Rahul Gandhi’s resignation letter reeks of arrogance and insults the Indian electorate

Following more than a month-long drama over his resignation, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday nearly put rest to all the speculations. Rahul Gandhi had posted his four-page resignation on microblogging platform Twitter and said “It is an honor for me to serve the Congress Party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation. I owe the country and my organization a debt of tremendous gratitude and love. Jai Hind”

However, the doubts over Rahul Gandhi continuing as Congress president are not totally over as the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the executive committee of the Indian National Congress is yet to accept Rahul Gandhi’s resignation. Filled with Gandhi loyalists CWC had earlier rejected the resignation tendered by Rahul Gandhi over a month ago, however, this letter is being seen as a conclusive announcement of Rahul Gandhi’s departure from the top post.

In his letter Rahul Gandhi has summarized Congress’ electoral defeat and put forward his thoughts on the future of Congress party, however, the letter which was supposed to be ‘introspective’ reeked of a self-righteous tone and was loaded with nothing but blatant contempt for the Indian electorate.

Like many of his previous comments in which Rahul Gandhi compares the fight between Congress and the BJP to that of a contest between love and hate, in this letter Rahul Gandhi has again tried to push the same narrative. He writes, “This resistance arises because my being is permeated with an Indian idea that is and has always been in direct conflict with theirs. This is not a new battle; it has been waged on our soil for thousands of years. Where they see differences, I see similarity. Where they see hatred, I see love. What they fear, I embrace.” By these comments, it is clear that Rahul Gandhi sees the defeat of Congress as a defeat of love and in a way implied that the Indian electorate voted for hate.

Trying to churn doubts over Constitutional institutions Rahul Gandhi adds in his letter, “We didn’t fight a political party in the 2019 election. Rather, we fought the entire machinery of the Indian state, every institution of which was marshalled against the opposition. It is now crystal clear that our once cherished institutional neutrality no longer exists in India,”

The most striking example of Rahul Gandhi’s contempt for the Indian electorate can be seen, when he mentions that “Our democracy has been fundamentally weakened”. Directly questioning the mandate of the Indian electorate against the Congress party and comparing it to the weakening of democracy.

Ever since the crushing defeat of the Congress in general elections, the Gandhi family has been running wild; blaming party workers, the electorate, institutions, and regional leaders except themselves. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in a thanksgiving visit to her mother’s parliamentary constituency, Raebareli had attacked the Congress workers for the poor performance of the party in general elections. She had said, “Those who have worked for the party know it in their hearts and I will find out all those who have not.”

Sonia Gandhi going a step ahead raised doubt over the electoral process. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson had alleged that “many types of doubts” had emerged over the country’s electoral processes.

Rahul Gandhi on his post-election visit to Wayanad had also made comments of similar nature which reeked of contempt for the Indian electorate and the mandate. He said, “We will continue to fight Narendra Modi and his hate with love. He represents hatred and insecurity. He represents lies.” Again implying that the electorate’s support of PM Modi was driven by hatred and lies.  

Furthering his contempt for the Indian electorate he added, “Modi uses the poison of hatred to run his campaign. He uses hatred to divide the people. He uses lies to win the elections. But Congress party has always stood with truth and love. We will continue to fight Narendra Modi and his hate with love.”

Essentially the Gandhi family led by Rahul Gandhi has kept up the rhetoric that the Indian electorate has been manipulated to vote for ‘hatred’ rather than ‘love’. This resignation letter coming to light just carries forward the same arrogance and striking distaste for the mandate of the Indian electorate and its ability to choose for itself. However, it remains to be seen how long does the grand old party take to learn from its mistake and come out of denial mode.