Opinion | The Incorrigible, Recidivist Congress and the Beneficiary BJP

Recently, during a presser, the chairman of the Indian National Congress (INC’s) media and publicity department, Pawan Khera, facetiously stumbled when speaking the complete name of Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. Damodardas Mulchand Modi is PM Modi’s father’s name. “If Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee could form a JPC, respectively, then what problem does Narendra Gautam Das—sorry, Damodardas—Modi have?” said Khera during the press conference. Khera returned to his colleague after taking a dig at PM Modi’s name to clarify whether PM Modi’s middle name is Gautam Das or Damodardas. He later stated, “Naam Damordas hai, kaam Gautam Das ka hai. (While his name is Damordas, his work is of a Gautam Das).” Needless, it is to expound on what he really intended!

As they say, “Your best teacher is your last mistake.” Evidently, and now imminently belying this biblical fact, dissing and cussing their bête noire ‘Narendra Modi’ with the choicest of expletives has been a sine qua non of the Opposition, led by the Congress since its early days. But that has been invariably a fool’s errand!

Who said what and when?

• Sonia Gandhi in the2007 Gujarat Elections: Modi is a liar, a cheater, and a merchant of death
• Salman Khurshid on August 17, 2013: What to say about him (Modi), the frog has just come out of the well
• Mani Shankar Aiyar around the 2014 elections: He (Modi) can only sell tea. If you speak, we will make arrangements
• Salman Khurshid on February 26, 2014: You (Modi) are not only accused of murder. We allege that you are impotent
• Imran Masood on March 28, 2014: Modi is considering UP as Gujarat; there are 42 percent Muslims, we will chop him into pieces.
• Priyanka Vadra on May 6, 2014: Modi insulted my father, booth workers of Amethi will answer for ‘neech‘ politics
• Sanjay Nirupam in October 2014: People have handed the reigns of the country in the hands of ‘monkeys’
• Rahul Gandhi on October 6, 2016: Prime Minister, you are brokering the blood of the martyrs (Khoon ki Dalali)
• Abhishek Manu Singhvi in November 2017: BJP is the mother of vulgar, indecent statements. Modi himself is a serial abuser
• Mani Shankar Aiyar on December 7, 2017: There is no civilisation in that man (Modi), he is of a lowly type (Neech Aadmi)
• Siddaramaiah on April 24, 2018: PM Modi is being imported from North India
• Mallikarjun Kharge in July 2018: Chaiwala (Modi) became PM because we preserved democracy
• Sanjay Nirupam on September 12, 2018: What will children who are studying in school-college get by knowing about an illiterate boor like Modi?
• Rahul Gandhi on September 20, 2018: There is noise in every street, the watchman of India is a thief (Chowkidar Chor)
• Madhusudhan Mistry on November 12, 2022: We will put him to his place (Aukaat)
• Mallikarjun Kharge on November 28, 2022: Does PM Modi have 100 faces like Ravana?

Even now, when this whole furore hasn’t been settled, the Congress party, while protesting on Thursday, clamoured “Modi teri kabar khudegi.”

In a mega diaspora event held at Westminster’s iconic Central Hall in 2018, Narendra Modi proved that when it comes to oratorical prowess, none in the Indian political space can hold a candle to him. “What is the secret of your stamina?” a turbaned youth asked. PM Modi quipped: “There are many ways of answering the question. In the last approximately 20 years, I daily eat 1-2 kgs of abuses (Pichle kareeb kareeb 20 saal se main daily 1-2 kg gaaliyan khata hun).” Prime Minister Modi added, “I always welcome criticism. I give so much importance to your criticism that I try to accept it in my life, and it is a goldmine.”

In another political rally in Telangana, Prime Minister Modi engaged in some cheerful banter and said, “I don’t get tired because every day I eat 2-3 kg of gaalis (abuses)…God has blessed me in such a way that it gets converted into nutrition inside me, to take it positively.”

Most recently, while replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, PM Modi’s scathing crackdown left the Opposition quaking in their boots. In an all-out attack on the Opposition, the prime minister noted that compulsive opprobrium has replaced constructive criticism in the last nine years. “Gaali can’t stop my Gati,” he said, adding that the people’s mandate, trust, and faith provided him with a protective shield against the arrows of abuse and lies he faces. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Mani Shankar Aiyar called Modi a “chaiwala.” Result: The Congress was decimated across the country, bagging only 44 seats.

During the Gujarat assembly elections in 2007, the Congress anticipated a rock-solid victory. But due to this misplaced belief, Sonia Gandhi called Modi, the then chief minister, a “merchant of death.” Result: The BJP won by a landslide, winning 117 of the 182 seats. In the 2017 UP assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of “Khoon Ki Dalali” in the aftermath of the surgical strikes. Result: The Congress got reduced to a humiliating seven seats.  In the Lok Sabha elections 2019, Gandhi said “chowkidar chor hai.” Result: The BJP registered a landslide victory with a mandate of 353 seats in the Lok Sabha, its highest tally ever.

However, PM Modi has always taken personal attacks in good humour and is known to lacerate the Opposition with his quirky replies and razor-sharp sarcasm. Time and again, he has reminded the Opposition of the many instances where the Congress has borne the brunt of every free-wheeling personal attack made against him, and poll results are indisputable evidence of the same. The BJP has used every opportunity to encash it during the elections, and yet the Congress fails to reflect upon its history of injuries, hence making it incorrigible and recidivist.

The Congress has proven the biblical quote that says, “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” If this writer were to advise the Congress leadership, he would reiterate what the PM jibed, “Keechad mat uchalo kyunki keechad mein hi kamal khilta hai.”

Yuvraj Pokharna is an independent journalist and columnist. He tweets with @pokharnaprince. Views expressed are personal.

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