A parliamentary democracy grants certain privileges and immunities to legislators. In general, what they say in the House can't become the basis of a civil suit or criminal charge. On the other hand, defamatory remarks may be expunged from the record on order of the Speaker. This does mean that legislators acquire a habit of, if not judicious speech, then a method of communicating which is sufficiently allusive and ambiguous for them to get their message across without their statements becoming legally actionable. The great advantage of being a legislator is that you get into the habit of speaking 'parliamentary language'. This, by itself, adds gravitas and credibility to the manner in which experienced members of parliament habitually express themselves.
Consider Modi's remark, in Parliament, on Congress MP, Renuka Chowdhury who was screeching loudly. He didn't say 'she is screeching like the demoness Surpanakha in the TV serial 'Ramayana'.' Instead he asked the Speaker not to stop the screeching lady because it was giving legislators the opportunity to hear such laughter as they had previously only heard in the Ramayana serial'. Everybody knew Modi meant that Renuka was screeching like Surpanakha- she herself certainly did which is why she wants to bring a defamation case against Modi (though, what he said was protected by parliamentary privilege. If it was defamatory it would have been expunged) after all these years. But Modi hadn't explicitly said that she was screeching like a demoness. He said it was a privilege to hear such laughter after many years.
Rahul has now been disbarred as an MP because he said that all thieves are members of a particular community sharing a common surname. A little digging will uncover countless more examples of this 'inherent vice' in that community. This act of 'collective defamation' led to a criminal conviction and automatic disbarment from Parliament in line with a 2013 Supreme Court decision.
A professional politician would never have made such an outrageous statement. He'd have said 'it is sad that the good name and reputation of a wonderful community is being tarnished by people like such and such fraudster and such and such politician'. There is a suggestio falsi here- viz. that the politician is as crooked as the fraudster- but the statement is not actionable. It is not an insult to any particular community- though that may be the intention. Neither the Courts nor the Election Commission can take action against the legislator though he may be issued a warning in which case he can make a fulsome apology while repeating the slur in some witty but seemingly innocent manner.
Rahul's big mouth- his failure to learn the rules which apply to the manner in which legislators communicate- has now angered not just the Courts- who have been reprimanding him since 2016 for his reckless disregard for the truth- but also the machinery of Parliament. Thus the Speaker was already under pressure to discipline Rahul, even before the judgment in the defamation case. Indeed, Parliamentary functioning had been brought to a standstill because of Rahul's antics. There can be no doubt that the Parliamentary Secretariat's actions, in line with the EC's recommendation as per Article 103, have promoted the functioning of Parliament. Rahul has been no great ornament of that chamber.
What is bizarre, in the context of Rahul's remarks in the UK which have created a storm in Parliament. Is that Rahul Gandhi has been an MP since 2004. Sadly, he doesn't seem to have understood how Parliament works. The Speaker decides who can speak and for how long. Mikes of MPs are switched on and off by Civil Servants who answer to the speaker. Congress is no longer the official opposition party in the lower house because it got less than ten percent of the seats. Rahul himself is merely an ordinary MP. It is right and proper that his mike is turned off save when the Speaker has given him the nod to speak. Yet Rahul has, ignorantly, made out that what is happening to him- and what happens to all MPs- represents an assault on Democracy. He has made various other allegations but this time he has said something ludicrous which impugns the integrity of the Speaker and of the professional Civil Servants who are in charge of turning on and turning off the microphones in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. It would have been perfectly proper for the Speaker to suspend Rahul it automatic disqualification hadn't come into effect as result of judicial sentence. The mooncalf must learn his lesson or be turned out to pasture.
Rahul also does not understand that defamatory remarks and unparliamentary language are expunged from the Parliamentary record as a matter of course. Alternatively, he does understand how Parliament works. He simply feels that the rules don't apply to him.
Either way, Rahul has given the BJP a way to turn the tables on the opposition. Attacking Rahul and standing up for Adani is good politics. Rahul is a loser who will disappear from parliament after the elections next year. The Adanis, after a little salutary trimming of the fat, will grow and grow. The Opposition won't join hands with Congress preferring to cannibalize its vote. Why? Rahul isn't just stupid. He is actively anti-national. Yet, Kharge says, nobody else can be PM after the 2024 elections. This means that it is in everybody's interest to ensure that Congress MPs are completely ineffective. Other opposition leaders have their own States to rule. They don't expect to get any juicy Union Cabinet posts in the near future. Thus, it is no skin off their nose if the Lok Sabha keeps getting adjourned by protests and counter-protests focusing on the utterly useless, but still Messianic, Rahul.
