Congress’ outrage over ‘mother-tongue’ is ridiculous and hypocritical.

The use of decorative and flowery language in the election campaigns is nothing new in India. Politicians from all parties have at some point of time used adjectives to taunt their opposition candidates. The only rule is, one must not use vulgar language while attacking the other. This is the norm as it is important to maintain certain decency at the public level. Abusing fellow candidates or using demeaning language to undermine them, blots the image of both the candidates in the eyes of public. There is, however, nothing wrong in stating facts about the opposition candidates. The mention of Sonia Gandhi’s mother tongue in one of the rallies by PM Modi had aggravated many journalists and political figures from the Congress. The fact that Sonia indeed is of Italian origin and her mother tongue is Italian did not matter to them. They took the mention of her origin by PM Modi as an insult meted out to Congress. They conveniently forgot all the mentions of PM Modi’s Gujarati roots by Congress leader in the run-up to 2014 elections.

When senior Congress Leader Mani Shankar Aiyar called Narendra Modi a lowly Chai-Wallah (tea seller) – Narendra Modi made the “Chai-Wallah” tag his identity and made it a point to mention it once or twice in every speech of his 2014 campaign. He didn’t stop there but went ahead and created a unique program called “Chai pe Charcha“(Discussion over tea) and then this Chai-Wallah from Gujarat became the Prime Minister of India. A successful man is the one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

It’s Congress’ moment. PM Modi gave them a rare chance. Sonia Gandhi could either own her identity or Congress can sulk about it.

Sonia Gandhi is indeed an Italian by birth. She has become an Indian citizen post her marriage, this however, does not change her roots. Rahul Gandhi, who often visits his relatives in Italy, feels no shame in running off to his maternal place after every election loss. Sonia Maino has been accepted by India as Sonia Gandhi. She is a Member of Parliament and has headed Congress party for a long time. Her Italian origin denied her the chance to become Prime Minister of India but everything else is accessible to Sonia Gandhi. In an attempt to normalize her origin, the Congress party and its supporting media groups have chosen to make mountain out of a molehill.

If it is wrong to mention Sonia Gandhi’s origins in Italy, what else is wrong in the India today? Calling a spade a spade? No mention of how even after having lived the majority of her life in India she cannot even speak Hindi fluently was made by PM Modi. But shouldn’t we raise that query? She has been winning seats from Uttar Pradesh regularly in the past. Shouldn’t she be able to converse with the people of her constituency in their language?

If, after all these things, people do want to vote based on the origins of a person it is well within their right. Congress Party has been doing this for ages in India. Caste, religion and language have been used as per convenience by the Congress. They are still being used by Siddaramaiah in Karnataka pre-election rallies. Why then, did the mention of Sonia Gandhi’s origin disturb them so much? It is because this time, things are not in their favour. Sagarika Ghose, another liberal journalist and unofficial Congress spokesperson, termed the comments made by PM Modi as racist. Going by her standards, even the freedom fighters of India were racist for they had raised slogans like ‘Angrezo Bharat Chhodo.’

Many members of the Congress and their alliance parties keep on referring to CM Yogi Adityanath by his birth name, Ajay Bisht. A person who has renounced his home and has achieved a status that makes him worthy of the ‘Yogi’ title cannot be called by his birth name. The Congress think tank is running on fumes. That is the only thing which can be perfectly ascertained after this issue.