It is about this month. On Monday, July 1, Rahul Gandhi gave his first speech in Parliament as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He presented his point by showing a copy of the Constitution and a picture of Lord Shiva and mentioned the Abhaya Mudra. This style of Rahul was discussed a lot. At the end of the month, Rahul once again spoke on the budget on Monday itself and cornered the government on many issues. Then he mentioned Lord Shiva but the word ‘Chakravyuh’ remained central in his speech.
Rahul Gandhi said, ‘The ‘Chakravyuh’ which has been created. Crores of people have suffered losses due to this. We will break this cycle. The biggest way to break this is caste census. Which you all are afraid of. INDIA will pass guaranteed legal MSP in this House. We will pass the caste census in this House and show it to you.
Finance Minister held his head after hearing Rahul’s speech
There came a time in Rahul Gandhi’s 46-minute speech when the Finance Minister held his head after listening to Rahul. Since the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi’s entire emphasis has been on Agniveer Yojana, unemployment and helping backward-Dalits. For this he is continuously emphasizing on caste census. The same issues dominated his speech even while speaking on the budget.
Rahul said, ‘This budget pudding is being distributed. Not a single OBC-Tribal-Dalit officer is visible in this. What is happening sir? The country’s pudding is being distributed. There is no 73 percent in it. Nirmala Sitharaman held her head after listening to Rahul Gandhi’s speech. He said, ‘You people are eating halwa and the rest of the country is not getting halwa.’
‘Only two-three percent are getting halwa’
Rahul Gandhi said that 20 officers have done the work of making the country’s budget but out of these only one is a minority and one is OBC. There is not a single Dalit or tribal in it. Citing the pre-budget halwa ritual, Rahul Gandhi alleged that in this government only 2-3 percent people are preparing halwa and the same number of people are eating halwa and the rest of India is not getting it.
Rahul said, ’90-95 percent want caste census. Everyone has to find out what is our involvement. Who distributes, the same 2-3 percent people, who gets it, the same 2-3 percent people. The Finance Minister is smiling. It’s an amazing thing. This is no laughing matter, madam. This is no laughing matter. This is a caste census.
JDU got support on caste census
Rahul Gandhi is continuously building his election strategy around caste census. Congress has also benefited from this in the elections. Congress and India alliance are continuously promising to conduct caste census if they come to power. Rahul repeated this in Parliament also, which also got the support of JDU.
JDU is in favor of caste census from the beginning. While being the Chief Minister, Nitish has got this work done in Bihar. That’s why perhaps Rahul is a constant attacker on BJP’s sore spot, which he gave a new color to by linking it with ‘Chakravyuh’.
Rahul showed photo in the House for the second time
This is the second time after becoming the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha that Rahul Gandhi tried to make his point by showing the photo and the speaker refused. Referring to the Chakravyuh structure of Mahabharata war, Rahul Gandhi said that there is fear, violence in it and six people trapped Abhimanyu and killed him. Describing Chakravyuh as Padmavyuh, he said that it is like an inverted lotus.
Rahul said, ‘A new Chakravyuh has been prepared, that too in the shape of Lotus, which PM Modi nowadays roams around with on his chest. Abhimanyu was killed by 6 people, whose names were Drona, Karna, Kripacharya, Kritavarma, Ashvasthama and Shakuni. Even today there are 6 people in the middle of the Chakravyuh. At the very center of Chakravyuh, 6 people control it, just as 6 people used to control it at that time, 6 people are controlling it even today.
‘You don’t let the Annadata get out of the Chakravyuh’
On this statement of Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla interrupted him and reminded him that the name of a person who is not a member of this House should not be taken. On this, Rahul Gandhi said that if he wants not to take the names of Ajit Doval, Adani and Ambani, then he will not. Rahul Gandhi alleged that the people of the country have been trapped in a maze by the Modi government, in which farmers and youth are suffering the most.
He said, ‘Annadata, whom you do not allow to come out of this Chakravyuh, you have not given anything to them. He had asked for one thing…MSP. You stopped them at the border. Till date the road is closed, no one is ready to talk to him, if he comes here to meet me, you are not allowing him to come inside.
‘Let me tell you the facts sir’
On this the Speaker said that you will not tell lies in the House. Rahul said, ‘Let me tell you the facts.’ The Speaker said, ‘You tell your members not to accuse the House. I speak from the record. Rahul Gandhi said, ‘A delegation of farmers came to meet me, I was told that the farmers would not be allowed inside, when I went to meet them, they were allowed inside. This is fact. Now I don’t know if there was any miscommunication, that’s a different matter. But the fact is that when I went there with the media, the doors of Parliament opened for them.
‘The decorum of the House was violated’
Om Birla said, ‘In such a situation, questions should not be raised on the busyness of the House. It is the speaker’s jurisdiction to decide who should be allowed to come and who should not be allowed to come. When this information came, you met him, but it violated the decorum of the House. Apart from the member, no other person in the House can give a byte and he gave a byte in your presence. Rahul said that this is a technicality, I did not know this.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Srinet raised questions on this statement of the Speaker and while posting the photos of actresses in Parliament, wrote, ‘These actresses are allowed to give bytes but not the farmers! Why? This country belongs to actors, not to farmers? These pictures are from September 2023, when many film stars were called to Parliament to see the new Parliament, even then the Chairman was Om Birla ji.
BJP linked Chakravyuh to insulting Hindu religion
Not only did Rahul Gandhi have an altercation with the Speaker, but over his statement, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also condemned Rahul Gandhi’s statement. He said, ‘I understand that inside the Parliament, representatives of 140 crore people sit in the Lok Sabha. The proceedings of the Lok Sabha are governed by traditions and rules. Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly reminded that whatever you talk, do it according to the rules. But keeping the rules in mind, they have talked nonsense. No one can be above the House, the Constitution and the country. Rahul Gandhi has not even taken care of the dignity of his post.
The way Rahul described Chakravyuh as Padmavyuh and described it as an inverted lotus, BJP condemned it and linked it to insulting Hindu religion, to which Rahul refused. But Rahul made it clear that he will continue to corner the government on the basis of his agenda.
Rahul said – middle class is being hit by ‘tax terrorism’
While Prime Minister Modi described the budget as strengthening the middle class, Rahul Gandhi described it as ‘tax terrorism’ and an attack on the middle class. This time in the budget, the burden of short and long term capital gains tax has been increased on those investing in gold, silver, mutual funds, stock market and property. This has changed the entire tax mathematics. Rahul cornered the government on this issue but Prime Minister Modi has been claiming that it is he who has benefited the middle class the most.
Rahul trying to break into BJP’s vote bank
Congress has performed better than BJP in rural and semi-urban seats. In rural areas, BJP has lost 49 seats compared to 2019, while in semi-urban seats, BJP has got 10 less seats than in the last election, but this increase is not that much in urban seats. In 2019, BJP had blossomed on 35 urban seats in the country, which has now reduced by 4 seats to 31. Rahul’s attempt is to make a dent in this strongest vote bank of BJP, for which he is calling the middle class surrounded by ‘tax terrorism’.
(Input: Aaj Tak Bureau)