During the no-confidence motion speech, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi said that PM Modi cannot look into his eyes. In reply to Rahul Gandhi’s charge, PM Modi exposed the arrogance in Rahul Gandhi’s statement. PM Modi made it clear that coming from a humble background he cannot obviously look in the eyes of the Gandhi scion. He reminded what the Gandhi family did to the three stalwarts leaders of the country who dared to look in the eyes of “Nehru-Gandhi family”. PM Modi cited the name of the three leaders Deve Gowda, Sharad Pawar and Pranab Mukherjee.
Let us have a look at what the Gandhis’ did when somebody refused to follow their diktats, dares to question their monopoly on Indian politics which they have considered their fiefdom and dared to look into the eyes of the Congress. Let’s look at the treatment given to these leaders by the Congress and why PM Modi specifically chose to mention these three names.
Deve Gowda– HD Deve Gowda was the eleventh Prime Minister of India. On 1 June, 1996, he took oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He headed the united front coalition of 14 parties backed by the Congress and the Left parties (318 MPs). In April 1997, the then Congress Party President Sitaram Kesri announced the withdrawal of support from the Gowda government citing the reason that PM was not consulting the Congress party on major policy decisions. However, the real reason behind withdrawing support was that Gowda refused to follow the Congress diktats. Gowda rejected Sitaram Kesri’s proposal of supporting Mayawati as chief minister and he also rejected Kesri’s plea to remove Romesh Bhandari as UP Governor.
Importance– Deve Gowda is still very popular in Karnataka. He did a lot of good work during his short tenure as Prime Minister such as bringing in the citizen charter, giving tax holidays to IT companies and gave a dream budget in 1997. He did such good work for agriculture that farmers of Punjab named a variety of rice after him. At present, his party has a good support base in South India. If he chooses to ditch the Congress party then he could be one of NDA’s big faces in the South.
A variety of rice is called Deve Gowda in Punjab. Named after H D Deve Gowda says celebrated IAS officer Chiranjiv Singh.
— DP SATISH (@dp_satish) October 25, 2014
Pranab Mukherjee– It would be not wrong to consider Pranab Mukherjee as one of the unluckiest politicians in the country. He was very near but still very far from getting the post of Prime Minister. He is the prime minister which Congress never gave to the country. Pranab Mukherjee started his political career in 1969 when Indira Gandhi noticed his acumen and made him a member of the Congress party. Very soon he became the member of Rajya Sabha and was rising very fast in the Congress. Pranab Mukherjee got first chance to become the Prime Minister of India when Indira Gandhi was assassinated but stars were not on his side and he never became PM.
In 1991, the country witnessed the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee’s name was doing rounds as the one who could fill his shoes but the same old story got repeated. After the 2004 elections, Congress returned to power, Sonia declined the post of prime minister. There were expectations that Pranab Mukherjee might be chosen for the post of PM but Manmohan Singh emerged as Sonia’s choice for the topmost government position and Pranab Mukherjee for the third time lost the chance of being the prime minister. Despite being repeatedly overlooked by the Gandhi family, he remained loyal to the Congress party.
Importance– Pranab Mukherjee is highly respected with support across the party lines, plus he is in good books with the RSS. Recently, he went to Nagpur at RSS headquarter to attend an RSS event. Former President Pranab Mukherjee also delivered an eloquent speech on Nation, Nationalism and Patriotism at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh event. Requests to join RSS have increased by five times after Pranab Mukherjee’s speech, especially in former President’s home state- West Bengal. He could be BJP’s brahmastra against Mamata in West Bengal.
Sharad Pawar– There is a very long history of discontent between Sharad Pawar and the Congress family. In his autobiography, he has openly written about the behaviour and treatment of Congress leaders like Indira and Rajiv towards regional leaders and also with those who dared to disagree with them. The Congress party hated independent thinker like Sharad Pawar. He was first ventured out of the Congress in 1978, he formed his own party Congress (Socialist) and became the chief minister at a very young age of 38. When Indira Gandhi was voted back to power in 1980, his government was disqualified. After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, he merged his party with the Congress and was installed as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. But, the Congress betrayed him and Rajiv Gandhi sponsored a revolt against him. However, he managed to survive the revolt and came out with flying colours. Finally, in 1999, fed up of the‘Congress culture’ he left Congress and formed his own Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Importance of Sharad Pawar– He has a solid support base among the Marathas. He is a stalwart leader of Maharashtra. The three times Chief Minister of Maharashtra is very popular, with a strong influence on national politics of the country. He has in the past initiated major development work in Maharashtra. In the past, he has led the Union Agriculture Ministry and Union Defence Ministry. So if the united opposition wins he might get an important ministry to head. If he comes within the NDA fold or at least refuses to stand either with united opposition or Congress, the electoral arithmetic would change sharply.
By citing the name of these leaders in his speech, PM Modi was reminding others about the treatment given to those who dared to look into the eyes of the Nehru-Gandhi family and also gave subtle message that doors of NDA are always open for these leaders.
