Opinion Congress leader Pawan Khera writes: Defamation case, disqualification as MP, intention is to muzzle the voice of Rahul Gandhi

If half a sentence from a speech on price rise, unemployment and corruption is picked out of context to be twisted and misinterpreted and used to file a case against Rahul, despite there being clear violations of established provisions of law dealing with jurisdiction and cause of action, it shows the intent of the regime. The intention is to muzzle the voice of Rahul Gandhi. If he speaks in Parliament, the speech is not only expunged, he is given a privilege notice. If he speaks outside Parliament, cops are sent to his doorstep to question him on the content of his speech. If he speaks outside the country, the speech is distorted and he is promptly labelled “anti-national”. He gets hounded to apologise before the House for remarks made not only outside the House but outside the country. The idea is to stifle his voice. Over-stretch laws, weaponise social media with fake news, distortions and photoshop, tame mainstream media to either block him out or ridicule him. Do whatever it takes to silence him.

Why? Because Rahul Gandhi questions you on your crony capitalist friends. Because Rahul Gandhi demands a JPC on the Adani issue. Because Rahul Gandhi makes you and the world realise what you are, and not what your PR machinery wants you and the world to believe you are. So, a defamation case is used to disqualify him from Parliament

The case of defamation against Rahul Gandhi must be seen in the context of larger picture of what the BJP-RSS regime is trying to achieve in the short and long term. In the short term, such tactics aim to silence voices of dissent. In the long term, this makes silence a national habit. The structure of obedience looks like a prison. This is used as a threat to control society. The jail sentence is not just to tame Rahul Gandhi or the Congress party. It is to tame every citizen who dares to speak. This is a deterrent from speaking.

As I sat down to write this article, Hindenburg Research came up with its new report exposing Block Inc (formerly Square Inc). I tried looking for reactions from US government officials or politicians defending Block Inc. There was none. There has been no display of chest-thumping nationalism. No attack on Hindenburg. No Jack Dorsey sitting there draped in the US flag claiming that an attack on him is an attack on America.

Why am I talking about the Hindenburg Report in an article on the defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, you may ask. Because, the Modi government’s response to the Hindenburg report tells us everything that needs to be told. Wrongdoing gets whitewashed elsewhere. In Modi’s India, wrongdoings get tricoloured. You obviously do not have an argument if your only argument is nationalism. You threaten Rahul Gandhi with cases, prison sentences or disqualification; Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party will keep demanding a JPC on the Adani saga. We will keep highlighting inflation, unemployment, and social polarisation. Democracy cannot thrive behind soundproof walls. If you smother democratic expressions of a people, their cries must necessarily be heard.

The BJP was under a happy illusion that politics, people and the narrative can be manipulated through their IT cell. They were convinced they could control and influence the thought process of 140 crore people.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra disrupted the BJP’s fairytale romance with themselves. The voices and pain of the people began to be heard despite their best efforts. Now, the emperor is afraid. He is afraid of Bharat, post the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He is afraid of the protagonist of the Yatra. So afraid that he will try every trick in the book and outside it to hound Rahul Gandhi out of Parliament. The emperor forgets, Rahul Gandhi the street fighter is a bigger headache for him than Rahul Gandhi, the MP.

The writer is chairman, Media and Publicity Department, All India Congress Committee