On 22nd September, ‘The Hindu’ published a report titled ‘100% regret: Rahul Gandhi on UPA’s inability to bring women’s reservation bill with OBC sub-quota’. However, in this report, the left-liberal media outlet changed the words spoken by Rahul Gandhi in the press address it reported.
Even after the passage of the women’s reservation bill in the Lower and Upper House of the Parliament, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi made controversial remarks against the bill. While attacking the Modi government on the Women’s Reservation Bill, Rahul Gandhi insulted Hindus and their faith yet again by insinuating that Murthis in Temples are powerless. But ‘The Hindu’ did not mention the exact words said by Rahul Gandhi and tried to hide his hatred for Hinduism under the garb of journalism.
What did ‘The Hindu’ write in its report?
The report published by ‘The Hindu’ mentioned – Mr Gandhi claimed that he was “shocked” to see the under-representation of OBCs, as well as Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC/ST) in the bureaucracy, and countered Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertion that 29% of BJP parliamentarians were from OBC communities. “The MPs have been treated like statues and they have no power or role in the law-making process,” he said.
What did Rahul Gandhi actually say?
Rahul Gandhi said that the reservation for OBC MPs and MLAs is not the question and asked why there are only 3 out of the 90 secretaries from the OBC category. The media also questioned Rahul Gandhi if he regrets that the OBC quota was not provided in the women’s reservation bill brought by the UPA. “100 per cent regret hai. This should have been done then. We will get this done,” the Congress MP said.
Demanding a caste census, Rahul Gandhi said that Lok Sabha is called the temple of democracy. Then he went on to say whether any BJP MP take any decision, do they make any law or participate in making a law? “Not at all. Neither Congress MP, BJP MP, nor any other MP. MPs have been turned into Murtis in temples. OBC MPs have been filled like Murtis (in the Parliament) but they don’t have any power. There is no contribution to running the country. This is a question I have raised.”
“Every OBC youth must understand that should you get a chance to run this country, yes or no? If yes, then is your population 5%? And this is what the BJP is trying to distract from”, he continued.
What do Rahul Gandhi’s remarks mean and how does ‘The Hindu’ hide it?
In his desperation to deride the Modi government, Rahul Gandhi ended up making a statement that was deeply Hinduphobic. While trying to make the point that OBC MPs were not contributing to any productive work in the parliament by way of formulation of laws, Rahul Gandhi compared them to Murtis in a Temple.
Rahul Gandhi essentially said that MPs in the parliament were powerless just as murtis in a Temple. This is the exact trope that is used by Islamists to negate and insult Murti-puja – the very core of the Hindu faith. The argument made by the Islamists and extremist Christians is that the Murtis in the temple are merely stones and serve no purpose beyond perpetuating superstition. This line of argument is extended to denying legitimacy to Sanatan Dharma and the Hindu faith in general, insulting those who practise ritualistic Hinduism.
Rahul Gandhi made the argument that the Murtis, that Hindus worship, are powerless and ‘useless’, just as the MPs in the parliament – which is to say – they serve no purpose. Hindus worship Murtis believing that they are the manifestation of the spirit of the divine. Every Murti in a temple undergoes a ritual called Praan Pratishtha after which, is it essentially does not remain a ‘Murti’ but an embodiment of the divine – with the divine infusing the spiritual essence in it.
For Rahul Gandhi to claim that Murtis are useless, essentially means that he believes Murthi puja – the very core of Sanatan Dharma – is merely a superstition and serves no purpose – essentially furthering the Hinduphobic narrative of the Islamists and Missionaries against Hindus.
Leftist-liberal media outlet ‘The Hindu’ hid the actual statement of Gandhi. ‘The Hindu’ did not exactly quote what Rahul Gandhi said about Murtis and how he compared them with what he called non-functional MPs from the OBC community. ‘The Hindu’ did not mention the word Murti or idol. ‘The Hindu’ replaced it with the word ‘statue’. Rahul Gandhi had also mentioned specifically about Murtis in temples while comparing them with MPs. ‘The Hindu’ also omitted the reference to temples from its report. This was deliberately reported in a manner so as not to present Rahul Gandhi as a Hinduphobic leader as reflected in his original statement.
