“India is not one entity and is consistently engaged in an intense linguistic war,” is the message that Congress leader and Raebareli Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi is keen to convey to the rest of the world as proven by his regular statements during his foreign visits. He recently reiterated his standard “India is not a nation, but a union of states” narrative during an interaction with the Indian American community at the University of Texas on 8th September. It was exacerbated by his contentious remarks on the language dispute in the country as he furthered his portrayal of India as a nation with many conflicts and no shared similarities.
He stated, “We started here with the Indian National Anthem and while it was playing, I was thinking to myself that it mentions all our states equally. It doesn’t start by saying this state is the best, this state is the second best and this state is the third best. The song describes India as a union of states, very much like the United States.
He expressed, “People often say that we share the fact that we (India and the US) are the two biggest democracies, but we share another very important fact we are both union of states. In our constitution, it’s clearly stated, ‘India, that is Bharat, is a union of states,’ which means just like in the United States, no state is superior to any other state, no religion is superior to any other religion and no language is superior to any other language.” He did not, however, specify who in India made such claims of supremacy or labelled any language, area or religion as inferiors, that is, besides members of his party, coalition or ecosystem.
To emphasise his inflammatory agenda, he pointed at a Sikh sitting in the audience and added, “My brother who is wearing a turban there deserves the same respect as somebody who doesn’t wear a turban. We cannot say that we don’t like him because of his turban or like him because he doesn’t wear one or we don’t like him because he speaks Tamil or like him because he speaks Hindi.” Notably, he didn’t clarify whether the brutal 1984 anti-Sikh riots were caused by his party’s dislike towards Sikhs.
A spectator then shouted Malayalam and he slyly remarked, “We cannot say that he speaks Malayalam so we don’t like him,” amidst loud cheers from the crowd as he realised that his polarising views had found resonance with his audience. Hence, the Gandhi scion then brought up Telugu to suggest that Dravidian languages are allegedly subjected to some kind of linguistic apartheid in India.
“When we say Telugu, we are not just talking about the language since history, tradition, music, dance and food among other things are embedded inside it. If you say to the people of Andhra Pradesh that Telugu is not as important as Hindi, you are insulting them because you are telling them that their history, tradition, music, dance, food and even forefathers are not important. This is the battle that is being fought in India. The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) believes that India is one idea and we believe that India is a multiplicity of ideas,” he alleged without elaborating on the source or evidence of his accusation.
Italian @RahulGandhi says on a foreign soil that there is a "battle" going on between Hindi & other languages in India.
— BALA (@erbmjha) September 9, 2024
Why is he provoking people against Hindi speakers ? pic.twitter.com/CfSQ5gyBHk
How Congress has been fuelling linguistic divide to revive their political fortunes
It is pertinent to note that Rahul Gandhi who named RSS for flaring these tensions in India conveniently forgot to mention the provocative statements of his own party leaders and alliance partners. “We are all Kannadigas, people speaking different languages have settled in Kannada land since the unification of Karnataka. Everyone living in Karnataka should learn to speak Kannada,” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah declared in October of last year. He added, “Instead of Kannadigas teaching our language to others, we are learning their language first. In some parts of the state, the diaspora does not speak Kannada at all. This is happening because of the generosity of the Kannadigas.” Notably, just two months after his provocative statements, language supremacists in December attacked several businesses after claiming that they failed to use or prominently display the required percentage of Kannada language on their signboards.
In February 2022, former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had cautioned the locals not to let people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar into their state as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra laughed and applauded the incendiary remarks which later triggered a massive backlash. Afterwards, the two claimed that the remark was misconstrued.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Congress alliance partner from Tamil Nadu, has not lagged in fanning the linguistic divide either. “Hindi-speaking people are cleaning toilets and roads for us,” Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran declared last year, in a shameful display of linguistic chauvinism. Senthil Kumar another Lok Sabha MP from the party also used the derogatory term “gaumutra” to make fun of the Hindi-speaking regions of northern India.
Similar sentiments were voiced by KN Nehru, a minister in the Tamil Nadu cabinet. In 2021, he stated, “Over 4,000 people from Bihar are currently working at the Golden Rock Workshop of Southern Railway located in Tituchy. The majority of the gatekeepers at railway crossings are Biharis. This is all due to the handiwork of Lalu Prasad Yadav. When he was the railway minister, he had all his fellow Biharis pass the railway exams by copying and then got them appointed in railway jobs. These people know neither Tamil nor Hindi and lack the brains that we Tamils have. Yet they are working in Tamil Nadu.” DMK’s hatred for Sanatan Dharma has already been exhibited by its stalwarts including Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son and minister Udhayanidhi Stalin which led to a firm response from the Supreme Court.
Perhaps as a result of selective amnesia, Rahul Gandhi likewise failed to remember that he had also been engaging in the same. The parliamentarian who claimed his Bharat Jodo Yatra was all about “love, brotherhood and harmony” himself stirred up the locals vs outsiders argument in 2023. “Earlier, locals of Jammu used to do business here. Locals of Jammu & Kashmir used to run Jammu & Kashmir. Today ‘outsiders’ are running it. Our rights, and our voice, are not heard by the administration. The entire trade-in Jammu & Kashmir is being done by outsiders. The people of Jammu & Kashmir are just watching them. Secondly, unemployment is highest in Jammu & Kashmir in entire India,” he alleged while he was in the union territory during his yatra.
He even attacked the Uttar Pradesh voters and their political acumen after he lost to BJP candidate Smriti Irani in Amethi in the 2019 general election. “For the first 15 years, I was an MP in the north, I had got used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues, and not just superficially, but going into detail,” he claimed in 2021.
“PM Modi claimed that UP has adopted him, but does UP need to adopt an outsider for development,” Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had asked in 2017 during a rally in Uttar Pradesh after which she was severely criticised. Interestingly, despite their constant sermons on equality and unity among all citizens, the brothers and sisters regularly dig up fault lines to further create divisions among the country and its people.
Rahul Gandhi’s comments where he talks about equal respect and opportunities for everyone as well as feigns sadness over the smallest incident might seem genuine but in reality, his party and its partners have shamelessly taken advantage of every situation to sow the seeds of discord among people to further their political agenda all the while blaming the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Every time he has the platform to speak about India abroad, he presents a negative picture of the nation instead of putting politics aside and highlighting its greatness and positive aspects, as he should not only as a member of parliament but also as an Indian.
