11/30/22, 1:09 PM Opinion: With 'Ravan' Insult For PM, Congress Repeats A Losing Pattern

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Home Opinion Opinion: With 'Ravan' Insult For PM, Congress Repeats A Losing Pattern

Opinion: With 'Ravan' Insult For PM, Congress

Repeats A Losing Pattern
Ashutosh Opinion Updated: November 30, 2022 1:33 pm IST

The decline of a political party is inevitable when it does not learn from its
mistakes. The Congress refuses to learn that indulging in personal attacks on
Modi backfires on it every time. Modi uses it to the hilt to garner the sympathy of
the people when the audience is in Gujarat, it plays into the theory that Gujarat
pride has been insulted and must therefore be avenged. Mallikarjun Kharge, the
new President of the Congress, has joined the list of Sonia Gandhi, Mani Shankar
Aiyar, Madhusudan Mistry and others in gifting Modi an election windfall.

Kharge yesterday compared Modi with Ravan, the ten-headed demon who Lord
Ram destroyed. While talking about Modi's omnipresence in all kinds of elections,
be it local or parliamentary, he said, "We see your (Modi's) face in corporation
election, MLA election or MP election, everywhere - do you have 100 heads like
Ravan?"

The BJP swooped in immediately. "What Kharge said is condemnable and shows
the mindset of the Congress," said party spokesperson, Sambit Patra, "This is not
an insult to Modi but to every Gujarati." Patra also exhorted the people of Gujarat
to correct this insult to the son of their soil by voting for the BJP in the coming
days. The Congress tried to regain some ground by saying that Patra's attack on
Kharge was an anti-Dalit tirade.

As I said in my last column, such personal attacks in my opinion have very

marginal impact in the elections. The BJP, led by Modi, wins elections due to
multiple factors. Its leaders, including Modi, are always on their toes. They know
that in an electoral battle, what matters is victory; capturing power by any means
is the cardinal principle. No wonder, every election be it municipal or
li t i f ht ith l di t i l i ti t I thi t t th

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11/30/22, 1:09 PM Opinion: With 'Ravan' Insult For PM, Congress Repeats A Losing Pattern

TRENDING
parliamentary, is fought with gladiatorial instinct. In this context ,even the
minutest of their opponent's mistake is exploited to the optimum. Kharge's
'The Kashmir Files' statement and Patra's reaction should be seen in this context.
Has "Fascist
Features": Israeli
Filmmaker Doubles Kharge is no novice to politics. He is 80 and has spent five decades in active
Down
politics. He is not an ordinary member of the Congress, he is the party President.
His words now carry a lot more weight than they did earlier. After becoming the
What Aaftab Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi deliberately evoked Gujarati nationalism and made
Poonawala's New himself synonymous with that feeling. He packaged himself as a selfless,
Girlfriend, In Shock,
Told Police ordinary Gujarati who has scaled great heights in public life with sheer hard work
and without any family connections; he also likes to signal that even after
becoming PM, he is devoted to his home state. A large section of Gujarat votes
Bilkis Bano
Challenges In not for the Chief Ministerial candidate or the party, but for Modi personally. The
Supreme Court BJP will fully exploit Kharge's statement and this in turn will make the Congress
Release Of Her
Rapists unnecessarily defensive.

In 2007, Sonia Gandhi, referring to the riots of 2002, called Modi 'Maut ka
Celeb Saudagar' (The merchant of death). Modi was later given a clean chit by the
Nora Fatehi's Glittery
Gowns Supreme Court. But at the time, many believed that he could have lost the
10 Slides
election had Sonia Gandhi's remark not turned things around. In 2017, Mani
Shankar Aiyar's 'Chaiwala' jibe was also used by Modi and his party. He painted
the Congress as anti-poor who had insulted poor Gujaratis. Aiyar was a serial
Food
7 Best Dal Recipes offender. He went on to call Modi 'neech', someone who belongs to a lower caste.
From All Over India
Very recently, a senior leader of the Congress ,Madhusudan Mistry, said that if the
10 Slides
Congress wins, Modi would be shown his place (aukaat). Modi immediately went
to town and said, "I have no Aukaat because I don't come from an affluent family."
Beauty
Best Of Yami It's not that Modi and his party do not indulge in personal attacks. Be it Mamata
Gautam's Makeup
Looks Banerjee or Arvind Kejriwal or KCR, he spares none but he has the uncanny ability
10 Slides
to turn an attack on himself into an election issue. His party and propaganda
machine repeat it ad-nauseam to create an ecosystem that help divert public
attention. The Congress has to realise that if they want to defeat Modi, they must
not let the discourse move away from issues like price rise and unemployment,
genuine issues which hurt people everywhere.

Kharge was expected to change the mindset of the Congress but it seems he has
not learnt from the party's past mistakes.

Kesariya (From "Brahmastra")

Pritam, Arijit Singh, Amitabh Bhattach

Up next Apna Bana Le – Sachin-Jigar, Arij…

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11/30/22, 1:09 PM Opinion: With 'Ravan' Insult For PM, Congress Repeats A Losing Pattern

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(Ashutosh is author of 'Hindu Rashtra' and Editor, satyahindi.com.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.

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11/30/22, 1:09 PM Opinion: With 'Ravan' Insult For PM, Congress Repeats A Losing Pattern

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