Now let us look at the Wire's analysis of what is happening.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some of his Union ministers, including the defence minister Rajnath Singh, have demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi for allegedly maligning India in the United Kingdom and seeking foreign intervention in restoring the crumbling structures of Indian democracy.
Now is the time to attack Rahul because the other opposition parties have an incentive to join in to cannibalize the Congress vote. However, it was Rahul's ludicrous allegations re. how Parliament functions which gives them a legitimate casus belli.
The matter has snowballed into a parliamentary impasse over which House proceedings have been stalled for two consecutive days since the beginning of the second part of the Budget session.
If Adani had collapsed, Rahul would have looked smart. But it seems certain that Adani is riding out the storm while some 'woke' Western financial institutions have already bitten the dust. Indeed, like Dhirubhai Ambani, Adani may be celebrated by Bollywood but with a nationalist twist as a home grown hero standing up to evil Western capitalists.
The treasury benches’ concerted attack stems from an all-round campaign against Rahul Gandhi by the Bharatiya Janata Party across all platforms ever since the Congress leader repeated some of his criticisms of the Union government and its alleged misuse of power in his recent visit to the UK where he interacted with journalists, academics, researchers, and civil society activists.
The 'anti-national' charge has already been substantiated by Rahul saying India is not a Nation. It is a Union of sovereign states like the European Union from which Britain just exited. The other point is that Indians don't believe Modi is a generous man. That Gujju may take money from Ambani and Adani and anyone else, but he won't make anybody rich just because he likes the cut of their jib.
The Congress, however, has said that an apology is not on the cards and accused the BJP and the Union government of spinning Gandhi’s statements for its political gains, and more importantly, deflecting attention from the Adani controversy that has rocked the parliament for days now.
The problem here is that if Rahul makes an apology in a TV interview with a sympathetic celebrity, he will get back popularity. People will say- 'he is turning over a new leaf. He has learnt his lesson'. If the Gandhi family had a good advisor, they'd have done this already. Fortunately for the BJP, Congress sycophants are encouraging Rahul in his Messianic delusions. They may think that they will hold power after Rahul loses his seat in Parliament. The opposite will happen. Regional satraps will set up their own 'grassroots' Congress parties. The 'High Command' will have nothing to command.
What exactly did Gandhi say in London?
He said his mike was muted because Parliament was not functioning properly. 'Defenders of democracy' should take note. Economic and military sanctions against India were appropriate.
Did he really ask for foreign countries to intervene in India’s internal matters, as the defence minister claimed in the Lok Sabha?
Yes. He repeated the 'Democracy is a global public good' argument for 'regime change'. Back when Rahul was doing his MPhil, this was still a novel argument and did not encompass financial or military measures. But both had become mainstream policy instruments even before 9/11.
Did he really “insult” India in London, as the Prime Minister claimed?
Yes. He also said that the Speaker was either not in charge of the House or else was getting mikes turned off in an illegitimate or illicit manner.
The short answer is no. Gandhi, in fact, only repeated his earlier criticism against the Modi government.
But, by dragging in Parliament as an Institution, he had made Parliament the forum in which he himself would be judged and, absent an apology, become subject to punishment.
Take a look at Gandhi’s statements.
“Look, first of all, this is our problem (erosion of democratic institutions under Modi); it is an internal problem and it is India’s problem and the solution is going to come from inside, it is not going to come from outside. However, the scale of democracy in India means that democracy in India is a global public good. It impacts way further than our boundaries,” Gandhi said to a question at the think tank Chatham House in London.
So, Rahul is saying that 'defenders of democracy' should finance him while applying sanctions to India so that the present administration loses popularity and he himself takes over the country. This is still an appeal for foreign intervention though Rahul is making it clear that it will be Indians who will be in charge of the new regime. Even Ahmad Challabi wouldn't have suggested anything more if Iraq had nukes.
“If Indian democracy collapses, in my view, democracy on the planet suffers a very serious, possibly fatal blow.
Democracy has already collapsed if a dynasty rules it.
So, it is important for you too. It is not just important for us. We will deal with our problem, but you must be aware that this problem is going to play out on a global scale.
How? The answer is 'Hindu Terrorism' which Rahul warned the Americans about over a dozen years ago.
It is not just going to play out in India and what you do about it is, of course, up to you. You must be aware of what is happening in India — the idea of a democratic model is being attacked and threatened,” he added.
