On 17th March, Congress MP from Wayanad constituency, Rahul Gandhi kicked off a political storm by revealing that he is “fighting against Shakti” while himself admitting that it finds reference in Hinduism. He made the controversial remark while addressing a rally in Shiva Ji Park in Mumbai to mark the culmination of his ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’. Later, when it prompted the BJP to charge him of fanning anti-Hindu sentiments and misogyny, he issued a clarification alleging that PM Modi “twisted” his words.
मोदी जी को मेरी बातें अच्छी नहीं लगतीं, किसी न किसी तरह उन्हें घुमाकर वह उनका अर्थ हमेशा बदलने की कोशिश करते हैं क्योंकि वह जानते हैं कि मैंने एक गहरी सच्चाई बोली है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 18, 2024
जिस शक्ति का मैंने उल्लेख किया, जिस शक्ति से हम लड़ रहे हैं, उस शक्ति का मुखौटा मोदी जी हैं।
वह एक ऐसी शक्ति…
While he had invoked Hinduism before making the controversial ‘fighting against Shakti’ remark in his speech, he tried to give ‘Shakti’—the word that means Divine Feminine or revered energy in Hinduism—a non-Hinduism-centric spin in his clarification.
In his clarification, he projected Shakti as unchecked/evil power or lust for power, based on context, as the English translation falls short of capturing the essence of the Hindi word.
Amid a raging criticism against the Congress leader over the Shakti remark, here are at least half a dozen other instances when the Gandhi scion denigrated, lampooned, or attacked Hinduism or played an active part in the furtherance of Hindumisia.
1. “Shakti is not a real God, Jesus is”: Janeu Dhari Rahul Gandhi patronises Hinduphobic Catholic priest George Ponnaiah
Earlier in September 2022, Rahul Gandhi let away a Catholic pastor George Ponnaiah denigrating the revered Hindu feminine ‘Shakti’ as anything but “real God”, a definition which seemingly influenced the Gandhi scion as reflected in his clarification post on ‘Shakti’ remark.
Evidently, during this Bharat Jodo Yatra, he met the controversial Catholic pastor Ponnaiah in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. A video went viral in which Rahul Gandhi was seen inquisitively asking him, “Jesus Christ is a form of God? Is that right?” To this, Ponnaiah answered, “He is the real God. God reveals him(self) as a man, a real person…not like Shakti…so we see a human person.”
2. ‘Chant Jai Shri Ram and die of hunger‘
Earlier this month, on 5th March 2024, Rahul Gandhi courted controversy while trying to target the Modi government.
During his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Madhya Pradesh’s Shajapur, Gandhi said, “Narendra Modi wants people to sit on their phone the entire day and chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. And while you do this, you die of hunger.”
He perpetuated Marxist propaganda that denigrates various facets of Hinduism and regards the Bhakti and chanting of religious slogans as an exercise in futility, falsely drawing an unwarranted comparison between them and basic needs like hunger. The utterance came on the same day when the Congress leader had planned to offer prayers at Mahakaleshwar Temple.
3. Idols (Vigraha) in Mandir are powerless
In September 2023, while attacking the Modi government on the Women’s Reservation Bill, Rahul Gandhi went on to insult Hindus and their faith arguing that Murthis in Mandir are powerless.
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?
He continued, “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 in (sic) running the country. This is a question I have raised.”
Click here to read why his comment “Murthis are powerless” is deeply Hinduphobic.
4. People who go to temples molest women
In 2014, while speaking about women’s safety, Rahul Gandhi had ranted that people who go to the temple and worship the Goddess, and call women mothers and sisters, but the truth is they are the very people who molest women on a bus.
5. Crafting an artificial and ingenious Tapasvis vs Pujaris divide
In January 2023, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi went on an unhinged rant against Pooja (Hindu form of worship) while trying to promote himself in an avatar of Tapasvi (ascetic).
Rahul Gandhi made the contentious remarks during the Haryana leg of his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ on 8th January. While speaking to the media in Samana near Kurukshetra, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the BJP is a party of ‘Pooja’ while Congress is a party of ‘Tapasya.‘ The Gandhi scion went on a tirade ranting that India is not a country of Pujaris.
During the same press conference, Rahul Gandhi went on to compare his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ to Swayamvar of Draupadi. Rahul Gandhi was heard as saying, “When Arjuna was hitting the eye of the fish (during the Swayamvara of Draupadi), did he announce his future course of action to everyone?”
In fact, the Congress leader has been negatively invoking Hindu scriptures, Hindu deities particularly Mahabharat, and Pandavs at the drop of a hat be it “Pandavas never imposed GST” or uncomprehending theology about Lord Shiv and Lord Vishnu, etc.
6. Emboldened Cow slaughterer Rakul Makkuty in Bharat Jodo Yatra’s Kerala leg
On 26th September 2022, Rahul Gandhi courted yet another controversy after he met the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) leader, who slaughtered a cow in broad daylight in 2017 to mock Hindu sentiments.
Rijil Chandran Makkutty, the said IYC leader, had posted about the development on his official Facebook page. The meeting took place in Pattambi town in the Palakkad district of Kerala as part of Rahul Gandhi’s ambitious program, ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra.’
In 2017, in defiance of the centre’s move to enforce a ban on cow slaughter, Rijil Makkutty, along with his aides, dragged a calf and brutally slaughtered it. The cow is considered a sacred animal by Hindus and the act of publically slaughtering a calf was meant to send a strong signal to Hindus and a pro-Hindu government at the centre.
Mr Gandhi,
— Tajinder Bagga (Modi Ka Parivar) (@TajinderBagga) May 28, 2017
Bahane nahi chalenge,he is ur close aid & doing everything on ur instructions.If you are serious then take action against him pic.twitter.com/WBwl9dp6YY
However, Rahul Gandhi was then forced to undo the damage. “What happened in Kerala yesterday is thoughtless, barbaric& completely unacceptable to me & the Congress Party. I strongly condemn the incident,” he had tweeted.
Later, Rijil was purportedly ‘suspended’ but it seemed more of an eyewash as Makkutty continued to remain involved in party activities. The fact that Rahul had allowed Makkutty to continue to work for the Kerala State Congress unit asserted that he had no compunction in associating himself with someone who had wantonly hurt the Hindu sentiments by butchering a calf. The pictures of Rijil along with Rahul and Priyanka, in the runup to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, are a testimony to it.
Meanwhile, on several instances, the Congress leader had lost his cool over the utterance of Jai Shri Ram slogans prompting him to write off that there was and is a palpable cultural wave of Ram Bhakti. The Congress leader had argued that there was no Ram leher.
In the fear psychosis of the word ‘wave/leher’ because of getting politically routed in 2014 and 2019, Rahul Gandhi replied, “There is no such thing that there is a wave (leher)”, to a query about Congress’ plan on Ram leher.
Apart from these half-a-dozen instances, there are a plethora of occurrences when he gave or shared the platform with rabid Hinduphobes including with those who were actively part of the ‘Dismantling Hindutva’ event.
Further, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi seems to have an uncanny ability to connect every ill of the society to the Hindu community and shield every ill of other communities.
