Speaking at the Jan Aakrosh rally organised by the Congress at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi aimed at fabricating a sense of discontent towards the Modi government, Congress president Rahul Gandhi stated that he needs 60 months to change the country. This is an obvious reference to the 2019 general elections. Nonetheless, it is not only the concocted claims made at the Jan Aakrosh rally that grabbed public anger but also the fact that Rahul Gandhi dared to ask for 60 more months even though the nation was kept in the dark by his organisation for the last 60 years. At this juncture it is necessary to understand what Rahul Gandhi may have meant by changing India forever if given 60 months at the helm of affairs.
Going by the past track record of the Congress we can be pretty much sure about what will happen in the next five years if Rahul Gandhi is given 60 months to govern the nation as its Prime Minister. Congress (Gandhi family) has been in power for almost sixty years since independence. This should be taken as adequate time to judge its priorities and capability.
1.) National Security: For starters, national security will take a hit under his rule. The Congress keeps on harping about Dokhlam stand-off. However, it was due to Prime Minister Modi’s leadership that the Chinese were tackled properly during the stand-off. In the case of Rahul Gandhi at the helm of affairs we can only expect the government to be lenient and timid, reminiscent of the Manmohan-led UPA governments. India will no longer be the bold nation that launches surgical strikes into enemy territory when faced with unprovoked aggression. We will be resorting to ineffective dossier politics as compared to military counteroffensive. Similarly, the issue of Naxalism which is on the verge of extinction under the Modi government might come back to haunt us with Rahul Gandhi in power. The NDA government has also been instrumental in ensuring that India is free of terrorism despite global disturbances. However, we all know how internal security has been under the previous Congress governments.
2.) Corruption – India will go back to the days of corruption at the topmost level. One of the major reasons why Congress was routed in the 2014 polls was indulgence in mind boggling corruption at the upper most levels of bureaucracy. Those accused of looting public money during the UPA days are still a part of the Congress. Indian economy has emerged as a bright spot in the global economy. Since 2014, India has been fast emerging as a superpower due to unprecedented economic growth. However, under a Congress government the growth story will go for a toss and the economy will be taken to a nadir. If this unfortunate event were to take place, the Congress will again spoil the chances of India becoming a world leader banking on solid economic growth just like it had wasted the efforts of the then Vajpayee government after 2004 victory.
3.) Votebank politics – the ugly caste and religion vote-bank politics will be back in business. The BJP has broken through the Dalit-Muslim combine created by the pseudo-secular parties with Dalits voting in large numbers for the BJP. However, this time around that the Grand Old Party will leave no stone unturned in appeasing its core vote bank by going after Hindus. Several pro-Hindu organisations have already been in its sight. The Congress has also been hatching conspiracies to portray Hindus as terrorists. Swami Aseemanand and Lt. Col. Purohit are examples of the nefarious designs put in place by the party. With administrative machinery at its disposal the Congress would be at liberty to frame false cases against Hindus in order to irreparably change the electoral equations for 2019. The Congress will be back with its propagandists concocting the myth of Hindu terrorism all over again. The Congress has been responsible for overseeing the Kashmir exodus and the influx of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in order to sustain its vote bank. We can expect Hindus to face major trouble in sensitive regions as the Congress will give a free hand to extremists.
4.) Democratic institutions – There also chances that the Congress government might try to attack democratic institutions in order to win 2019. We saw how the Congress proceeded with an ill-framed impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra only because he happened to have passed an adverse order. It shows that independence of judiciary will be under a serious threat if the Congress storms to power. In fact, ruining democratic institutions is not new to the Congress. It is in public knowledge that the Congress had held Indian democracy to ransom when it forced Emergency upon the nation for no justifiable reason.
It horrifies one to think of all the deadly scenarios if the Congress was to come back into power in 2019. The country will be faced again with an economic downfall, deteriorated internal security and irreparable damage to demography. In such a situation, it does not make any sense for Rahul Gandhi to ask for 60 months. The poll pitch worked in 2014, because Prime Minister Narendra Modi had something novel to start with.
Rahul Gandhi’s request won’t resonate with many, and in all probability, we won’t be made to relive the horrors of a Congress government in power.