New Delhi, Nov. 11 -- The "ground has shifted" under the Modi government's feet, says Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, firm in her belief that this regime is not here to say and the government's actions demonstrate its insecurity.
Gandhi says in her memoir "Belonging: A Journey of Love" that she senses the next generation's yearning for fairness, for doing away with oppressive systems and injustice. "It will take time, but I know the wheel will turn and they will succeed. They will retrieve the soul of our country and heal its wounds," she writes in the book that hit the stands on Tuesday.
The country's young men and women will safeguard our hard-won freedoms and carefully designed harmony, Gandhi says in the 526-page book that spans her remarkable life, right from her growing up years in Italy and meeting Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge to his assassination and her entry into politics.
"As of this writing the government continues with its narrative that its power and popularity remain intact. But it's my belief that the ground has shifted under their feet. The mainstream media remains as partisan as before, but the government's actions demonstrate its insecurity," Gandhi says.
State elections held in recent months, for instance, strongly point to large-scale tampering with the electoral rolls, she says, referring to the opposition's "vote chori" allegations.
"In Parliament, the ruling party evades vitally important affairs: China's occupation of parts of our territory along the border, legislation that encroaches upon federal principles, minority rights, the privacy of citizens, and many other substantial issues fundamental to our integrity as a nation. But the official fictions have ceased to be credible; people reacting to rising prices, unemployment, and widespread corruption, are less afraid to speak out," she says.
On the question of long-term repercussions of the "BJP's divisive rule", Gandhi says authoritarian regimes respond to popular resistance with increased repression, something that India is also undergoing.
"But this regime is not here to stay. Abuse of power brings its inevitable consequences, leading to its downfall. Less than a century ago, nobody could have believed that the mighty British empire spread over the globe would become a distant relic; nobody could have imagined that a frail man clad only in a dhoti would unite millions of Indians and vanquish that colossal force," she says.
"Nor could anyone have foreseen, seventy years ago, that democracy would take root in newly independent India, a desperately poor country with 12 percent literacy. Universal suffrage, giving every adult a vote, was a radical act in a hierarchical society. This democratic promise cannot be easily undone, and in the long term it will protect this nation," she asserts in her tell-all memoir.
Gandhi says she firmly believes that despite the ruling establishment's attempts to control and polarise people, its project of uniformity will inevitably run into India's intrinsic plurality.
"I have no doubt that the RSS' long-term design of domination, to impose one religion and one language on our multiplicity, will be firmly resisted..."
In her book, she also talks about the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and says the BJP began to lose its nerve seeing the response on the ground to the opposition INDIA bloc.
"The prime minister started faltering. He reverted to his customary crude slogans warning people of the supposed dangers to them posed by the minorities. His speeches became threatening, disconnected, at times almost surreal. In one interview that went viral, he claimed that he was of celestial descent, 'non-biological'," she says.
Many people across the country began to see through the PM's fabrications, to turn away from his speeches that were so full of anger and hate, and so devoid of progressive or constructive content; they began to pay attention to what the INDIA bloc were saying, Gandhi recounts.
On the day of the results, Gandhi says she began to hear the sound of drums from afar and then, as they came closer, a noise of chanting and bursts of firecrackers from our party office next door.
"Something was clearly going on: celebrations seemed to be breaking out, garlands and floral bouquets piling up in our garden. I learnt that though our party hadn't won, we had improved our tally and pushed back our opponents enough to weaken them considerably. I welcomed Rahul and Priyanka home with a huge embrace enfolding all three of us, after which they went to the party office to share in the excitement all over the country, our party offices were erupting in celebrations," she says.
"It became obvious that, for all the tricks and stratagems of the BJP and RSS, our INDIA alliance had dented their invincibility. The BJP failed by a large margin to gain a majority. They were compelled to seek the support of two regional parties to form a government. We were rejoicing because we had demonstrated something vitally important: that the opposition in our Parliament was alive and well," she says.
The INDIA bloc had put aside its differences to brave the might of the BJP, she says.
"True, only half a battle had been won, but it felt to me and to many as though the country had drawn back from an abyss," she says.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 293 seats and the INDIA bloc 235 seats. The BJP emerged the largest single party with 240 seats, considerably short of the 272 majority mark.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.