Time to Punish

 

TIME has come for the Government -- and also the country -- to deliver a stern, no-nonsense punishment to Congress leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi for continuing to indulge in thoughtless criticism of India and its democratic institutions. Once again, Mr. Rahul Gandhi -- who is also the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha -- has blasted the Election Commission of India (EC) for being partisan and for indulging in wrong practices to help the ruling party to keep winning elections. Mr. Gandhi’s reference was to the recent legislative elections (particularly in Maharashtra where the Bharatiya Janata Party registered an unprecedented victory breaking all previous records for any party). Mr. Gandhi justified his criticism by misinterpreting statistical details of voting and presenting an utterly false picture of the electoral outcome. Thus, once again, Mr. Gandhi has heaped abuses on the country and its institutions from foreign soil -- a habit he has been following for the past some years, in the name of freedom of expression.

 

This certainly calls for a stiff punishment to Mr. Rahul Gandhi for indulging in falsehood to malign the nation in the eyes of the international community. Of course, Mr. Gandhi has been warned against this habit previously as well on many occasions. Yet, he has refused to learn right lessons from those words of caution and has continued to malign the country whenever he goes abroad. This obstinacy needs to be punished as per the law of the land without any further delay. Such a step should have been taken long ago -- which the people of India were asking for. Yet, for reasons never explained by the powers that be, Mr. Gandhi was spared by the Government -- which emboldened him all the more. Now, his criticism has become more acerbic and brazen.

 

This cannot be and should not be tolerated by the people and the Government. As he launches his political campaigns etc, Mr. Gandhi -- and most other Opposition leaders -- indulges in spreading a deliberate falsehood about the Government’s thought and action. For every small step the Government takes, the Opposition leaders start baying and barking that it is obliterating the Constitution and defiling its spirit. Of course, the voters of the country have understood in complete detail that Mr. Rahul Gandhi and general Opposition leadership has been rejected at most elections -- thanks mainly to uncouth propagandism against the country and its institutions. Nobody worries much about how vitriolic the criticism is -- since criticism is an integral part of political discourse. What matters most is the falsehood Mr. Rahul Gandhi spreads particularly on foreign soil. And that calls for a stern, no-nonsense action against him. The Government should put Mr. Gandhi in custody (immediately upon his arrival back in India) for all the falsehood in which he indulges.

 

There is no need to worry about the political repercussions of any such action since the common people would support the Government action wholeheartedly. Possibly, Mr. Gandhi may be waiting for any such retaliation -- so that he could whip up political sentiment against the Government. But the Government should not be overly concerned about any such outcome since its action would be backed by not just legal but also a moral force. Arresting Mr. Gandhi, thus, would not mean taking an undue political risk by the Government. In fact, any such step would invite people’s appreciation because the whole country is tired and sick of Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s thoughtless and deliberate utterances to insult India and its pride. Government may do well even to stop Mr. Rahul Gandhi from visiting foreign countries only because he indulges in a habitual abusing of the Indian systems and institutions.