‘Mera Bharat Mahan.’ Should this slogan not be our mantra as Indians, wherever we are – at home or abroad?
Telugu poet Rayaprolu Subbarao reminded us long ago: Ae deshamegina, endu kalidina, ae peethamekkina, evvaremanina, pogadara nee talli bhoomi Bharati. [Whichever country you go to, wherever you may live, whichever throne you ascend, whatever others may say – never fail to praise your motherland, Bharati, and guard her full honour.]
We learnt it in school. We hummed it whenever the song adaptation from America Abbai played. We still choke up when we hear it. Patriotism runs in our veins. Which is why when anyone insults India, the average Indian hand instinctively twitches, itching to thrash the offender. But, our Leader of Opposition has made a career of supplying anti-India soundbites on foreign soil – most recently, in Colombia.
The wholesale dealer of democracy
In Bogota, Rahul Gandhi discovered yet again that Indian democracy is ‘under wholesale attack’. If true, he must be the only politician in the world who got promoted to Leader of Opposition in a Parliament that, by his own account, allows no opposition. Irony clearly does not need a visa to travel with him.
He declared: ‘I don’t see India as a world leader.’ Rich words from a man who has failed to lead his own party to a municipal win. His grandmother was once flattered with the epithet ‘India is Indira, Indira is India’. Rahul Baba perhaps has revised it to ‘India is Modi, Modi is India’. Unable to beat Modi, he chooses to beat India.
The BJP was quick to denounce Rahul for his anti-India remarks. Hardeep Singh Puri advised against taking him seriously. Bollywood actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut, never one to miss a headline, translated the nation’s mood: Rahul Gandhi is a ‘disgrace’. One suspects even the Colombian audience was puzzled – ‘Is this a political leader or a TED Talk dropout?’
Talk of unity in Nagpur
Contrast this with Mohan Bhagwat’s Vijay Dashmi Utsav. As Rahul was running down democracy abroad, the RSS was celebrating 100 years at home, talking of unity, Viksit Bharat, and praising the army’s Operation Sindoor. Whatever one’s view of the Sangh, at least they don’t globe-trot with anti-India PowerPoint slides.
Our neighbour’s democracy
If Rahul Gandhi is so obsessed with ‘wholesale attacks on democracy’, may I politely redirect him to Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir? There, protesters are shot dead, the army crushes dissent, and an actual communication blackout silences citizens. That, dear Rahul ji, is what democracy under attack looks like. Bogota might have appreciated that more than your imported Modi-bashing.
Of factories and fallacies
Rahul also lamented India’s lack of manufacturing, suggesting China as the gold standard. The same China that he assures us ‘suppresses people’ yet somehow deserves applause. Perhaps he has a soft corner for bulk suppliers. After all, if democracy is under ‘wholesale attack’, maybe jobs can also be manufactured wholesale?
Irrationally self-destructive hobby
Criticising the government is not treason. But flying across oceans to declare your nation a failed state is not leadership – it is an irrationally self-destructive hobby. If he truly believes India cannot be world leader, perhaps he should set an example by not aspiring to lead even India.
Till then, while Rahul Gandhi peddles wholesale discounts on democracy abroad, ordinary Indians will stick to retail patriotism – everyday, in every small act – repeating softly but firmly: Mera Bharat Mahan.
Rahul baba, if you must sell democracy at wholesale rates, at least don’t export it with a ‘Made in India’ label.