But no democratic model makes room for a Dynasty presided over by a foreigner who happened to marry an airline pilot who only inherited the throne because his brother turned out to be shite at performing aerobatic stunts.
However, the BJP particularly picked out one of his statements to allege that Gandhi sought foreign intervention in India’s internal affairs – something which, according to the BJP, compromised India’s autonomous position in the world.
India needs to push back against anti-national propaganda no matter what its source. Manmohan understood this.
However, Gandhi on his part only reminded the audience at the events that the western powers like the US and the UK which pride themselves as defenders of democracy have been “oblivious” to the systematic erosion of democracy in India.
Though no such thing obtained. Dynasticism has declined. Varun may rise to become a Minister or CM or even a PM. But if he does so, it will be on the basis of merit, not birth.
Here is what Gandhi said at his first event at Cambridge University:
“Everyone knows and it’s been in the news a lot that Indian democracy is under pressure, is under attack, right.
Rahul is attacking the democratically elected Govt. of India with vicious lies. He wants foreign help. That is the truth of the matter.
I am an opposition leader in India and we are navigating that space. What is happening is that the institutional framework which is required for a democracy – Parliament, free press, the judiciary – just the idea of mobilisation, just the idea of moving around…these are all getting constrained. So, we are facing an attack on the basic structure of democracy.
In which case the matter is justiciable under Indian constitutional law. Why is Rahul not approaching the courts? It is because he is telling lies.
In the Constitution, India is described as a Union of states
No. It is described as a Nation which has elected to be a Republic so as to assure the unity and integrity of the Nation. As a matter of administrative law, India has a Union Government as well as State and Union Territory governments. But it also has Municipal corporations and gram panchayats. This does not alter the essential unitary character of the constitution.
and that Union requires a negotiation and a conversation.
No. Majorities in Legislatures are not obliged to negotiate with crazy liars.
This is increasingly coming under threat.”
Only in the mind of a cretin.
Similarly, speaking with journalists at an event organised by Indian Journalists Association in London, he said:
“People do not understand the scale of India and its democracy. So, how would you react if democracy suddenly disappeared in Europe? You would be shocked and you would be like ‘oh my God’ that is a massive blow to democracy. Well. how would you react if a structure three-and-a-half times Europe suddenly went non-democratic. That’s happening already. That’s not something that is going to happen in the future. It already happened.”
But it hasn't happened. Congress won Himachal because Rahul stayed away. If Rahul had killed himself twenty years ago, Congress might still be in office.
Taking a leaf out of the same argument, Gandhi said at the Chatham House:
“The surprising thing is that the so-called defenders of democracy, which are the US, European countries, seem to be oblivious that a huge chunk of democratic model has come undone. The opposition is fighting the battle and it is not an Indian battle alone, actually it is much more of a bigger battle, a battle for a huge part of democratic people.”
In which case 'defenders of democracy' need to impose sanctions on India. Also they should refrain from military cooperation.
In his speeches, Gandhi also mentioned that his phone has been under surveillance,
but has provided no proof of this to Indian authorities.
and that criticisms of the opposition are shut down by the government’s heavy-handed use of power.
How then did Congress win in Himachal and AAP win in Punjab and Delhi?
He alleged that discussions on controversial matters like demonetisation, problems with GST, or farmers’ laws, or even the Chinese aggression at India’s borders are not allowed to take place in the parliament.
He is lying. Surely the Wire must be aware of this?
“So, that stifling made us ask ourselves a fundamental question…How do we communicate with the people of India when the media is biased and when the institutions are captured?
Rahul can only communicate in one way- by telling stupid, hysterical, lies. Still, there is nothing objectionable about a politicians claiming that everybody hates him and wants him to fuck off and die.
The answer we came up with within the Congress party was this walk (Bharat Jodo Yatra) across the country,” he said, while alleging that the opposition is finding increasingly difficult to communicate with people with the supposed takeover of platforms like media and other institutions by the union government.
Hopefully, Rishi Sunak will start hopping across the UK so as to stay in office.
The criticisms may have touched a raw nerve of the BJP’s, especially at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being projected as a global leader by his party, which has systematically attempted to show India as the new global superpower.
India needs to take every legal and diplomatic step to hit back against woke NGOs or Soros type nutters.
In fact, much of such a projection is likely to play a huge part in the saffron party’s campaign for the 2024 parliamentary elections.
That would be as foolish as 'India shining'. Voters don't care how the world views them. They want to be more secure and better off.
However, what may have also offended the BJP is Gandhi’s straight criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in London, prompting the RSS second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale to attack the Congress leader.
