Remember Joker from The Dark Knight Rises? The menacing Joker who is wreaking havoc and chaos on the streets of Gotham taunts Harvey Dent, “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just… *do* things.”
Congress President Rahul Gandhi is just like that.
He is just throwing allegations without any base and would probably have no idea what to do if someone actually questions him. He may have apologised to the Supreme Court for wrongly attributing Congress campaign ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ to the apex court ‘in the heat of the moment’ but he is not done yet.
In his interview with India Today, Rahul Gandhi has shown how he doesn’t really have a plan except to wreak havoc and chaos.
The Gandhi scion was speaking on being persistent when the interviewer threw a softball question at him towards the end. Rahul Gandhi’s suggestion to improve fitness was ‘being persistent’. “You can’t run 5 km right now, but you can run 5 km if you’re persistent. We’ll get you to 5 km to 10 km to 20 km, to 200 km! But don’t start with the idea that you can’t do it. You can. All it takes is persistence,” said the ‘fitness freak’ (interviewer’s words) Rahul Gandhi.
He then topped it up with an example of persistence. “Everyone told me Mr Narendra Modi can’t be defeated. I said, Yeah, you really think so?’ I asked them, Tell me what Mr Narendra Modi’s strength is.’ They said, His strength is his [incorruptible] image.’ I said, Okay, I’m going to rip that strength to pieces. I’m going to take it and shred it.’ And I’ve done it. Persistence, my friend! Keep going and keep going and keep going. And I will keep going until the truth on Rafale is out!”
So it seems the only reason he has brought up the Rafale bogey is he wanted to ‘rip apart’ PM Modi’s strength of ‘incorruptible image’. To “take it and shred it”. Effectively, Rahul Gandhi persistently sent the country on a wild goose chase, cast aspersions of a defence scam, play with the nationalistic feelings of Indian citizens, brazen out the lies despite official clarifications even from the French partners only to destroy Modi’s image. Because, why let facts get in the way of creating chaos? Especially when you are a man with no plan.
In his NDTV interview, Rahul Gandhi had repeated this as well. That he has succeeded in shattering PM Modi’s ‘incorruptible image’. In fact, he had even prided in the fact that when he started off with the Rafale rhetoric, only 20% people believed that there was a scam in Rafale, whereas now, according to Congress’ ‘internal numbers’, 67% of the country believes that there is a scam in Rafale.
So it is not about corruption but the perception of corruption created to put a man who is known for his incorruptible image in a dock so that people start doubting it. To sow a seed of doubt in people’s mind because if a lie is repeated a thousand times, people start believing it as truth.
Rahul Gandhi claims in this interview that he does not lie. When questioned by the interviewer about ‘going after the big guys’ to curb corruption, Rahul Gandhi says, “It’s not a question of going after the big guys. It’s not like we’re going to be vindictive and go after anyone. There are laws. They must be followed.” This was in response to his lies regarding Rafale and how Anil Ambani was ‘given’ Rs 30,000 crore. See how Rahul Gandhi says the law will take its own course? Just a few minutes later, when the interviewer asks him where will the money for NYAY come from, “Some of this money is going to come from crony capitalists like Anil Ambani,” pat comes the reply.
If this is not being vindictive, I am not sure what is. Like his alter ego Arvind Kejriwal would say, on odd days he’s not vindictive and won’t go after ‘big guys’, but on even days, he will make sure money for his populist nightmare will come from ‘crony capitalists like Anil Ambani’. Earlier also he had said how the NYAY will be funded by money recovered from defaulters of bank loans. The money which actually belongs to the depositors. Rahul Gandhi then adds how they have already ‘tested’ the financial model for NYAY. Effectively, it means, he does not look like a man with a plan.
The interviewer, too, repeats the ‘Rs 15 lakh in bank account’ lie. This Rs. 15 lakh trope is being spread by Congress and its functionaries for the longest time. In reality, the Prime Minister had never promised that he would transfer Rs. 15 lakh in every citizen’s account. He had also mentioned Rs. 15 lakh as an indication of the quantum of black money stashed abroad.
Rahul Gandhi then says how his NYAY promise will not be a ‘lie’. He says that the money for NYAY “is not going to come from the middle class. That is my guarantee to you. That not a rupee of this thing is going to come out of your taxes. We’ve done the calculations, the money is going to come from present revenue streams, from reducing inefficiencies in government schemes and from better monetisation of government assets.” So, either Rahul Gandhi is lying, or his trusted lieutenants and advisers are lying.
If the money is going to come from ‘present revenue streams, from reducing inefficiencies in government schemes’, does that mean that if voted to power, Congress will kill all existing subsidies and make NYAY the mother of all scams? Gas, fertilizer, electricity, crop prices, MNREGA, health – will all these subsidies go to make way for NYAY? Those 3.6 lakh crore rupees ain’t coming on their own, no?
Sam Pitroda, veteran Congress ideologue and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor, has stated that the NYAY scheme will have to be funded by raising taxes for the middle class. In fact, Pitroda had even tried to guilt trip the middle class by asking them to have a ‘big heart’. Putting the onus of guilt on the middle class for worrying about taxes, Pitroda said, “How can you see poor people around you and worry that somebody might take a 10 paisa from you. That is not India.” Abhijit Banerjee, the economist who has been advising Congress in the formulation of the scheme had also stated that NYAY will have to be funded by rising inflation and new taxes.
Displaying his utter lack of comprehension, when the interviewer asks him whether he considers himself a naamdaar (dynast), Rahul Gandhi invokes his father and grandmother whom he has seen get killed but his experience is not same as theirs and hence calling him a dynast is too ‘simplistic’. You see, for the beautiful mind of Rahul Gandhi, he is not a dynast because despite being born into one of the most powerful political families, his experiences are different from that of his great grandfather, grandmother and father and hence he should not be called a ‘naamdaar’.
This interview of Rahul Gandhi reminded me of yet another dialogue from The Dark Knight. It is a conversation between Bruce Wayne and his butler Alfred Pennyworth.
Bruce Wayne: [while in the underground bat cave] Targeting me won’t get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn’t go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.
Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.
Bruce Wayne: Criminals aren’t complicated, Alfred. Just have to figure out what he’s after.
Alfred Pennyworth: With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that *you* don’t fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
Bruce Wayne: So why steal them?
Alfred Pennyworth: Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Rahul Gandhi can’t be bullied or reasoned with because he isn’t looking for anything logical. He just wants to watch the world burn.
