Every democracy survives on the basis of fair and constructive criticism. However, ever since prime minister Modi came to power in 2014, the Congress has shown its true colours. The poor standard of debate and criticism by the Congress is unbecoming of the oldest party in India. Several Congress leaders have come out making unacceptable personal remarks about prime minister Modi that do not set a very good precedent for times to come. They have brazenly resorted to name calling and connecting prime minister Modi with what the Congress thinks are menial jobs. This reeks of elitism and disrespect towards certain professions. It is disgusting that in a democratic country, the Congress has the audacity to look down upon certain professions.
This trend of name calling started with Sonia Gandhi’s maut ka saudagar (merchant of death) barb at Modi. At that time he was the Gujarat chief minister. After that, the Congress has not been able to hold its horses and in the process has shown its elitist and stereotypical mindset. The biggest indication of Congress’ elitist mindset rooted in the Lutyens’ culture was at display when senior Congress leader, Mani Shankar Aiyar called prime minister Modi ‘chaiwala’ and had the audacity to state that a chaiwala cannot become the prime minister. This actually came back to haunt the Congress as the electorate punished it for its elitist mindset and also gave prime minister Modi a narrative to push during the 2014 elections.
One would have thought that the Congress would rein in Aiyar following this controversy. But the fact remains that the Congress leadership does not feel that there is anything wrong with this attitude. That is why Aiyar recently again made a contemptible barb at prime minister Modi and called him ‘neech’ (a lowly person). This shows that the Congress openly propagates that only the elites who belong to the Lutyens’ zone have the right to power corridors of the country while all others will be looked at as inferiors.
It is not only the Gandhi sycophants who have been making such contemptuous remarks. Even the Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been guilty of indulging in name calling and ugly criticism about the present prime minister. Rahul Gandhi’s recent “jawano ke khoon ki dalali” comment about prime minister Modi has not gone down very well given the dignity of the post that prime minister Modi is holding. However, the Congress chief crossed all his limits when he went overboard with his baseless allegations about the Rafale deal and openly called prime minister Modi a thief. Speaking at a public rally in Dungarpur district of Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi went on to say that “Gali gali mein shor hai, Hindustan ka chowkidar chor hai (There is noise everywhere, the country’s guard is a thief).” It seems that after all stereotypical references to prime minister Modi in the past, Congress and its leadership is now referring to him as chowkidar which once again shows the classist attitude that forms an intrinsic part of the Congress.
No one has a problem with the INC criticising prime minister Modi on the basis of policy matters. But it seems that the INC has a problem with him only because he does not belong to the elitist classes like them and hails from a humble background. The elitist grand old party of India has a problem with people from humble beginnings. And out of their frustration towards prime minister Modi, INC leaders are brazenly and openly insulting and stereotyping crores of people having humble yet hardworking backgrounds.