Former Congress President and the Congress scion who has been launched and re-launched as a rising political star for decades is now making a series of videos where he is supposedly talking about the ‘big issues’ that impact India. In his first video, Rahul Gandhi spoke about the Galwan issue and essentially, shielding China and blamed India for the mess. The second video, just as the first one, is a litany of lies, half truths and a confused rant that makes no sense whatsoever.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted a 2 minute 39-second video clip of himself today where he was talking about China’s strategic game plan with respect to India. In the video, the Nehru-Gandhi scion couldn’t quite decide what he really wanted to say, but even in that confusion, he managed to peddle a lie or two.
PM fabricated a fake strongman image to come to power. It was his biggest strength.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 20, 2020
It is now India’s biggest weakness. pic.twitter.com/ifAplkFpVv
The text that Rahul Gandhi used to share his video on Twitter was rather simple – He was saying that PM Modi “fabricated” a strongman image and that was his biggest strength. However, that has now become India’s biggest weakness.
While trying to explain this, however, Rahul Gandhi meanders and loses his way to an extent that one can safely say he was not even in the zip code as logic.
The video starts with Rahul Gandhi saying that his main worry is that the Chinese are still in Indian territory. This is a lie which has been debunked time and again. Currently, the process of disengagement is on and it was reported that the Chinese army has pulled back troops that were involved in the fatal clash at Galwan on June 15.
Then, he goes on to explain what China’s strategy really is. He explains that China essentially initiated the Galwan stand-off to undermine Prime Minister Modi’s ‘strongman image’ and this is a “border issue to put pressure on the Indian Prime Minister”.
How China is trying to put pressure on PM Modi’s image according to Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi in his video says that China is trying to put pressure on the PM Modi in a very “specific” way. Rahul Gandhi says that China understands that in order for PM Modi to survive politically and function effectively, he needs to protect the idea of “56-inch” and this is “real idea” that the “Chinese are attacking”. He says, “They are telling Mr Narendra Modi that if you do not do what we say we will destroy the idea of Mr Narendra Modi as a strong leader. Now the question is, how will Mr Narendra Modi react. Will he take them on? Will he take on the challenge and say absolutely not, I am the Prime Minister of India, I do not care about my image, I am going to take you on or will be succumb to them. The worry I have so far is that the Prime Minister has succumbed”.
He further goes on to say, “The worry I have is that the Chinese is sitting in our territory today and the PM has said publicly that they are not. Which to me tells me that he is worried about his image and he is defending his image. And if he allows the Chinese to understand that they can manipulate him because of his image, the Indian Prime Minister will no longer be worth anything for India”.
The strange dichotomy in what Rahul Gandhi is trying to say
This is the chronology of what Rahul Gandhi said in the video:
- PM Modi has created a strongman image
- China understands that his strongman image is essential for him to survive politically
- China initiated standoff at Galwan because they wanted to destroy the strongman image of PM Modi
- PM Modi is succumbing to Chinese pressure by not being aggressive with China and attacking China
- PM Modi is defending his image by being soft on China
Essentially, Rahul Gandhi cannot decide whether PM Modi is defending his strongman image of succumbing to China. He first says that China wants to test PM Modi’s strongman image and they initiated Galwan to threaten PM Modi saying that if he does do as the Chinese wish, they will destroy his strongman image. Which would essentially mean that China would attack and ensure that PM Modi does not retaliate and hence, destroy his strongman image.
However, he follows that up with by saying that PM Modi is succumbing to China by not attacking China after the Galwan standoff. Immediately after that he contradicts himself saying that PM Modi has ‘succumbed’ to China to defend his strongman image and is being soft on China to defend his ’56 inch image’.
If PM Modi wanted to defend his strongman image, he would be attacking China. However, according to Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi is defending his strongman image by succumbing to China and being soft against the Chinese.
The fact of the matter is that India’s response to China has been unprecedented and has forced China to get rather rattled. However, the facts of India’s response aside, Rahul Gandhi cannot seem to decide what he wishes to say in the video.
Even if we take him on face value and believe that China wants to destroy PM Modi’s strongman image, who does it benefit?
In his India Today interview right before the 2019 elections, Rahul Gandhi gave an interview to India Today. In one segment, Rahul Gandhi interestingly revealed his true plans and talks about how one of his primary goals during campaigning was destroying the image of Narendra Modi. Even in his NDTV interview, he had repeated this trope at the time saying that his aim was to destroy PM Modi’s image. In fact, both these statements were made when he was asked about the Rafale deal.
In his NDTV interview, Rahul Gandhi went ahead and said 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. Interestingly, according to CVoter, as on 2nd May 2019, only 9.68% believe that corruption is an issue in the country at all. Unfortunately, we don’t have the data from the Congress era to compare, but logic dictates that the number would have been much, much higher. If according to CVoter data, only a little over 9% believe that corruption is an issue, where the 67% number that Rahul Gandhi cites comes from is a mystery. Perhaps just like most of his lies, this number has also been pulled out from the deepest corner of his vivid imagination.
It is pertinent to note that there was no ‘scam’ in the Rafale deal and this was reiterated by the Supreme Court itself. Without repeating the extensive fact-checks done to rebut Rahul Gandhi’s Rafale lies, it suffices to say that Rahul Gandhi thought that the Rafale trope would weaken PM Modi’s image and thus, help him politically in the 2019 elections.
Even though the strategy did not work and PM Modi came back to power with a larger majority in 2019, Rahul Gandhi made it rather clear that for him to succeed politically, PM Modi’s strongman and the incorruptible image was an obstacle.
Now, with Rahul Gandhi saying that China is aiming to weaken PM Modi’s strongman image, one has to wonder if China is actively trying to help Congress and Rahul Gandhi realise their political goals since their aim, seems to be the seem – weaken PM Modi’s image.
It is pertinent to note here that Congress and China have a very close working relationship. In the year 2008, the Congress party and the Communist Party of China (the ruling and only political party of China) had signed an MoU to work closely together and cooperate with each other. Further, on multiple occasions, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, a foundation chaired by Sonia Gandhi and with Rahul Gandhi in its board of directors, had accepted donations from the Embassy of China and even the Republic of China. An investigation in the matter has now been launched by the Government.
With the close relationship between Congress and China, one has to wonder if Rahul Gandhi accidentally revealed how the enemy nation of China and Congress have the same goal and are using the same methods to not only achieve it but also help each other politically.
