What PM Modi did or rather said to former vice-president Hamid Ansari still haunts him. Responding to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi eloquently told about him on his last day in the Rajya Sabha, Ansari said “many considered the comments to be a departure from accepted practice on such occasions”.
“The Prime Minister while being fulsome in his complements also hinted at what he perceived to be a certain inclination in my approach on account of my having spent, as he put it, both a good part of my professional tenure as a diplomat in Muslim lands and in post-retirement period on minority-related questions,” Ansari further added.
So, what did PM Modi say on Hamid Ansari’s last day in the Rajya Sabha? Take a look…
“…कुछ छटपटाहट रही होगी भीतर आपके अंदर भी…लेकिन आज के बाद शायद वो संकट भी नहीं रहेगा..मुक्ति का आनंद भी रहेगा..आपकी मूलभूत जो सोच रही होगी उसके अनुसार कार्य करने का, सोचने का, मार्ग बताने का अवसर भी मिलेगा..” (You must have felt some desperation…but after this day, even that won’t be a problem…there will be joy of freedom…and absolute independence to act or guide others according to your fundamental Beliefs)
– An excerpt from PM Modi’s Farewell message for the then VP Mohammad Hamid Ansari
What had happened just before this incident?
In his last interview as India’s vice-president, Mohammad Hamid Ansari mentioned that there is a growing sense of insecurity among the Muslims in India. He asserted the fact that the “ambience of acceptance” is now under siege. Hamid Ansari, invoked intolerance and cow vigilantism and comments made by some BJP leaders regarding the Muslims in the Country. He also said that he had flagged the issue of intolerance with PM Modi, Home Minister and other Cabinet Ministers.
This was not the first time that Hamid Ansari acted contrary to the dignity of the constitutional post he held. He was in fact notorious for flashing victim card at an alarming regularity, and acting like a representative of Muslims. He has been the longest serving Vice President of India, a record he shares with Sarvapalli Dr. Radha Krishnan and yet he believed that even the presidents and vice presidents shouldn’t be politically neutral.
PM Modi’s full power response:
In a four-and-a-half-minute long message, PM Modi highlighted the wisdom and diplomatic prowess of Hamid Ansari. Now note the words in double quotes carefully:
PM Modi talked about Ansari’s family legacy and elucidated how his family has been a family of “ardent Congress Workers” who also participated in the “Khilafat Movement”. PM Modi spoke about how Hamid Ansari has been a career diplomat, most of whose time was spent in the “Middle East”, his “सोच का दायरा” (Way of thinking) has been shaped by his experience there. PM Modi referred Hamid Ansari as a bright alumnus of the “Prestigious Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Milia Islamia” which also “enhanced” his way of thinking. PM Modi then said, “You must have felt some desperation…but after this day, even that won’t be a problem…there will be joy of freedom…and absolute independence to act or guide others according to your fundamental Beliefs”
PM Modi’s farewell speech for Hamid Ansariwas a lesson in Sarcasm. He took multiple jibes at the outgoing VP and flattened his claims in a speech laced with mockery. The word “मूलभूत सोच” (Fundamental Belief) was PM Modi’s final fatal blow. It is true that a man can wear an outwardly façade of simplicity and honesty and polished English-speaking charms, but the innate feelings and the fundamental thought processes never change. Hamid Ansari was a similar ‘English Speaking Polished Gentleman’ who walked and talked in his diplomatic splendor and an accent he picked up on his many foreign tours but beneath the layers of pretence lied a devout Muslim stuck in the medieval ages, a Congress worker who needed to return the favours of the Party and the Family and a viciously divisive man who knew nothing but to invoke victimhood and ignite communal passions.
The basic inference of PM Modi’s farewell speech was that VP Hamid Ansari was never a Vice President but a spokesperson of Muslims, dangerously tilting towards even the fundamentalists, a fact that was apparent when he attended a program organized by radical Islamist group, PFI.. It was good of PM Modi to take on Hamid Ansari. Some jibes are better ignored, some require mild rebuttals but rants like Ansari’s deserve the language in which PM Modi spoke on that day.
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