Debate over motion of thanks: Rich India, poor India; Centre’s vision is of a king with stick, won’t work, says Rahul

Gandhi’s scathing reply in the debate over the motion of thanks to the President’s address touched upon a range of issues: from the silence over jobs in the Budget speech to what he called the decimation of the small and medium industry to the concentration of capital in the hands of “AA”, (a reference to Ambani and Adani); the “capture” of institutions, to the Centre refusing to listen to states.

“There are two competing visions of India…If you read the Constitution, you will find that India is described as a Union of States. India is not described as a nation, it is described as a Union of States,” he said. He said this means that people from all states should have the same rights.

“You think that you can suppress the (states’) languages, cultures, histories. You have no idea of history, no idea of what you are dealing with,” he said. Citing an example, he said, “the people of Tamil Nadu have the idea of Tamil Nadu, the idea of Tamil language in their heart, and then also the idea of India”.

“There are two visions: one is a Union of States, of languages, of cultures, a bouquet of beautiful flowers that can challenge any power in the world… There is another vision: a centralising vision, the vision of a king, the idea of a king which the Congress removed in 1947… The idea of a king has come back, that there is a king, a shehenshah, a ruler of rulers, a master of masters,” he said.

“As a result of this flawed vision, the instruments of conversation between our states, between our peoples, what we call the institutions of our country, are being attacked and captured by one India,” he said. Citing examples, he mentioned the NEET issue in Tamil Nadu and the farmers’ protests in Punjab, saying they “don’t get a voice in your framework”. “Only the king has a voice,” he said.

It is this “confused understanding” of the nation that is “playing havoc”, Gandhi said. “The judiciary, Election Commission, Pegasus – these are all instruments… the voice of the Union of States,” he said. “When you apply Pegasus on an Indian politician… when the… personally goes to Israel and authorises the use of Pegasus in India, he is attacking the people of Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal,” he said.

“My fear is that this attack that you are carrying out on the institutional framework is going to get a response from the Union of States… My great grandfather (Nehru) was in jail for 15 years, my grandmother (Indira Gandhi) was shot in the chest 32 times, my father (Rajiv Gandhi) was blown into pieces. I know what it is…You are fiddling with something very dangerous,” he said.

He cited an alleged incident of “insult” to a delegation from Manipur at the residence of Home Minister Amit Shah, saying “this represents the idea of Union of States vs the idea of a king”. “A few days ago, some political leader came to me from Manipur and he was very agitated… He said he had never felt so insulted… He said a delegation of political leaders from Manipur went to see the Home Minister. Outside his house, they were told to take off their shoes. When they went inside, they found that the Home Minister was wearing his chappals,” he claimed.

When members from the Treasury benches protested, the former Congress chief said the leader from Manipur had shown him photographs.
Gandhi began his speech by saying that the President’s address left out some “fundamental issues”. He said: “There is now no longer one India. One India is for the extremely rich, for those who have immense wealth, immense power, for those who don’t need jobs, for those who don’t need water or electricity connections, but control the heartbeat of the country.”

He said there was another India for the poor, where “there are no jobs”. “Do Hindustan ban gaye hain. Ek amiron ka Hindustan aur doosra garibon ka Hindustan. Aur in do Hindustanon ke beech khai barhti jaa rahi hai. (There are two Indias. One, an India of rich; and the other, an India of poor. And, the gap between these two Indias is widening),” he said.

He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work towards bringing the “two Indias” together.

“The entire youth of India are looking for employment, but the government is not able to address this issue,” he said. He said 3 crore youths had lost their jobs in 2021 – the highest in 50 years.

Emphasising that “jobs are generated by small and medium industries, the informal sector”, he said demonetisation, the flawed implementation of GST and the failure to support the poor during the pandemic, had “destroyed” the small and medium sector which was supposed to be the engine of the Make in India programme.

On the other hand, he said, the government had created “monopolies” in the formal sector. He flagged how the Adani group was into several sectors including airports, ports, gas distribution and energy.