the noise of Congress. Congress has become a parasite which does not want to let anyone else move forward. Congress is dominated by the mindless Naxalites. Earlier, these people used to destroy the forests, now they are destroying the country."
Amit Shah also attacks Rahul and Congress
On Thursday itself, Home Minister Amit Shah also targeted Rahul Gandhi.
He said, "The BJP government is getting elected continuously, so these people are having pain in their stomach. These people want to save the votes of infiltrators by making the excuse of vote theft. These people sometimes use EVMs and sometimes make the excuse of vote theft, but our government will be formed for the next 30 years."
Referring to Kerala, Telangana, Himachal and Tamil Nadu, Amit Shah said, "Where the government is formed by Congress or with its support, the Election Commission becomes good, but where they lose, the Commission becomes bad. These people cannot defy the people's mandate by gathering cadre from nearby states."
Target on Rahul but why silent on other young leaders?
Image source, Arun SANKAR / AFP via Getty Images
Why are Narendra Modi and Amit Shah so attacking Rahul Gandhi and Congress regarding the recent movements? And why Rahul Gandhi, who is as vocal against the Modi government and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, is silent on Abhijeet Deepke, Neha Bora and other young leaders.
The answers to this question come from different analysts ranging from Rahul Gandhi being the leader of the opposition to the united strength shown by Gen-Z in recent times.
Senior journalist Saba Naqvi tells BBC News Hindi, "Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition, he is in electoral politics. Whereas Abhijeet Deepke is only in the role of an influencer. He has said that he will not contest the elections right now. Talking about Neha, she is associated with a political party, but she is in student politics."
'Government does not want to buy into Gen Z's anger'
Senior journalist Vijay Trivedi also says, "Obviously Rahul Gandhi is Narendra Modi's political rival, not CJP or Neha. Therefore, increase or decrease in political strength will happen only by targeting its political rival. By remaining silent on Abhijit Deepke and Neha, BJP wants to avoid any kind of loss."
Vijay says, "Right now there is an atmosphere of Gen-Z. If we go into controversy with Gen-Z, then it is possible that CJP may come closer to Congress at the ideological level in the future. BJP currently wants to keep CJP happy in its honeymoon period, which has started with the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan. The government will not buy Gen-Z's displeasure by attacking Neha Bora."
At the same time, Arvind Sharma, assistant editor in the National Bureau of the newspaper Dainik Jagran, says, "Ignoring your opponent is sometimes a part of the strategy. Modi ji is also doing the same, by remaining silent on Deepke and Neha. They are being ignored so that their sentiment does not increase."
Neha Bora is the national president of student organization AISA. This student organization is associated with CPI (ML).
Party general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya tells BBC that the government is doing this as per strategy. He says, "Modi and Shah are scared of the public movement. These people are scared of the power of Gen-Z. Recently, Mohan Bhagwat's entire speech was also against the youth. This is the strategy of the scared government."
'BJP's Congress-free India campaign'
Image source: Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
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But is this just political rivalry or a routine step towards BJP's stated objective of a Congress-free India?
Sociologist and political analyst Pushpendra says, "Congress may be weak, but it has a presence all over India. Congress has had the maximum mobilization on the issue of SIR. In such a situation, if anyone will get the most benefit from the movements, then Congress will get it. There is only one leader there, Rahul Gandhi. Therefore, by being aggressive on Rahul and taking a step back on Abhijeet-Neha, BJP is working on its bigger agenda. That is, making India opposition-free through Congress-free."
But on Thursday, Narendra Modi also showed sympathy towards the agitators by using the word 'honest critics' in his address. How should this be viewed?
On this question, Vijay Trivedi says, "The government seems to be under pressure. The government is trying not to create any big organized form of movement. But the government has no problem with sporadic movements."
Whereas sociologist Pushpendra says that the government is continuously rejecting the movement, but the Modi government also came on the backfoot in three movements.
He says, "The government is in panic. One movement ends, another starts. The government had to step back in the CAA, farmers and student paper leak protests. The truth is that whether a movement is successful or unsuccessful, it creates space for a new movement and no government likes mass movements."
Rahul's foreign travels and diaspora
Image source: Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP via Getty Images
Targeting Congress and Rahul Gandhi, Narendra Modi accused them of 'tarnishing the image of India'. Whereas Amit Shah commented on Rahul Gandhi's foreign trips.
Rahul Gandhi's foreign trips are also discussed among the common people.
Senior journalist Vijay Trivedi says, "Just like the government was under pressure, when Rahul Gandhi goes abroad, the movements get a shock. On the other hand, the government is aware of Rahul Gandhi's movement, but it creates such a political environment that Rahul Gandhi is a non-serious leader. Rahul Gandhi and his team should think seriously about this."
But in this entire debate, Pushpendra brings up the mention of Indian diaspora.
He says, "It goes to Modi's credit that he proved how the diaspora can influence India's internal politics. He channelized it and gave a new boost to funding. After the Chinese diaspora, the Indian diaspora is the largest, hence Modi got a big benefit from it. But in the last few years, Rahul has also punctured this diaspora."
Pushpendra says, "Rahul Gandhi's foreign trips are not bad. The flaw lies in the fact that his team is not able to communicate properly about his trips, like Modi's trips are communicated. Due to the gap in communication, there is confusion and Rahul Gandhi's image is created as a non-serious leader, which does not stand in comparison to the 24-hour working image of the BJP organization."
Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.
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