Being attacked by the mooncalf is good for the RSS.
Many RSS leaders also double up as BJP’s leaders. Also, the Sangh Parivar has a sizeable foreign presence and has been very active in drawing attention to the BJP’s campaigns in India and amplifying Narendra Modi’s larger-than-life image abroad.
It is true that the RSS is pro-India and Diaspora Indians influenced by the RSS support Indian interests which, it must be said, are aligned with those of other Democracies.
Against such a backdrop, Gandhi compared the RSS to the Muslim Brotherhood and called the organisation a “fascist and fundamentalist outfit”.
Rahul is a very silly man. He has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for uttering a slur against the Modi community. The sentence has been suspended for 30 days so a higher court may reverse the decision. Otherwise he will be barred from Parliament. He must be wishing he hadn't torn up Manmohan's ordinance on this back in 2013.
The RSS was set up in imitation of the Congress Seva Dal. If it is 'fascist', so is the Seva Dal of which Nehru was a prominent member. Rahu's grandfather, of course, was an actual Italian Fascist. No wonder Sonia got on so well with Indira.
“When I joined politics in 2004, the democratic contest in India used to be between political parties
The PM was Vajpayee- a RSS member- and the Deputy PM was Advani- also an RSS member. Modi was CM of Gujarat while Congress's candidate in Gujarat was Vaghela, also an RSS member. The Jan Sangh was created by the RSS. It joined the Janata coalition which fell apart on the dual membership (of the RSS) issue. That's when it turned into the BJP.
and I had never imagined that the nature of the contest would change completely. The reason it changed is because one organisation called the RSS, a fundamentalist, fascist organisation has basically captured pretty much all of India’s institutions,” he said.
Why was Vaghela in Manmohan's Cabinet?
“The RSS is a secret society.
Nope. It is a perfectly legal organization to which people are proud to openly belong. Maybe Sonia didn't tell her little darling that Vaghela Uncle was an RSS man. She kept it secret from him. She also didn't tell that Grand Pa was a Fascist.
It is built along the lines of the Muslim Brotherhood
the RSS was set up by Dr. Hegdewar on the lines of the Congress Seva Dal to which he also belonged and which had been set up by his pal from Medical College, Dr. Hardikar. Both were influenced by the Anushilan Committees of pre-War Bengal. The Muslim Brotherhood was set up a few years later.
and the idea is to use the democratic contest to come to power and then subvert the democratic contest afterwards.
That was a Communist strategy. It isn't the RSS strategy.
It shocked me how successful they have been at capturing the different institutions of our country. The press, the judiciary, Parliament, the Election Commission and all the institutions are under pressure, and (are) controlled in one way or the other,” he added.
There speaks the voice of paranoia. Even Vaghela Uncle was RSS! Did you know Speaker of the House, Sumitra Mahajan, was an RSS woman? Why she was not wearing khaki shorts? I tell you, it is all a big conspiracy!
Gandhi has been making these criticisms against the BJP and the Sangh parivar consistently since the last few years. His opinions were amplified even more by the Congress during the recent Bharat Jodo Yatra. His statements in London weren’t new except for the fact that they were spoken in front of an international audience.
Very true. Rishi Sunak was there and Joe Biden. Putin popped in for a moment but left when he saw the Pope arrive. This international audience screamed with joy when they saw Rahul baba.
Political observers may ask whether it was prudent for Gandhi to take his criticisms abroad or not, given that he has faced similar attacks by the BJP each time he has spoken in front of an international audience in the past. However, Gandhi in making his criticisms has not hesitated in opening himself up to such attacks.
I suppose, his thinking is that if he is barred from Parliament then he will have more time for foreign holidays.
Many on the other side of the government have privately been saying that Gandhi and the Congress may need to define the contours of its criticisms, especially since high-pitched nationalism has been the biggest draw for the BJP in electoral battles. Now as the Lok Sabha elections are only a year away, critics feel that the Congress may need some strategic thinking to better focus on palpable problems of people under Modi, like inflation, unemployment, and a general erosion of social harmony in India – issues that could bring Gandhi closer to the electorate and his own party’s rank and file.
Saying inflation is bad and that unemployment sucks ass big time is not enough. In Karnataka, Congress is offering a straightforward bribe to jobless graduates. That may get it some votes. Money talks. Bullshits walks from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
But such electoral considerations do not seem to have stopped Gandhi – so far – from being a straight-talking politician.
His walking is his strong suit. Talking- not so much. Who knows? Perhaps, he will talk his way into another criminal defamation case and end up behind bars.
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