One Take | Hey Bhagwan! Rahul Gandhi’s Questioning of BJP's Hindutva Will Only Help Modi, Not Congress

Is Congress leader Rahul Gandhi treading a dangerous territory?

At an interaction in Brussels, Gandhi said, “I have read the Bhagavad Gita, a number of Upanishads and many Hindu books. There is absolutely nothing Hindu with what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does.”

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s worst critics accept and admit that he is the poster boy of Hinduism and Hindutva. The Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s statement has made many in the party cringe and wonder whether in an election season, this is the narrative he should dive into.

ELECTION HINDU?

Cut to when the Uttar Pradesh elections were being held, both Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Gandhi had visited temples. Similarly, during the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress officially called Gandhi “janaudhari Brahmin and a Shiv bhakt”.

In fact, Gandhi also made the trek to Kailash Mansarovar as part of his Shiv Bhakti. He earned the tag of being an “election Hindu” from the BJP.

SANATAN DHARMA ROW

As we enter another election season, the issue of who is the greater and real Hindu has entered the fray. This has been propelled by the recent comment by Tamil Nadu minister and CM Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi on Sanatan Dharma. It caught the Congress in a dilemma as it couldn’t afford to take on its closest ally, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Party leader KC Venugopal said: “We think everyone has the right to say and think what they want.”

It became clear that what may be acceptable in the south, won’t be in the north. With the state polls coming up, the Congress finally distanced itself. Pawan Khera said, “We respect all religious beliefs and we should do so too.”

“But then Rahul Gandhi hai ki manta nahin,” say some Congress leaders, especially those who are contesting state polls. Just recently, for example, amid the fury over Sanatan Dharma, MP CM aspirant Kamal Nath quickly distanced himself from Stalin’s comments.

THE MANDIRS & 2024

But when Gandhi makes the point the BJP is not Hindu or not the real Hindu, it actually ends up helping the BJP.

It is clear that in 2024, Ram Mandir, mandirs in other states, even the south, will be high on the BJP’s electoral roadmap. The more the Congress questions its Hindu credentials, the more it helps the BJP to build up sympathy for itself. The BJP’s calculation is that the more the Hindu picture of the BJP is attacked, the more it can consolidate its votebank by making the point to its voters that the Congress is attacking them.

The section in the party which squirms at Gandhi’s comments feels that this one lane the Congress must not take.